Witchcraft had been a recurring theme in the horror genre, though often in combination with Therianthropy (humans turning into animals as in "Cat People" or "The Wolf Man") or Voodoo myths ("White Zombie", "I Walked with a Zombie"). "Night of the Eagle" depicts the use of charms or supernatural powers in an “everyday” environment and juxtaposes it with a rationalist view which is questioned during the progress of events. Jacques Tourneur's "Night of the Demon" (1957), to which William K. Everson compared it unfavourably, works in a similar way.