“The Lighthouse”

By Halle Fodness

As Robert Egger’s second feature film with A24, “The Lighthouse” serves as more of a surrealist period piece than a horror movie. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe star as two men assigned to keep watch over a remote lighthouse for four weeks in the late 19th century. Insanity ensues as reality starts to blend with the men’s horrifying hallucinations, and it becomes disturbingly hard to know which parts are real and which parts are figments of their demented imaginations.

The movie is unsettling from start to finish. Egger’s inspiration from the works of Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H.P. Lovecraft is evident—the movie feels like a modern-day retelling of tall tales sailors might have exchanged. But the formatting choices (it was shot on 35mm film with a black and white filter and a uniquely square aspect ratio) keep the film in its time period, almost like it was shot in the 1890s. The lighting is odd and has tons of falloff, giving scenes a particular sense of claustrophobia.

Directorial decisions throughout the movie allow for an extremely gratifying viewing experience. The score works relentlessly to add a layer of dissonance to the movie, with bass-y reed instruments at the forefront. These match the deep thrumming of the deafening foghorn that is constant throughout much of the film. This, paired with the discordant fiddling of a string orchestra, overwhelm the audience, making them think they are as trapped as the characters.