XL Popcorn – The Lighthouse

List Item: Watch all of the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die”
Progress: 906/1009Title: The Lighthouse
Director: Robert Eggers
Year: 2019
Country: USA

Well, if you love Twin Peaks then do I have the film for you. Wow I knew that The Lighthouse was meant to be strange and incredibly atmospheric, but I do not think I was quite expecting anything quite like this. This is one of those films that feels like someone who grew up watching David Lynch and Ingmar Bergman would end up coming up with. Like the dark imagination and other-worldliness of Through A Glass Darkly, but with less incest and more mermaid sex.

I have seen much online about how Robert Pattinson is this great actor who, thanks to Twilight is finally starting to get kudos for his abilities. Well, this is the first of his films that I have seen since I was dragged to the cinema to see New Moon some 12 years ago and I think I am on the hype train. It takes a lot to go toe-to-toe with Willem Defoe when he is in full obscure character mode, but boy did he meet blow for blow in this claustrophobic seaside nightmare.

As I am not the biggest fan of horror films (because I am incredibly jumpy) there was no way that I was going to see The VVitch. Hell, I am really not looking forward to the eventual watches of Hereditary and Paranormal Activity, but I find myself convinced that Robert Eggers is one of those directors that I need to see more of. Like this was a horror film that held its cards tight as to whether we were watching a psychological breakdown or actual supernatural goings on.

Overall, this watch of The Lighthouse was unsettling in a really good way. The ultimate barbarism and the ridiculous amount of pent-up sexual frustration are deeply uncomfortable to see. Yet, thanks to the amazing cinematography and the great performances, you cannot help but find yourself yearning to find out hos this horror is going to end. Not that I expected to ever see a film where one the final scenes has a seagull actually taking a dump on Robert Pattinson’s chest. That’s a new one.