Aha! A Criterion Three Reasons video for a film I don’t have to lust after – because I already bought it. And you should to. The Night of the Hunter is one of the most oddball and incredible films ever made, somewhere in between film noir, Southern gothic, fantasy, surrealism, and parable. It’s the only film that actor Charles Laughton ever directed, partially because it was not well-received at the time. But looking back, it’s hard to see what he could’ve done to top this, so perhaps it’s fitting that it stands as his only film as director – as unique in his filmography as it is in cinema history.