Cape Fear (1962)

Small-town lawyer Sam Bowden's life becomes torturous when Max Cady re-enters his life. Cady went to jail for 8 years after Bowden testified that Cady attacked a young woman. Now that Cady has been released, he begins to terrorize Bowden and his family, particularly targeting Bowden's daughter, Nancy. Initially, Cady uses his newfound knowledge of the law (learned in prison) to annoy the Bowdens, then poisons the family dog... Who's next ?

Later remade by Martin Scorcese, the original Cape Fear is one of the most unsettling thrillers to be released in a post Psycho Hollywood. Convicted felon Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) is released from prison and proceeds to stalk Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), the lawyer who helped put him behind bars. At first the harassment is just annoying. Then the family dog is killed. Bowden soon finds out that Cady plans to take revenge on his family, and plans on committing a crime far worse than murder.

Though the remake is better in many ways, the original Cape Fear is far more stomach churning for one reason. This Max Cady is a child rapist. The movie all but spells out that Cady plans to take revenge on Bowden by raping his daughter, who in this film is a mere twelve years old. The film is full of unsettling scenes of Cady leering at the girl, glaring at her on a boat dock, following her to school, and eventually cornering her in a boathouse, his eyes filled with lust. That she is much younger here than in the remake, the threat against her is so much more sinister. Mitchum's performance as the pedophilic maniac is enough to make you feel dirty just by looking at him, and one of the many reasons this film is still very scary.