Horror

Last Night in Soho

Robert LeeLeave a comment
Last Night In Soho Cast & Character Guide | Screen Rant

This is London. Someone has died in every room in every building and on every street corner in the city.

Last Night in Soho is the latest film by director Edgar Wright who has given such gems as Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It is a movie heavily influenced by Hitchcock, De Palma (when he was copying Hitchcock), and Giallo films from actors Dario Argento and Mario Bava. That is pretty ambitious. For the most part, it works and the end result is a visual feast for the eyes. The movie itself does have some issues in plotting and minor holes in logic. Despite its flaws, it is one of the great rarities in modern film, an original story that does things differently.

Eloise “Ellie” Turner, played by Tomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), is a young woman who has an obsessive nostalgia for the fashion and music of the sixties. She lives with her grandmother in rural Cornwall and has just found out that she has been accepted into the London College of Fashion. Not only does this set her up as the country girl in the big city, but her mother has a history with London as well. We realize there is something different about Ellie from the outset as she apparently sees her dead mother in a mirror. Her grandmother knows that Ellie can see things that no one else does, but Ellie lies and says she doesn’t anymore. At this point, we don’t know if it is because of a mental illness or not.

When Ellie arrives at her dorm in London after a creepy encounter with a cab driver, she meets her roommate Jocasta (Synnøve Karlsen) an overly posh and overly mean girls type. After a brief uncomfortable stay, she decides to move out on her own and rents a room in the Soho district from an elderly landlady played by the late Dianna Rigg in her final role.

On her very first night in her new flat, she dreams of traveling back in time to the swinging 60s of London. She finds herself accompanying a woman named Sandie, played by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit). Alternating from seeing through her eyes, and accompanying her in the second person, Ellie experiences a young woman’s desire to become a musical star in the neon-lit district of Soho. She seems to meet the perfect man to be her manager and lover in the person of Jack, played by Matt Smith (Doctor Who). Over the next few nights, she returns to that dreamy surreal world and finds inspiration in Sandie and the era. Ellie finds more confidence in herself, dies her hair like Sandie, dresses similar to her, and even earns praise in class for her retro fashion designs inspired by the clothes of Sandie.

Over the ensuing nights, it becomes apparent that the neon glitz and glamour of sixties London is not what nostalgia paints it out to be. There is a seedier side to it as Ellie begins to experience more of Sandie’s story as it becomes a dark and seedy nightmare. Jack is not what he seems and her aspiring career as a singer becomes nothing more than becoming a playing for rich old men looking for women. It’s even worse for Ellie as images and scenes from her dream world starts to intrude upon her waking world, causing her, and us, to question her grips on reality and sanity. Is she going insane, or is she really being haunted by the ghosts of London’s nightlife? Of course, her classmates notice her reactions, who almost all think she is losing it. The only one that supports her and cares for her is the potential love interest, John (Michael Ajao).

Last Night in Soho is, without doubt, a technical marvel in both sound and vision. Edgar Wright, with the aid of cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon, drenches scenes in neon lights and brightly lit color palettes that soak the characters with vibrant hues of reds, blues, and greens. Wright and Chung use many creative shots that employ mirrors to show both Ellie and Sandie in the same shots or even swapping them out. Many of these camera tricks were practical and on set as opposed to digital. This use of mirrors to show the dual natures of Ellie and Sandie becomes a major theme throughout the film.

Edgar Wright uses many creative shots involving mirrors to dramatize Ellie’s story.

You can’t have a movie about the London music scene without the music of the era. The soundtrack may as well be considered a cast member of the film. From the opening scene, we hear Peter & Gordon’s classic “A World Without Love” loudly playing on Ellie’s little phonograph as she dances in her Cornwall home in a dress she made herself. Later we are treated to a bit of Acapella from Anja Taylor-Joy doing a cover version of Petula Clark’s “Downtown.” In the case of Last Night in Soho, the music serves as a Greek Chorus for the viewer. Each song is there for a reason, not just to instill pop nostalgia, such as The Kink’s “Starstruck:”

Baby, watch out or else you’ll be ruined
‘Cause once you’re addicted to wine and champagne
It’s gonna drive you insane
Because the world’s not so tame

The cast is strong, but the standouts are the two main leads playing Ellie and Sandie. Thomasin McKenzie really brings Ellie to life with a character that has to go through the wringer of emotions ranging from being an innocent waif to a young woman on the verge of doubting her sanity. As the plot unfolds, her character has to contend with the truth that the world is not black and white and people will often do horrible things to survive. You won’t have any problems rooting for her. Anya Taylor-Joy as Sandie graces her opening scenes with assured confidence, but as her story goes on we see her vulnerabilities and feel for her tragic story as we know it will not end well.

