After 70 years, twisted gothic thriller The Night of the Hunter remains as disturbing and beguiling as ever

By Ben McCann, Associate Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide

In 1955, director Charles Laughton crafted one of the darkest, strangest fairytales ever to come out of Hollywood. The Night of the Hunter remains visually exquisite and profoundly unsettling.

Shortly before Ben Harper is hanged for robbing a bank and killing two men, he hides the $10,000 loot in the toy doll of his young daughter Pearl. Only Pearl and her brother John know the secret – until the deranged serial killer-priest Harry Powell hears about the money and sets out to recover it.

Harry marries Willa, Harper’s widow, and then, after killing her, pursues John and…

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