In Depression-era West Virginia, a serial-killing preacher hunts two young children who know the whereabouts of a stash of money.
Cinematography
Stanley Cortez's expressionist shadows invented modern horror lighting.
Acting
Mitchum's tattooed knuckles—LOVE and HATE—cinema's most chilling hands.
Direction
Laughton's only film: a flawless one-and-done masterpiece.
Director
Charles Laughton
Robert Mitchum
Preacher Harry Powell
Shelley Winters
Willa Harper
Lillian Gish
Rachel Cooper
Billy Chapin
John Harper
Sally Jane Bruce
Pearl Harper
James Gleason
Uncle Birdie Steptoe
Evelyn Varden
Icey Spoon
Don Beddoe
Walt Spoon
Peter Graves
Ben Harper
James Griffith
District Attorney
Gloria Castillo
Ruby
Gloria Pall
Burlesque Dancer
Paul Bryar
Bart
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
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