A special mention must be made to Dame Diana Rigg for gracing us with a final performance that, though small, is memorable and filled with her natural charm and wit.

Matt Smith seems to be borrowing a page out of David Tennant’s book and relishing in playing a psychopath role after a run in Doctor Who. It really works for him as he is meant to be charming on the surface. But underneath, he is a menace.

The movie does suffer a bit in some areas, most notably with holes in logic. Parts of the plot hinges on mystery, and that mystery centers on names and identity. Without spoilers, an unnecessary sub-plot could have been avoided if Ellie just knew a person’s name, and she is in a particular position that she should at least know that or at least a bit of his history. The mean girls’ clique led by Jocasta is a bit too over the top, though not going into bullying territory, the catty stares and talking behind the back are a bit much.

What Last Night in Soho gets right is style and panache. Edgar Wright channels Hitchcock in maintaining Ellie as a POV character which maintains the feeling that we are whether experiencing her going mad or experiencing a true supernatural horror. Some of the camera tricks involving the use of mirrors are evocative of films like The Eyes of Laura Mars by Irwin Kishner. The staging and colors are reminiscent of Dario Argento’s Suspiria.

Last Night in Soho does not fall into any specific genre, not neatly anyway. It is part drama, fantasy, ghost story, Giallo horror, and psychological thriller. It has a message to be careful of nostalgia because the rose tint of it often clouds the realities. And in the case of Ellie, it can be horrifying. The film is a welcome addition to a genre of horror that has become rather stale with gore and slasher films where you root more for villains to kill victims. Highly recommended.

Final Score: 8.5/10

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Review: Malignant Falls Short of Complete Failure

Robert LeeLeave a comment
At least the posters look scary…

I’m a fan of horror movies, of many genres. Movies like the Scream franchise worked because hey were self-aware, yet also had the scares, albeit jump scares. But they were pretty well done. James Wan broke out with the hit Saw, and made it to the big time with the surprising superhero blockbuster, Aquaman. But his roots are in horror and films like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring, which were creative vehicles that launched franchises that varied in quality. His latest film directorial effort, Malignant, however is not only a disappointment, but a near failure in the horror genre. It’s filled with more silliness in plot than tension, let alone scares.

Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) is an expectant mother, quickly revealed to have had several miscarriages, and married to an abusive husband. After the latest incident, he is gruesomely murdered in their house, and a shadowlike thing attacks her, causing yet another miscarriage. Detectives find no indication of forced entry and discover that the husband has a history of abuse. So naturally, she is the prime suspect. But nevermind about that as they don’t bother to really question her.

True to horror film tropes, after leaving the hospital, she goes back to her murder house because “It’s my home.” She begins to see visions of grisly murders as if she were there at the crime. Bust she is frozen in terror. As it turns out, these aren’t just visions but actual murders taking place and they are all somehow connected. When she and her younger sister (Maddie Hasson) go to the police, they are met with cynicism. Yet, there are indeed bodies turning up as described by her.

Madison seems to have a connection to this killer and the killer is targeting certain people that are associated with Madison. It is revealed that not only was Madison adopted but adopted from a facility that specializes in child reconstructive surgery. The victims were associated with her stay there.

If you remember the trashy contrived 80s slasher horror films then this should all be familiar territory. Wan is so busy trying to recreate that atmosphere that he forgot to make a decent movie. Yes, the plot reveals are telegraphed a mile away and by the time it’s revealed I no longer cared. There are some scenes that stretch credibility, even for the gere. One such is the sister being able to walk in to an abandoned hospital that looks like Arkham Asylum and recovering her sister’s records without any problems. And it’s a good thing her mother has a working VCR so they can view the video tapes that reveal the, uhm twist.

