I know this is going to sound crazy, but as a film reader I never saw Charles Laughton's, Night of the Hunter until guest Spike Lee programmed an evening's lineup at TCM. Luckily I missed Lee's intro (thank God, as I later saw on Utube), but I luckily caught just in time Hunter - the first on his "essentials" list. Also, made it my business to see it because a close friend said it was one of his faves as well as he sat on my bed nonchalantly. 

One film I have watched over & over & over again - ever since I saw it at the Angelika - is Lars Von Trier's, Dancer in the Dark.  Despite it giving me motion sickness the first time I saw it (bathroom vomiting break) on the semi-big screen, I have grown to identify myself as a true fan & self bona-fide "expert" of  Dancer. (Proud owner of VHS & DVD, and at one point, would lend it out to naive co-workers.) 

So, throughout most of my watching Hunter, I couldn't help myself, but to constantly exclaim things like, "Oh shit! Dancer in the Dark is the same exact movie as this, but in opposite!" & other similar surprised expletives, & when I reached the ending I was truly convinced Lars Von Trier holds Hunter very close to his heart, and realized Dancer was a sort of Yin & Yang ode. 

There is nothing more applaudable than a filmmaker taking a favorite film and making their influencing material all their own, especially very creatively  (think Mel Brook's, "Young Frankenstein"),

and in this case, Trier makes Night of the Hunter themes of abandonment, innocence vs evil, gynoangst/stupidity vs strong woman, lies vs hidden truths, compassion vs selfishness, prey vs parent, and lastly, preservation vs sacrifice his very own. 

Overall, there are some slight problems with "Dancer in the Dark", but the weird thing is - I had the same issues in Hunter around the same moments as in Dancer (and this is not about that).

Lars Von Trier in some instances pays homage in reverse.  For example, in both films there are hangings. In Hunter it's the bank-robbing DAD (an oh, so handsome Peter Graves), who is sentenced by hanging. This happens fairly EARLY in the film, and we don't see the execution itself.  In Dancer, it's Selma, a MOM, who gets hanged at the ENDING. The hanging itself is very graphic and real. 

Here goes:

•  hidden $money$ (doll & tin can)
• they both have court room drama
• both films have 'da police in them & cell scenes
• the presence of a doo doo head wife
• a place of convening (church in Hunter and the rehearsal spot in Dancer)
• single parent
• children which propel the film forward (Gene is not as present  - a Yin & Yang complement)
• a protective older woman (Lillian Gish & Catherine Deneuve, both film legends)
• mob mentality
• music (in Hunter music is all through out and Dancer is a musical - a Yin & Yang complement)
• presents 
• evil in the guise of a protector
• shacks/homes engulfed in nature
• nature/water shots
• Hunter is 93 mins & Dancer is 139 mins
• just look at their titles