⛩️ Gateway Horror 🎬 Eggers (2019) 🎞️ A24

"No! No! I want a goddamned steak! If I had a steak... Oh, boy. If I... If I had a steak, I would fuck it." "You don't like me cookin'?" "How could I possibly like the horseshit you fix us for supper?" "You're fond of me lobster, ain't ye?"

I’ve known I needed to watch this film for two years, and I put it off for silly reasons, and now I know the error of my ways because this was an excellent watch and I loved it.

In Spring 2021 when I was in London, around when I was first learning to like horror, I watched The Witch and it did not scare me, and at that time, everything scared me and I was just barely coping with The Haunting of Hill House, so I figured that Eggers was not a director I wanted to spend much time thinking about. The Lighthouse did not scare me either, but I’m watching with different eyes now, and I’m not so concerned with how frightening this film is but rather how creative and innovative it is and what a great job it did telling a totally new and very bonkers bromance in a watery hell.

The nearly-square 1.19:1 aspect ratio and black-and-white photography force this film to be viewed differently. It reminds me more of large-format photography than cinema, like Ansel Adams decided to direct The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife with two heteroflexible drunkards trapped in a lighthouse. In so many scenes, the verticality is heightened, which I would not have expected: walking along cliffs, the characters are positioned at the top center of the screen with large walls of rock descending into the ocean. In the same way, it emphasizes the height of the lighthouse, and the entire film is very much an up-and-down affair. The photography itself is beautiful to look at. But the actual story: that’s extraordinary.

It takes great imagination to make a film set in a lighthouse with only two characters speaking in antiquated sailors’ argot and creating myriad unexpected interactions—all the singing and dancing and passing out on each other while drunk (which in retrospect seems normal for a nautical film) interspersed with bouts of drunken rage and incanted curses with the wrath of Neptune followed by laughter and camaraderie and more rage and insult: the time spent with these characters is never once going to bore you. They are always doing something to keep you interested.

At the same time as these moment-to-moment interactions are happening, a larger plot begins taking shape, mermaid scrimshaw talismans and self-abuse in the woodshed included. I’m not going to tell you more: you’re going to want to see this for yourself.

The Lighthouse reminds me of A Field in England, but it succeeds where that film succeeded less. This is a less obscure and dry affair with a more satisfying final act that will not leave you scratching your head about a black ball coming from the earth to block the sun during wartime. And as The Lighthouse progresses, the actuality of events starts to become more and more delirious and unclear, propelling The Lighthouse to an aquatic nightmare last act that does, finally, have some horror.

There is a reason The Lighthouse is one of the highest-rated horror films on Letterboxd, so please don’t wait as long as I did to watch it. I think this is a perfect film for a new horror viewer, along with The Witch, so I’m putting it in [ ]. They are both fairly comfortable watches that are very full of life and content, and both have Egger’s unique take on filmmaking, which I am learning more and more to enjoy.

After finishing, I found I had enjoyed it so much that I decided to watch The Northman, which I’ll be reviewing sometime soon. Eggers just continues to grow as a writer and director. I’m looking forward to Nosferatu (2024) and am over my prejudiced-against-Eggers period. I may rewatch The Witch to give it a better chance since I’m now not as worried about whether it is scary enough. He’s writing and directing unique stories. The dialogue is weird and fascinating. Oh, and I loved the closing sea shanty. The Lighthouse is unforgettable, so give it a shot.

Recommended.

Some Lists:

⛩️ Gateway Horror for Brave Beginners
🎞️ A24 Ranked
🎬 Eggers Ranked
📆 2019 Ranked
2010s Horror and Thrillers Ranked
💎 Slightly Hidden Horror Gems and 🌱 Candidates
📽️ Viewing Next 🗂️ Index of Lists

Looking for something else? Consider:

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Oppenheimer | Red Rooms | Beyond Utopia |Four Daughters | Naga | When Evil Lurks | Eileen | How to Have Sex | Journey to the West | Saltburn | 20 Days in Mariupol | The Holdovers | Leave the World Behind | May December | Dream Scenario | In My Mother's Skin |Anatomy of a Fall | The Red Queen Kills Seven Times | Tin and Tina