A few times the music by Joseph Bishara is bombastic and overly dramatic for the most mundane of scenes such as a slow motion shot of police arriving at a crime scene. This is yet another point of unintentional laughter from me.

There is a really well done gory scene inside a police station that is part brutal martial arts and slasher. Bodies quickly pile up in a very well done scene, but if you look at it in hindsight, is pretty silly. There really is no explanation of how this killer is so powerful, unless it really is The Devil, but we never find out. Outside of that, the movie is a slog of uninteresting main characters. The two police officers are the only ones that seem to be any fun. That could be because they act as if what is going on is ridiculous and would rather be somewhere else. That’s probably the most genuine thing in his film.

This is one of those films from Warner Brothers that is day and date in theaters as streaming on HBO-Max. If you have HBO-Max it is already included in your membership for a limited time. I don’t recommend seeing this in the theater. Is it worth streaming? Yeah, sort of. It’s watchable, but doesn’t really stand out as anything other than competently made mediocrity.

Final Score: 4/5

Review: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

Robert LeeLeave a comment

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There was a time when I read practically every Stephen King book as they came out. Eventually I could not keep up and there were a few that I was not too fond of. In recent years, ‘ve tried to tackle the sprawling Dark Tower series. But the last King book I bought and read right after publication would go on to be one of my favorites, 11/23/63. When I heard that a sequel to the novel The Shining was coming out I downloaded it on the day of release. Unfortunately timing being what it was I did not get around to reading it until just before the release of the movie adaptation. And that is how things worked out and we come to Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep.

Doctor Sleep is a direct sequel of The shining and starts off shortly after the devastating events of The Shining. Now being a sequel to his novel rather than the Stanley Kubrick film, it continues with Dick Hallorann being very much alive as well as Danny and his mother, Wendy. A good third to a quarter on the book centers on the  continued repercussions of the trauma that young Danny experienced from the evil that lurked within the Overlook. He is still visited by the ghosts of the Overlook until Dick teaches him a trick to store these ghosts away in special mental lockboxes. This will come into importance later.

By the time we again meet Dan (as he now goes by), he is an adult, and also a complete mess. He is a drifting alcoholic and barely functional enough to hold down a steady job. While traveling on a bus, he gets an intuitive message in his head to get off at a small New Hampshire town. He finds a some peace and friends there as well. And also while there, he confronts the fact that he is an alcoholic and joins Alcoholics Anonymous.

Parallel to Dan’s adult story is that is Abra (like Abracadabra) Stone. Born in 2001, like Dan, she has the ability known as The Shining. But her ability just may be much more powerful than Ddan’s ever was.

We are also introduced to a group of road wanderers who traverse the country in a caravan of RVs and call themselves the True Knot. The True Knot may not look it, but they have a lot of resources at their command and they have lived a long time. They feed on those that have abilities like Dan and Abra. And they do not consider themselves human. They do have the ability to recruit others and make them like they are immortals who must feed on those with psychic abilities to survive. So…vampires.

Dan has achieved success with a few of years of sobriety and has taken a job at the town’s local hospice in the official capacity of an orderly. But everyone has come to call him Doctor Sleep because he has earned the reputation of helping those who are at the moment of death cross over peacefully, though no one really knows how. They just go with it. The precursor that seems to know when it is time for a patient to pass is the hospice’s cat Azzie (short for Azreel, an alternate spelling of Azrael, the Angel of Death) who will enter into the room of the patient which indicates to the staff they are about to pass.

In the meantime, a now older Abra has been able to reach out and occasionally leave messages with Dan, usually innocuous messages of “hello” or “good morning.”  That innocent communication is broken when Abra detects the painful psychic cries of a tortured boy who is a victim of the True Knot.

Everything begins to coalesce into a novel that is both epic and personal as the lives of everyone comes together as Abra, whose ability is so strong that she has drawn the attention of the True Knot’s leader, Rose the Hat. Dan finds himself reluctant at first to get involved but finds that he can’t ignore what they have been doing over the centuries as their victims are primarily children.

