Gothic fiction is one of the most enduring genres in fiction. From “Frankenstein” to “Dracula,” these stories tell the tale of grotesque freaks and the havoc they wreak. Traditionally, gothic stories were set against the war-weary and religious backdrop of 19th-century Europe, with stories like “Dracula” centered around themes of Catholicism. As Gothic horror grew in popularity, it eventually traveled across the Atlantic and embedded itself in the popular culture of the United States. My favorite outgrowth of this transformation is the Southern Gothic genre, a version of the Gothic genre set in and based on the American South. Southern Gothic combines the hallmarks of Gothic literature and the idiosyncrasies of the South, resulting in a unique and effective genre that has created some of the best horror stories there are.
My favorite installment in the Southern Gothic genre is “The Night of the Hunter.” Set in West Virginia during the Great Depression, this 1955 production follows two kids, siblings John (Billy Chapin, “Violent Saturday”) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce, debut). They both know the location of $10,000 stolen by their convict father, who swears John to secrecy. The kids are then tracked down by their father’s former cellmate, serial killer Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum, “El Dorado”), as he poses as a preacher and seeks to steal the money. Powell is able to woo and marry the children’s mother, Willa (Shelley Winters, “The Tenant”), ensnaring the children in his dangerous plot.
Where traditional horror films are often centered on the unknown, Powell weaponized the known into something horrible, revealing the key characteristics of the Southern Gothic. Powell doesn’t arrive in town as some stalking murderer like Michael Myers. He shows up with the word of God in hand, promising to save the residents of this rundown town from their woes. As he preaches, he taunts the words “love” tattooed on his left hand and “hate” on his right, which he incorporates into his preaching with an Old Testament-esque fire and brimstone intonation. With scripture as his weapon, he works his way into the hearts of the local townspeople. The very man committed to killing and stealing from John and Pearl becomes their stepfather, a metaphor for the way that corruption and rot work their way into the DNA of the South.
It’s through this characterization that the “known” becomes the villain of “The Night of the Hunter.” The very institutions and people that form the backbone of these communities — their churches, their families — are twisted into the things that destroy them, the rot hidden right in front of them. Mitchum gives one of the greatest horror performances of all time to convince the audience of this idea. He evokes the theatrics of early cinema, creating a character that is at one moment a man of God, giving a sermon like he’s Billy Graham, and at the next a monster like he’s Jason Voorhees.
The corruption seen in “The Night of the Hunter” is at the heart of Southern Gothic. It taps into a uniquely American idea: We must fear our god, we must find the traitors within our society, we must restore law and order. Mitchum’s character channels this paranoia from the fleeting abstract into a concrete realization of our worst fears. There truly is an enemy within, a monster within our own family. This realization is worse than any jump scare because it hits deep into something many already believe.
Traditional Gothic art found its iconography in the derelict artifacts of catholic Europe. When thinking of “Dracula,” the image conjured is one of cathedrals and crosses. Southern Gothic finds its visual inspiration in the geography of the southern United States. Rolling hills, fields and marshes form the canvas for “The Night of the Hunter” which director Charles Laughton explores with a dreamlike horror. As the children duck through trees or sail down rivers, they are cast in shadow and shrouded by smog. This creates an eerie atmosphere of constant danger as if the very land itself is imbued with evil.
Economic depression furthers the image of the South created by “The Night of the Hunter.” The lingering consequences of the Depression create an environment of crushing dread. The townspeople dwell in dilapidated huts and the children live off of pittances, desperate for a huckster like Powell to save them. Southern Gothic often thematizes the historical pains of the South, which only further contributes to the tone built by the genre.
“The Night of the Hunter” isn’t the only Southern Gothic film, but it is one that truly epitomizes the genre. Through Mitchum’s performance and the atmosphere that taps into a deep dread built into the American South, “The Night of the Hunter” is a movie worth a watch this fall.
Daily Arts Writer Will Cooper can be reached at wcoop@umich.edu.
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