History YMMV / TheNightOfTheHunter

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Robert Mitchum himself defended this film by noting that it's important people don't simply trust people just because they dress like a preacher and quote the Bible, noting that dangerous predators use this as a means to get victims.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is introduced reminiscing about his previous murders as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuser practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. Believing it that God wanted him to murder women, Powell was a chilling psychopath who is unfettered when it comes to what he wants.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is introduced reminiscing about his previous murders as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuser practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. Believing that God wanted him to murder women, Powell was a chilling psychopath who is unfettered when it comes to what he wants.

* AwardSnub: Unavoidable, since the movie was panned on release. In hindsight it's considered one of the premiere Noir thrillers, and that Creator/RobertMitchum and Creator/LilianGish deserved Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress consideration.

* AwardSnub: Unavoidable, since the movie was panned on release. In hindsight it's considered one of the premiere Noir thrillers, and that Robert Mitchum and Lilian Gish deserved Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress consideration.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is introduced reminiscing about his previous murders as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuse practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. Powell was a chilling psychopath who is unfettered when it comes to what he wants.

* VindicatedByHistory: The film did so poorly that Creator/CharlesLaughton never got a chance to direct another, but is today acknowledged as a masterpiece by everyone who knows anything about film.

* EarWorm:
** "Chiiiiiiiiiillll-dren? Chiiiiiiiiiiil-dren?"
** "Leeaaaning, leaaaning."

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is introduced reminiscing about his previous murders as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuser practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. Believing that God wanted him to murder women, Powell was a chilling psychopath who is unfettered when it comes to what he wants.

* MemeticMutation: LOVE and HATE tattooed on the knuckles, 'nuff said. The speech he gives explaining those tattoos also pops up every now and then (e.g Film/DoTheRightThing).

* MemeticMutation: LOVE and HATE tattooed on the knuckles, 'nuff said.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims reminiscing about his previous murders]] as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuser practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. A psychopathic misogynist who believes that AllWomenAreLustful, and who uses his good looks to charm women, and then abuse them verbally before killing them, all the while thinking he's doing God's works, Powell is one of the most terrifying and rotten villains in film history. Charles Laughton himself described Powell as "a diabolical shit".

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Harry Powell, who seems to never sleep, has very BlueAndOrangeMorality, lets out a scream like a surprised donkey when shot, and runs off as if minorly inconvenienced. It's never stated in-film, but he may have been a devil or demon, as many of them pretend to be men of God as a means to manipulate people.

* HeartwarmingMoment: "They abide and they endure."

* NightmareFuel: The conflict is filled with this.
** Mom's burial at sea stands out.
** Powell's scream when he staggers into the river as John and Pearl escape in the boat.
** Powell's utter relentlessness in pursuing John and Pearl, as seen when John wakes up in the hayloft and hears Powell singing in the distance, riding a horse along the horizon. John lampshades this as Powell rides past, unaware of their presence: "Don't he never sleep?"
** Powell's introductory scene: Driving away from the scene of his latest murder, having a conversation with God alone in his car. Creepy. Even creepier, he says God approves of his murders because the Bible is full of killings. As he says this he passes a graveyard and gazes at it as it goes by.

* CompleteMonster: [[TheBluebeard Harry Powell]], a SerialKiller and [[SinisterMinister self-appointed preacher]], is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] [[ReminiscingAboutYourVictims reminiscing about his previous murders]] as he was fleeing the sight of his latest murder. After sharing a cell with a bank robber, he gets out of prison and marries Willa, the bank robber's wife, believing her children knew where the stolen money was hidden. He [[ManipulativeBastard skillfully endears himself to the town]], and [[DomesticAbuser practically brainwashes Willa into believing his every word]]. When she overheard him asking the children about the money, he [[SlashedThroat slits her throat]] as she was laying in bed, dumps her body into the river, and makes up a story to cover for it. In order to get the children to tell him where the money was, he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder the son, John]], while his sister watched. While pursuing them, he kills a farmer, steals a horse and chases them across the state. Believing that God wanted him to murder women, Powell was a chilling psychopath who is unfettered when it comes to what he wants.

* {{Padding}}: For some viewers, the last twenty minutes or so drag and drag hard with their emphasis on Powell getting his comeuppance. While this satisfied UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, which stated all villains needed to be punished and that murderers could not get away with the deed, you can't really blame this on the filmmakers since [[FranchiseOriginalSin that's how the novel ends]] and the film very faithfully adapts the novel.

* MoralEventHorizon: If Powell didn't cross it when he murdered Willa in cold blood, dumped her body in a river and made up a story to cover for it, he most certainly did when he [[WouldHurtAChild threatens to murder John in front of Pearl]]. You could argue that while he was a nasty and horrible person to begin with, threatening to murder a child just for stolen money shows just how much of a monster Powell is.

* FreudWasRight: Listen to Powell's monologue with God.