‘The Night Of The Hunter’ Remake In Development At Universal From ‘Operation Finale’ Writer
In 1955, Oscar-winning actorCharles Laughton, who appeared in films likeWitness for the Prosecution,Mutiny on the Bounty, andSpartacus, stepped behind the camera as a director for the first and only time. The result wasThe Night of the Hunter, a dark, moody thriller starringRobert Mitchumas a serial killer, and a movie that is beloved by cinephiles and has influenced generations of filmmakers and storytellers. It’s a stone-cold classic: not just one of the best films ever directed by an actor, but a movie that many (including the revered film magazineCahiers du cinéma) consider to be one of the best films ever made, period.
So while it’s not exactly surprising to learn that Universal is developing a remake, the news does arrive with the same exhausted sense of, “But…why?” that always accompanies stories like this.
The Night of the Hunter Remake
Varietybroke the news about the remake, which is described as “a contemporary version of the original thriller, rather than a period piece.” ScreenwriterMatthew Ortonis developing the movie for Universal Pictures. Orton only has one produced credit to his name thus far: he wrote a 2018 spy thriller calledOperation Finalewhich I have not seen (but it lookspretty good).Peter Gethers(Lay the Favorite) andAmy Pascal(Spider-Man: Homecoming,Little Women) will serve as producers. Still, knowing how great this movie is makes news about a remake tough to swallow. There are thousands of middling movies with solid premises from the golden era of studio filmmaking – why mess with a classic?
The 1955 film, which is based on a novel by author David Grubb, follows a sociopathic preacher who travels the country marrying women for their money, murdering them, and then moving on to the next town. During a stint in jail, the preacher learns that his cell mate has $10,000 stashed somewhere; after the cell mate dies and the preacher gets out, he goes looking for the money, conning the cell mate’s widow into a relationship and trying to coax the location of the cash out of her two young children.
Mitchum’s preacher becomes increasingly unhinged as his patience wears thin, and his menacing performance scared the hell out of an entire generation of moviegoers, and many people have calledThe Night of the Hunterone of the scariest films they’ve ever seen. Here’s the (very old-fashioned) trailer with an introduction byGremlinsfilmmakerJoe Danteexplaining how it scarred him as a child, followed by aspoiler-heavy video in which Oscar-winning directorGuillermo del Torotalks about how much the film means to him because of the way it blends horror and beauty on screen:
