Night of the Hunter

1955 Film Noir classic staring Robert Mitchum and Shelly Winters concerning a serial killer who poses as a pastor to target widows and orphans — his next victims being two children who’s late father hid $10,000 from a robbery turned murder. Based on a popular novel from 1953 of the same time it is widely considered one of the best films ever made.

Today it’s most notable for Mitchum’s dead on performance of a sexually dysfunctional, sadistic serial killer. Also notable is the hero in the final act is a woman named Rachel Cooper who has to protect the children from the killer in a tense standoff.