Stephen King not only follows up his classic horror novel effectively but also manages to build and in some ways surpass it. Where The Shining was a trailblazing novel by a young writer, Doctor Sleep is the extension from that seminal work by a writer who has matured, gone through more of life, and has learned to juggle multiple characters and narratives to come together into a story that is full of intensity. It does not have the weight or scale as other epics he’s written such as It or The Stand, but it feels like an epic in some ways. And like great epics, there is a gathering of companions that will help Dan and Abra in their fight, and there will be journey across one end of the country to another. And as most readers will suspect right away, there will be a final confrontation with the evil forces at the magnet for past evils, the burnt out remains of the Overlook Hotel.

Doctor Sleep succeeds as both a sequel and as a stand alone novel. It’s not necessary to have read The Shining, but it certainly helps, and I do recommend it. Dan Torrance emerges as one of King’s strongest and most memorable characters. The intricacies and the emotional struggles that Dan experiences as he comes to grips with alcohol addiction over time, feels authentic and may even have come from King’s own experiences with alcoholism. But it is Dan’s hospice persona which is the most emotionally powerful. Anyone who has ever had a loved one go through hospice care may relate to Dan’s ability and some scenes of people who are at their last few minutes of life. He uses his psychic ability to comfort them and ease their passing. In a way he sees this as atonement to the turbulent life he lead as a drunk. And as we go on a journey with Dan atoning for his past sins, we can relate to him all the more because they are common sins many of us may have felt hitting bottom.

Special mention of note goes to the audio edition as read by Will Patton. Will Patton has been the goto narrator for the Dave Robicheaux books by James Lee Burke and for Doctor Sleep, his talents are on full display as he manages New England accents effortlessly.

Doctor Sleep is more than a worthy successor to The Shining, it is a novel with depth and thrills. It may start just a little slow as we are brought up to speed on the intervening years since the events of The Shining but as an example of character build-up it succeeds very well and allows us to genuinely care for our main cast. It also features a villian with an array of cronies that are very memorable. The psychic vampire trope is not one that has been often explored. Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons comes to mind as the closest to the creatures that King has created here. However you choose to consume the novel, whether by reading or listening, you should not be disappointed.

Final Score: 9/10

Re-watch review: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Robert LeeLeave a comment

It seemed like a perfect idea at the time, one of the great horror novels adapted to film by one of the greatest directors of the time. Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining will go on to become one of the most highly regarded horror films of all time. It is also famously despised by Stephen King and as a fan of the book, I can sympathize with Mr. King as it diverges gravely not only in scenes, but in character as well. But if you are not familiar with the source material, then, yes, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining belongs on the list of classic horror films that is still watchable to this day.

So in anticipation of Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, I decided to take another look at the film. Using the recent 4K UHD home release for my viewing experience was the perfect way to watch this horror classic as it is the best presentation that it has ever gotten on home video.

Jack Torrance is about to transplant his family and himself to be the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel in the high mountains of Colorado. Right away it is mentioned that the hotel is built atop old Indian burial grounds. So you know bad things are going to happen.

Jack’s young son, Danny is a bit odd and like many kids his age, has an imaginary friend, that he talks back and forth to. We and his parents are privy to this as he uses his finger to inexplicably communicate with his family as “Tony,” his imaginary friend.

The hotel is about to close for the season as winters tend to cut it off from the rest of the world. The parting chef, Dick Holloran notices that Danny has what is known as a Shine or Shining. Like Danny, DIck has it too, psychic ability. Danny has it strongly though and DIck tells him not to worry about seeing ghosts in the hotel, they can’t harm him. But if h ever needs help, give a holler by way of shine, and he’ll come.

So, Jack goes on a murderous rampage, his wife Wendy screams a lot, and Danny calls for help because those ghosts of the Overlook really seem to take a shine to his shine. The story is pretty well known by now.

This is one of Jack Nicholson’s most iconic roles and it is well deserved. From the opening you already get the sense of “Yeah, this motherfucker’s gonna end up trying to kill his family.”

