Night of the Hunter

I imagine Charles Laughton and James Agee had fun crafting this seriously creepy film.

It drips with malice, both for and from Robert Mitchum's character. Initially, his hatred and anger simmer just beneath a grifter's facade—that is until he's denied or exposed. But what's always disturbed me about Mitchum's portrayal of Harry Powell is that it's so stylized (and repugnant), it often reads as dark humor (maybe just me).

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Later in the film, when Harry Powell, silhouetted by a pre-dawn sky, sings Leaning On The Everlasting Arms, I am absolutely terrified.

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Great film.