Goin back a bit for this one. Labeled an “American Southern Gothic horror-thriller” for covering of all bases. I questioned the ‘horror’ label at first but when seeing how this plays out? Yeah. It’s a nightmare kind of scenario when seeing how things play out, back when giant ants and a plethora of Hammer Films were filling the screens too.
Depression-era times. There’s a reason they called it the Great Depression. And sometimes it made good men do bad things. But when you already have a bad man doing bad things during bad times? It’s just that much worse. Preacher Harry Powell seems to find himself a lot of widows who always have a little cash squirreled away. Odd that he angrily sits through burlesque shows, has a switchblade knife in his pocket, and steals cars. All in the name of the Lord, of course. And Woe to the latest widow, who’s hubby stole $10K from a bank before he gets caught and Hanged (because that’s what Justice calls for sometimes), and her now-fatherless kids, who may or may not know where the money is stashed. That ‘Preacher’ Harry Powell? Yeah, well , he just might not be a good man.
This is an interesting one, involves a little bit of scripture and hymn-singins here and there since, well, there is Preacher involved. A kinda demented one, complete with some unique Love / Hate finger tattoos. He is one charmin’ sonovabitch, though, when he wants to be. But a pretty solid story as it delves into some darker territory. Robert Mitchum as the Preacher? Fantastic in his portrayal. It does pretty good with building tension after the set-up. And damn. As MommaBear here says, “It’s a hard world for little things.”
