From the beginning the audience can see that Harry is not a good guy. He is arrested for stealing car and then sets his sights on the money that’s his bunk mate in prison had. As soon as he enters the town, the women become obsessed, partly because he is handsome and a man of God (which was never proven). Willa becomes basically possessed by Harry after she marries him and does anything he tells her too. The is very apparent after their wedding night where Harry basically scolds Willa for wanting to consummate their marriage. He also possesses Ruth towards the end of the film. She gets out of bed, in a somewhat trance, and follows the sound of him singing. He possessed both of these women because he wanted to get something from them. He wanted the money from Willa’s children thinking if he married her the money would be his too. He used Ruth to get whereabouts on the children. I think that possession represents more devil than the Old Testament.
He also uses the ruse of a pastor to get people to trust him where ever he goes, because who wouldn’t trust a man of God. He convinces everyone that Willa ran away when actually he killed her and put her in the lake along with her car. He used his love and hate tattoos to (in some odd way) prove he was a man of God, however Mrs. Cooper was the first person not to believe it which is another clue of the devil lying and manipulating people, but God or faith does not fall for it.
The lighting is drastically different between Harry and Mrs.Cooper. Harry is always in the dark during the night time or in the shadows. The first time the children are introduced to him, it is his creepy shadow coming through their bedrooms window. The fabulous line “I’ll be back when its dark” further implies the sense of his need for darkness, which could also be a representation of hell. Mrs. Cooper is portrayed in better light especially when the children first meet her. It is sunny and daytime in a garden by the river.
Harry represents wrath, materialistic views (Especially the money in Pearl’s doll) and possession as debt while Mrs.Cooper represents tolerance confession and giving. I feel this binary fits the usual comparison of the devil and God better than the Old vs New Testament. In the end, Mrs.Cooper saves the children and beats Harry. But you never know, Harry might come back when its dark.
I can definitely see where you're coming from with that position, and I think I'll have to agree with you that Powell is symbolically the devil in disguise as a preacher. As you pointed out, Powell is constantly being associated with darkness, even in the title of the film we're told of a "night" of the hunter, with the hunter being Harry of course. That's all pretty easy to connect with the devil; they don't call him the Prince of Darkness for nothing right? Moreover, when I think of the Old Testament, the first thing to come to my mind is the creation with the whole "Let there be light" and all. Darkness certainty isn't all that prominent in it at all. Powell might have some of the sternness that might recall the O.T. but his absolute lack of any real spirituality points us anywhere but there.
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