Movie Review: The Lighthouse (2019)

So I’ve been thinking this movie over several times. I’ve re-watched it quite a bit as well. I’ve finally decided to write my review of it. I’ll try to refrain from spoilers since the movie is still pretty recent.

The Lighthouse was released last year and is directed by Robert Eggers, who directed The VVitch (2015), which is another great horror film. Eggers does not have much else in his portfolio, but I think that may be for the best. While we’re in what I would call the “horror movie dark age” with Blumhouse-funded 2 hour jumpscare-fests, an effective and genuinely unsettling horror movie is a welcomed and much needed change.

The Actors

The Lighthouse follows Robert Pattinson and Willem DaFoe as two lighthouse keepers on a remote island in the late 1800s. While there are a few other characters in the film, they have little screen time or have a minor role in the film. This choice, to me, is much more effective for a character study-type film. The entire film focuses on the interactions between the harsh DaFoe and the somewhat inexperienced Pattinson.

Much like watching a Shakespeare play, The Lighthouse takes some time to adjust to the Old English style of speaking. That being said, American-born DaFoe puts on an amazingly authentic accent. Both actors do an astounding job of selling their roles. Being a film about just two characters, I would imagine the pressure to over-perform would be quite heavy. With this being said, the two actors portray the effects of cabin fever and insanity in a realistic and gritty way.

The Cinematograpy

One of the most essential aspects of film making would be the cinematography. Each director has their own style (sometimes in a negative way) and their way of shooting a scene can greatly change the way the audience perceives the moment. Eggers, as shown in The VVitch, makes effective use of natural lighting and eerie music which doesn’t overstay its welcome. Shot on 35mm B&W film, The Lighthouse uses all natural lighting from either daylight or lanterns throughout the house. Scenes can hold for much longer than usual (clearly intentional) to create an eerie and uncomfortable feeling within the viewer. The film is beautifully shot while also keeping an uneasy and dreaded feeling.

“The horror…the horror…” -Col. Walter E. Kurtz

As mentioned before, Horror as a genre has hit a sort of roadblock. Most horror blockbusters hit theaters, make a lot of money, garner less than a 6/10 on IMDb, then fade into irrelevancy. Very infrequently has a horror movie come out that is not only scary, but well made (Hereditary/Midsommar, It Follows, Get Out, etc.). As mentioned before, there were several scenes in the film that held for an unsettling time. The imagery in many scenes is also quite unnerving. The ending of the film (without spoiling it) was both genuinely unsettling and thought provoking. The entire film takes from one of the many Greek tales. The final scene of the film once again stays held for much longer than I was comfortable with, cutting to black and playing period-appropriate music as the credits rolled.

Overall The Lighthouse is an effective and genuinely frightening film. Worth watching if you’re willing to pay attention to everything, as sometimes the dialogue can lose you if you look away for a second. Shame this film isn’t up for Best Picture in the Academy Awards, but I do believe those contenders deserve their spots. To conclude, I would rate The Lighthouse a solid 8.5/10. I look forward to seeing what else Eggers will put out over the years, as he seems to know the right formula for an effective horror film.