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The Night of the Hunter poster

Movies that feel likeThe Night of the Hunter (1955)

In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.

If you loved The Night of the Hunter, the closest films we have are Blast of Silence (1961), Touch of Evil (1958) and Killer's Kiss (1955). All three share The Night of the Hunter's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Charles Laughtongrittycontemplativetenseatmospheric
7 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If The Night of the Hunter hit the spot, these will too

Blast of Silence poster
Blast of Silence
1961 · dir. Allen Baron
🍅 83%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

Common ground in both: film noir and murder

A hired killer from Cleveland has a job to do on a second-string mob boss in New York. But a special girl from his past and a fat gun dealer with pet rats get in his way.

Touch of Evil poster
Touch of Evil
1958 · dir. Orson Welles
🍅 96%★ 7.9crime · thriller · dramaPrime Video

Common ground: film noir

A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.

Killer's Kiss poster
Killer's Kiss
1955 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 83%★ 6.5thriller · crime · dramaPrime Video

Gritty where it counts, contemplative underneath

Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.

Odd Man Out poster
Odd Man Out
1947 · dir. Carol Reed
🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · drama · thrillerMax

Tense and atmospheric in the same breath

Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery.

White Heat poster
White Heat
1949 · dir. Raoul Walsh
🍅 94%★ 8.1crime · drama · thriller

The same two preoccupations: prison, and psychopath

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

The Narrow Margin poster
The Narrow Margin
1952 · dir. Richard Fleischer
🍅 100%★ 7.6thriller · crime

Both are built on the same subject: widow

The difference: Easier on the stillness than The Night of the Hunter

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Odds Against Tomorrow poster
Odds Against Tomorrow
1959 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 88%★ 7.4crime · drama · thriller

One thread runs through both: robbery

An old-time crook plans a heist. When one of his two partners is found out to be a black man tensions flare.

High Sierra poster
High Sierra
1941 · dir. Raoul Walsh
🍅 92%★ 7.5crime · drama · action

The same preoccupation in both: prison

The difference: Sits closer to action than The Night of the Hunter does

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

Shoot the Piano Player poster
Shoot the Piano Player
1960 · dir. François Truffaut
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama · thriller · crimeMax

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

Charlie is a former classical pianist who has changed his name and now plays jazz in a grimy Paris bar. When Charlie's brothers, Richard and Chico, surface and ask for Charlie's help while on the run from gangsters they have scammed, he aids their escape. Soon Charlie and Lena, a waitress at the same bar, face trouble when the gangsters arrive, looking for his brothers.

The Big Clock poster
The Big Clock
1948 · dir. John Farrow
🍅 100%★ 7.6crime · thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

George Stroud, a crime magazine's crusading editor, has to postpone a vacation with his wife - again - when a glamorous blonde is murdered and he is assigned by his publishing boss to find the killer. As the investigation proceeds to its conclusion, Stroud must try to disrupt his ordinarily brilliant investigative team as they increasingly build evidence that he is the killer.

Key Largo poster
Key Largo
1948 · dir. John Huston
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · thriller

Different title, same corner of the shelf

A hurricane swells outside, but it's nothing compared to the storm within the hotel at Key Largo. There, sadistic mobster Johnny Rocco holes up - and holds at gunpoint hotel owner James Temple, his widowed daughter-in-law Nora, and ex-GI Frank McCloud.

Criss Cross poster
Criss Cross
1949 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 86%★ 7.4crime · thriller

Thriller built on tension, twice over

An armored-car guard must join a robbery after being caught with his ex-wife by her gangster husband.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Night of the Hunter’s defining feeling.