Now, having recently re-read Stephen King’s original novel that Kubrick based his movie on, I can see why King took issue with Kubrick’s interpretation. Yet if one were to watch the film on its own merits, it is in my opinion one of the most effective horror films ever made. Imagery such as the hand holding ghostly twins have been seared into the subconscious of horror fans and non horror fans all over the world.

From the opening notes of music by Sibelius, adapted by composer Wendy Carlos, we feel a sense of something ominous approaching. Accompanying it is long establishing shots of Jack Torrance driving up to the hotel, emphasising that wherever the car is going, it is going somewhere isolated.

Kubrick is known as a perfectionist in vision and his films are incredibly engaging visually. This is true of 2001, and it is even more so with The Shining. However, he has been pegged sometimes as emotionally cold, and in the case of 2001, it is rightly so. Yes, the performances are great from everyone, but we never get a sense of who the characters are in the film other than the basics of their characters.

Jack’s character get the most shortchanged in this interpretation as his past and continuing struggles with alcoholism have been cut down. And it is even in the end that the real Jack and the love of his son that allows his family to escape. Dick Hallorann is played memorably by the late Scatman Crothers, but his character is underused and quickly dispatched by Jack’s axe whereas he was integral in the saving of Danny and Wendy.

Kubrick’s extensive use of the steadicam camera was almost dizzying when it was first shown and was a bit unnerving to audiences that were not used o this new technology of smooth tracking and it was employed as a visual feast to the eyes as we travel through long labyrinthine hallways and eventually a labyrinthian hedge as well.

The 4k Ultra High Definition release from Warner Brothers is a visual marvel I am more impressed by older films receiving 4K transfers than I am modern films. It is because 4K resolution, when taken from original elements shine the best with older films since they were originally shot on film which has a natively higher resolution than 4k. Nowadays with digital presentations, studious cut costs and master their films in 2K and when it comes time for home releases, they simply upscale the 2K image to 4K. In most cases it’s good enough, especially for a HD Blu-ray release which has a native resolution of 2K. But when upscaled to 4K the improvements is often minor. The Shining takes full advantage of the technology of improved resolution and add in the HDR Dolby Vision color enhancement, the color reproduction is the best this film has ever looked since it was first shown. Now, this sounds really nerdy even for me, and I am not savvy enough to comment fully other than to say this movie looks phenomenal on the new 4K release.

Approach The Shining movie as a separate entity than the novel and I think you will find that Kubrick’s vision is a classic in horror and suspense. It’s latests home video release is also the best that it has ever looked and sounded. It is one of the few horror films that was made by a true auteur and visionary director and shows that taking the time to be meticulous in direction and vision, can result in a film that stands the test of time.

FInal Score: 8.5/10

Re-read Review: Stephen King’s The Shining

Robert LeeLeave a comment

It’s been close to 40 years since I first read Stephen King’s The Shining, and it was without question one of the books that made me fan of King but a voracious reader as well. I don’t often re-read books for the reason that there are so many books that I have yet to read the first time. Since I had the follow-up book, Doctor Sleep, in my to read list and in anticipation of the upcoming movie adaptation, I decided it would be a good idea to return to King’s classic novel and check back in to the Overlook Hotel. So what is there to discover in this re-read?

The Torrance family is about to have a major change in their lives. Jack Torrance is about to take a job at an isolated and secluded hotel in the Rocky Mountains. Wendy, his wife, and five-year-old son Danny get to spend the Winter in the hotel while it is closed for the season. Jack is supposed to be the caretaker of the property while the rest of the staff are gone.

It’s a cliche story idea now, but at the hands of King who is one of the greatest influences of modern horror, it is a story that remains gripping to this day. The Cabin in the woods and isolation is the trope. In this case, it’s the hotel at the top of the Rockies and isolation. So of course horror ensues.

Jack looks forward to the time away from distractions. He plans to use a lot of the isolated time to work on his play. And as a recovering alcoholic, he is glad that the hotel’s supply of alcohol is taken away during the off season that he and his family are staying at the Overlook.

