The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers’ psychological horror starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, will air on Film4 tonight.
Scheduled to premiere at 1.30am on Monday 24 August, the film won widespread critical acclaim following its release in 2019.
Loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s unfinished short story of the same name, The Lighthouse is set in the 1890s and centres on Ephraim Winslow (Pattinson), a man who arrives on a New England island to assist veteran lighthouse keeper Thomas Wake (Dafoe).
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Amid a violent storm which leaves the two men stranded on the mysterious island, Ephraim and Thomas find themselves losing their grip on reality as they experience several strange occurrences while attempting to ride it out.
Currently, The Lighthouse holds a Certified Fresh rating of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics lauding the film’s suspenseful scenes.
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“It’s the kind of language that roots you to the spot, and it’s terrific, much like everything else,” said The Spectator.
“The Lighthouse may be challenging, it may even be off-putting, but it’s gutsy, accomplished, and the kind of movie that sears into your memory,” raved News.com.au.
Lauding Pattinson and Dafoe’s performances, the Chicago Sun-Times said: “The actors play it big and bold in a visually striking, black and white horror show.” Meanwhile, Detroit News noted: “Pattinson is superb, but it’s Dafoe who emerges as a giant with a towering, unforgettable performance.”
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In our own review, we had nothing but praise for The Lighthouse, too, commending its “dizzying blend of horror, dark comedy, tense psychological drama and fantasy that will keep you captivated.”
In an interview with Screen Daily, Pattinson revealed that he’d first received the script for The Lighthouse after meeting with Eggers and telling the esteemed filmmaker that he was looking for “something weird”.
“I really liked it, but it took me a little while to figure out exactly. I mean, the different tones of the movie they’re so sort of discordant with each other,” Pattinson later admitted in a chat with The Playlist.
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“I was trying to figure out how is this going to work? With kind of sort of slapsticky comedy elements, and then it’s got this pretty sort of serious ethnographic documentary about this guy working in a lighthouse.”
“It took me a little while to work my head round it,” the actor continued, “but then I was just thinking this is so strikingly original and it’s always fun to be part of [something like] that.”
The Lighthouse will air on Film4 at 1.30am on Monday, 24th August.
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Megan is a freelance news reporter for Digital Spy.