Set against the decaying grandeur of the American South, these sweltering sagas of family secrets, repressed desires, and twisted love are steeped in the region’s vibrant folklore and haunted history. Featuring adaptations of definitive southern writers like Tennessee Williams (BABY DOLL) and Flannery O’Connor (WISE BLOOD), lurid chronicles of families in decline (WRITTEN ON THE WIND, EVE’S BAYOU), terrifying thrillers built around crazed villains (Robert Mitchum in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and CAPE FEAR, as well as Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s remake of the latter) and hothouse tales of simmering lust (THE BEGUILED, THE PAPERBOY), this selection of southern-gothic greats abounds in the eccentric characters and eerie atmosphere that define the genre.

Featuring:
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Charles Laughton, 1955)
BABY DOLL (Elia Kazan, 1956)
WRITTEN ON THE WIND (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
THE LONG, HOT SUMMER (Martin Ritt, 1958)
CAPE FEAR (J. Lee Thompson, 1962)
THE BEGUILED (Don Siegel, 1971)
WISE BLOOD (John Huston, 1979)
DOWN BY LAW (Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
WILD AT HEART (David Lynch, 1990)
CAPE FEAR (Martin Scorsese, 1991)
EVE’S BAYOU (Kasi Lemmons, 1997)
THE PAPERBOY (Lee Daniels, 2012)
WILDCAT (Ethan Hawke, 2023)