CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) — A movie shot and set in West Virginia and even inspired by a serial killer in the state has been featured on a list of the best horror movies of all time.

“The Night of the Hunter,” actor Charles Laughton’s sole directorial effort, was number 32 on Variety’s list of “The 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time.” It beat out other films from the 1950s, like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Godzilla,” “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and more.

Variety said “Hunter” is “deeply unsettling” and has “one of the most terrifying antagonists in all of cinema:” Harry Powell, played by Robert Mitchum.

The film came out in 1955 and is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, a Moundsville native.

“Hunter” starts with the introduction of Powell, a self-described preacher with knuckle tattoos that read “LOVE” and “HATE.” He is caught by law enforcement for stealing a vehicle and held in the Moundsville Penitentiary, also known as the West Virginia Penitentiary.

At the prison, Harry meets Ben Harper, who is due to be executed after stealing $10,000 from a bank and killing two people. Ben has hidden the money and has made his son, daughter and wife swear never to tell anyone where it is.

After Harry — who turns out to be a “lonely hearts murderer” who dates or marries women before he kills them — gets out of prison, he marries Ben’s widow in an attempt to find that money.

The character of Harry is based on the “West Virginia Bluebeard,” Harry Powers. First born in the Netherlands, Powers eventually moved to West Virginia and married Luella Strother in 1927. He would take out “lonely hearts” advertisements, saying he had thousands of dollars in income, according to Nexstar’s WBOY .

Powers said he had killed at least five people after convincing widows to withdraw money and come with him to West Virginia. His victims include Asta Eicher, of Illinois, her two daughters, Greta and Annabel, and her son, Harry. Dorothy Lemke, of Massachusetts, was also killed and buried at his home in Quiet Dell, West Virginia.

He did not confess to these murders but eventually did after “falling down the stairs” during questioning. People in Clarksburg — where Powers was being held — formed an angry mob trying to free him and most likely kill him, according to WBOY’s reporting. He was moved to Moundsville for his safety.

After a five-day-long trial, he was sentenced to death in 1931 and was hung at Moundsville State Penitentiary on March 18, 1932.

Although the film with many West Virginia ties was a critical and commercial failure, according to Slate Magazine , it has become a thriller and horror genre classic.

Horror directors like William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”), Robert Englund (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) and Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Shape of Water”), and directors in other genres like Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”) and Martin Scorsese (“Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver”) have praised or been influenced by “Hunter.”

Another big name who praised the film was renowned film critic, Roger Ebert . He gave the film four-out-of-four stars and said it was, “one of the greatest of all American films.”

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In 1996, Ebert said, “Many films from the mid-1950s, even the good ones, seem somewhat dated now, but by setting his story in an invented movie world outside conventional realism, Laughton gave it a timelessness.”

If you want to give “Hunter” a watch, it is available on most rental platforms. If you would like a physical copy, The Criterion Collection released a Blu-Ray and DVD copy.

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