The Lighthouse

A gothic thriller, Lighthouse delivers the chilling two man show fueled by isolation and intensity as promised.

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson deep in character.

Robert Eggers writes and directs this gripping,  haunting tale through 35mm black and white film stock which in my opinion, added to the suspense and the psychological horror of the entire film. Nothing more unsettling to watch in the dark than a black and white film set in the 1890s. Lighthouse is a disquieting tale of two men isolated on an island, whose only visitor ends up being insanity. Here we are introduced to the irritable elderly seafarer Thomas (Willem Dafoe) and his young new Wickie, Winslow (Robert Pattinson) who is to assist in the up-keeping of a lighthouse off the shore of Maine.

When you mix isolation with hard work, a great deal of drinking, and a storm that just won’t end, you receive the means of what it is to survive both mentally and physically. It takes a great deal of skill to make the audience experience the loneliness and the gradual building tension between the two characters from the beginning of the movie, and that is what Eggers does for us here. You can sense the darkness within the hearts of men truly unfolding as liquid courage dishes the motivation to release such demons.

“Why’d ya spill yer beans?”

Magnificently delivered by Pattinson and Defoe, lighthouse is very much well appreciated and definitely a must see for those in search of a fresh new story to make the mind ponder with its  disturbing visuals. This dark tale scores an 8/10 in my book and I look forward to stumbling upon it again someday.