The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is a film where atmosphere is everything and the story is nothing. After the interesting and successful The Witch, Eggers had a free hand and he took advantage of it in his own way. He mocks the popcorn audience with their ideas of horror full of jumpscares and ghosts. Eggers is perhaps the only director who not only heard of Lovecraft and read something from him, but also thought about his work and was inspired by his theoretical foundations. Sartre already knew that hell is not devils, but other people. Put two ultimate sociopaths on a deserted island, give one an illusion of power, and expose the other to humiliation and the result will arrive soon enough. There is nothing, only loneliness, and boredom spiced up by memories of the sound of crushing human bones and failed relationships. Sexual frustration, bitterness, and rising levels of hatred supported by the distillate in the blood. The raging water element invigorates the imagination, just like a superstitious sailor's tales. Eggers impressively works with mythological references, with image and sound, and cleverly avoids literalness. Both actors reward him with excellent acting, the kind you don't see often. All in all, The Lighthouse is one of the most impressive horror films I have had the opportunity to see. Overall impression: 95%. (02/15/2022)

A sea the color of crude oil and the light of the lighthouse like the Divine Light. A crushing atmosphere of bullying, lies and madness. A great screenplay with psychologically unstable characters in the main roles, who move the action along with drunken spouting and gradual confiding in each other as they come face to face with starving to death. Teh farting Dafoe delivers an acting masterclass and the masturbating Pattinson is his star pupil who isn’t afraid of taking things to extremes. The mermaid hallucinations and being buried alive are moments of the year. Aye, lad! (12/30/2019)

This is a beautifully filmed black and white movie in a 1.19:1 square format which is evocative of a different time, as if the hypnotic movie The Lighthouse was created outside of all time and space. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson give magnificent performances, and they compete to outperform each other in who portrays the most manic version of a madman. Figuring out the symbolism of the scenes, and the point of certain moments in the plot, offers up all sorts of parallels extending back to ancient times, however, I do not want to give out any spoilers, The Lighthouse is definitely a movie that everyone has to interpret in their own way. It is a very well-made art-house horror movie, which makes you completely believe the loneliness and hopelessness is real, so I was still waiting for some element from Robert Eggers, which would completely knock me off my feet while watching his movie, which did not happen. Anyhow, I still acknowledge his great directing skills and unique vision, and I will be very interested in his future directorial work. I heartily recommend seeing The Lighthouse on the big screen and, if possible, with very well-translated subtitles. [Sitges 2019] (10/06/2019)

Just like in his The Witch, the director relishes creating the right atmosphere, but his film is very inapproachable; he makes every effort to spoil your viewing experience. The actors in the leading roles (Dafoe and Pattison) deliver superb performances, moreover in black and white, in a spooky, morbid environment with a hidden evil like from Lovecraft. I like all of this, but the inapproachability of the film makes it hard to give it better than average rating. It is, however, definitely a unique experience. (01/30/2020)

A very empty exhibition of a talented machine to build a thick atmosphere; you can’t deny its depiction of period realism and the intentionally obsolete formal approaches (static shots, details, expressive acting, precise geometric composition), but it has absolutely nothing to offer the viewer seeking a meaningfully organised narration or some sort of distinctive process. The Witch headed somewhere and tied a loop around the viewer, who had set certain expectations, but The Lighthouse is self absorbed from the first to the last scene and never changes its nature and the pressure on the audience – and though in itself this isn’t annoying, it’s certainly not remarkable or in any way as subversive as Eggers wants it to be. 60% (01/18/2020)