Critic Reviews
Night of the Hunter, The (1955) Rank 3 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (52) reviews
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Fair
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Reviews by Score:
Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
Appreciating Great Trash
Classic Film Guide
A chilling film directed by Charles Laughton (his only effort?) with Robert Mitchum (his best role?), Shelley Winters, and Lillian Gish! James Gleason and Peter Graves also appear. The screenplay was written by James Agee (The African Queen (1951)) from ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Classic Film Guide
The Spinning Image (Graeme Clark)
In Depression-era America, Ben Harper (Peter Graves) robs a bank and kills in the process. With the police hot on his trail, he gives his children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce), the loot to hide for him and is taken off to jail. He ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at The Spinning Image (Graeme Clark)
DrunkenFist.com (Rob Larsen)
With a tagline like that it's hard to imagine that this film wasn't a commercial success upon it's release in 1955. Maybe if they'd mentioned how godawful creepy it was people would've better know what to expect. ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at DrunkenFist.com (Rob Larsen)
filmdeculte.com (Nicolas Bardot)
En 1955, le premier et unique film en tant que réalisateur de Charles Laughton est un cinglant échec critique et public. Probablement parce que l'objet filmique en question est trop déroutant, trop hors du temps. Visuellement, Laughton privilégie le ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at filmdeculte.com (Nicolas Bardot)
rec.arts.movies.reviews (Scott Renshaw)
Because I have been privy to the forty years of screen history which followed it -- particularly the past fifteen or twenty years -- I watched almost 90 minutes of THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER with a combination of technical admiration and vague consternation. ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at rec.arts.movies.reviews (Scott Renshaw)
Movieline (Stephen Farber)
A remarkably ambitious mix of realism and mysticism, terror and tenderness, stark tragedy and spiritual uplift. ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Movieline (Stephen Farber)
Village Voice (Michael Atkinson)
Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter is the movie freak's definitive love machine: maligned when first released in 1955, hopelessly out of synch with American postwar sensibilities, so aberrant and singular it may properly be called the first ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Village Voice (Michael Atkinson)
411Mania.com (Dunn)
Once upon a time, there were two young children named John and Pearl Harper whose father (Peter Graves) did a bad thing. He robbed a bank and killed a few of the people who worked in the bank. For this, he was taken to the town square and hanged to death. ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at 411Mania.com (Dunn)
Big House Film (Roger Westcombe)
I don’t think Night of the Hunter is well served by its legendary status, which sees it consigned to Mark Twain’s definition of ‘classic’: something one reveres without ever experiencing. Because seen fresh, especially on the big screen, Night of ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Big House Film (Roger Westcombe)
Chainsaw Fodder
Robert Mitchum stars in this creepy tale of a preacher/killer who is stalking two children because he wants to try and find out where their thieving father has stashed his cash. The image of a nice, honest man with tattoos of "love" and "hate" on his ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Chainsaw Fodder
Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
Horror movies aren't known for their subtlety. It's a fact I reflect on as I sit in Guillermo del Toro's darkened office-cum-fanboy-playpen, viewing a sequence from the director's upcoming vampire hunter epic Blade 2. Even on the grainy, rough-cut VHS ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at Austin Chronicle (Marjorie Baumgarten)
filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
Charles Laughton, the rotund, crisply elucidating English actor, directed one and only one movie. That film was "The Night of the Hunter", a weird, creepy thriller starring Robert Mitchum as a murderous preacher. Although considered a classic today, it ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
TheMovieChicks.com (--)
DVDRAMA
Le travail de restauration qui avait été effectuée pour la sortie du Laserdisc Criterion est avantageusement repris ici. C'est un mono très clair et étonnamment enveloppant qui prend corps dès le début du film pour ne plus vous quitter ensuite. Il ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at DVDRAMA
JackassCritics.com (The Grim Ringler)
Essentially a tale of the old and new Testaments meeting and fighting over the souls of two young children, Night of the Hunter has long been considered a classic, and part of me wonders why. John and Pearl are two innocents thrust into the deadly world ...read the complete Night of the Hunter movie review at JackassCritics.com (The Grim Ringler)
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