Review: The Lighthouse

Since his directorial debut four years ago with The Witch, I and many other have been excited to see what Robert Eggers will conjure up next.

His surreal and psychological style to the horror is certainly a welcoming one as when it works, it's a type of horror that I am totally onboard with.

Plus, with the buzz and hype surrounding it already, my expectations were pretty high for this.

The story is definitely paying homage to those legendary stories you've heard of seaman telling that were probably overblown and exaggerated.

From the beginning, you can tell that Eggers has chosen a style and will stick to it. From the choice of filming in black and white, to the old school screen ratio, this directed with extreme detail.

Once you've got a small dose of the madness that is to come, you gradually embrace it and are in for the ride.

Both Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson were excellent in their roles both on their own and together. Dafoe really transformed into his role and made great use of his multiple long monologues he was given and worked the screen like only he can. The sea shanty type voice he had, sounded not far off the one he had as Green Goblin in Spider-Man.

Pattinson continues that life after Twilight has been good to him from a critical standpoint. The choices he makes in his projects in avecpaid and this could be his most successful one to date.

With this being a psychological horror and the director paying homage to similar films like The Shining, the environment has to be a character in itself.

I felt this was thoroughly utilised and really set the foundations for the nightmarish tone this film gave off.

Despite being more horror, there's actually a healthy amount of comedy in this. From the amusing visual set-pieces to back-and-forth between Pattinson and Dafoe, it got me laughing for a good amount.

While it was neither scary or disturbing, it was very weird. But in such an effective way.

The black & white colour palette and old school screen ratio was very effective and ideal for not just the setting, but the tone.

Pattinson and Dafoe may have put themselves in contention for the major awards and seeing their characters develop great to see.

The world that Eggers built was very impressive to see in its entirety and while I can't see it being as iconic as The Shining, this should be another popular addition to this horror subgenre.

Rating: 8/10