The Lighthouse

See all six films in our A24 series, and you’ll be entered into a free raffle for collectible movie merch, courtesy of A24!

There is enchantment in the light. From Robert Eggers, the visionary filmmaker behind the modern horror masterpiece The Witch, comes a hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers, on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. Shot on 35mm black-and-white film, this nautical tale of madness and dread, soaked in filthy glee, stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.  Charged with tending to a lighthouse for a four-week term, the taciturn Ephraim Winslow (Pattinson) spends his days toiling away with backbreaking upkeep, while during the nights it is only his elder cohort Thomas Wake (Dafoe) who is allowed to keep the beacon in operation. Growing weary of menial tasks, Ephraim’s curiosity regarding Thomas’ hours alone with the big light burgeons. But is it just fatigue and envy that cause Ephraim to become increasingly paranoid about the loitering seagulls, to the point where he’s visited by strange apparitions?   As the two men begin to slide off the deep end, The Lighthouse veers into ever-darker waters, building to a spellbinding conclusion that will leave you staggering out of the cinema on sea legs. (Dir. by Robert Eggers, 2019, Canada/USA, 109 mins., Rated R)