The Lighthouse

A thoroughly captivating psychological horror film. From the same director as The VVitch, Robert Eggers, we have another era-appropriate, wonderfully written, mesmerisingly shot film.

As a young Winslow (Robert Pattinson) is stationed to work at a lighthouse in New England in the 19th Century, he crosses paths with a much older lighthouse keeper, Wake (Willem Dafoe). An initially tense relationship, Wake and Winslow try their hands at building some camaraderie to mixed results. As it turns out, the young Winslow wants to work the light at the top of the lighthouse, but Wake isn’t very enthusiastic about this idea. Pattinson and Dafoe have great chemistry on set, playing off each other with unnerving ease.

Behind this film lies some real-life horror: the all too real history of real-life lighthouses and their keepers (there are many grisly stories down this rabbit hole, which results in this film feeling all the more real). If you thought lighthouse-keeping was fun and whimsical, although a kind of lonely career, think again.

Naomi Pandey