Danny, is a young boy with a peculiar power, a “shine” as the hotel’s cook, Jack Halloran,  calls it, a psychic ability. That ability is often pre-cognitive but in a place as old as the Overlook with its dark past, it also let’s Danny see the ghosts of the hotel.

Wendy feels the most happy being able to spend time with her family in the big luxury hotel.

And then there is the Overlook Hotel itself. It is a magnet for malevolence and dead spirits — not the friendly kind, either. This is a case where an abode is a character onto itself. It has a dark history and an even darker personality to go with it. Yes, it is indeed haunted and the spirits that inhabit it are the suffering spirits who have all met their ends in dark and often violent means. They all seem to coalesce into a single entity.

Danny’s presence in the hotel is a draw to the Overlook’s malevolence and it seems to want the family to not just stay but to die there as well. It is able to reach into Jack’s mind to poison his thoughts and make him slowly lose his grip on sanity, especially in the vulnerable state of being a recovering alcoholic.

This is Stephen King’s third novel and even after all these years it still has the powerful ability to grip me and keep me on the edge of my seat in tense unease. During my re-read, it does show some signs of its age especially in the way of technology as antiquated telephone technology (how many these days remember feeding quarters into a payphone and getting operator assistance?).

The characters are still memorable and though it may seem like a slow burn at first, it is an intentional choice by King to get us to become familiar with the characters. And those who may have only watched the Stanley Kubrick directed adaptation may find some surprises. Jack Torrance is not as mad as he is portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Rather, he is a writer who has achieved some minor success yet is not as successful as he wants to be. He genuinely loves his son and even in the end fights against the darkness that consumes him.

King was going through his own struggles with alcoholism at the time he wrote The Shining and it comes across as deeply personal, which would help explain his vested interest in the integrity of his story and criticisms of Stanley Kubrick. Now What Kubrick did in his film was truly remarkable and is often scary, but it is definitely a Kubrick film than a King film. Yet, The Shining is also one of the greatest horror novels of all time and is well worth at least one read through.

FInal Score: 10/10

Review: The Lighthouse

Robert LeeLeave a comment

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Should pale death, with treble dread, make the ocean caves our bed, God who hears the surges roll deign to save our suppliant soul.

Director Robert Eggers made quite a splash with the unsettling horror film The Witch. With The Lighthouse, he ramps that sense of unsettlement up to eleven and creates a horror movie that centers around madness and features two incredible performances from a pair of actors that are often underappreciated for their craft.

The Lighthouse is set entirely on a small island where a solitary lighthouse is to be manned by two men who are also the sole human occupants of the island for four weeks until the next relief comes. Willem Dafoe as Thomas Wake is the old grizzled sea dog of the pair who is the senior in charge and has been doing lighthouse duties for a long time now — perhaps too long. Robert Pattinson as Ephraim Winslow, is the young newcomer who has taken his first lighthouse duties thinking there would be good money in it by the end.

The pair are strangers to each other and it’s not even until about halfway through the film that they even exchange names. Tensions begin on the very first day as Pattinson’s character refuses to drink during dinner with the veteran, saying it is against regulations. The old man treats Pattinson as nothing more than a hard laborer. He has him doing all the repairs, all the hard work, and the cleaning. All this time he is noting everything in a log book and makes it clear that he is the only one that maintains with the lighthouse lamp.

As the days and weeks go by, nerves begin to fray as Winslow becomes tired of Wake’s old sea stories and verbal abuses. Winslow begins to see things that he is not sure is  real or imagined. All this time, the relationship between the pair wax from friendliness to outright physical fights as they while away nights drinking alcohol.

Throughout the film, Eggers creates a feeling of dread and unease as we and Winslow question whether what he has seen is either real or not. It does not help that Wake questions the youth’s own grip on reality about questionable actions that are presented as those of Wake’s.

Their confines are claustrophobic and made to look even more so as the films was shot in the narrow aspect ratio of 1.19:1 which is even more narrow of an aspect ration than old tube televisions which were 1.33:1. It is also shot with stark black and white film which adds to the atmospheric nature of dread that permeates the entire movie. The cinematography is by Jarin Blashke, who had also shot The Witch for Eggers previously. While that was a film that was muted in colors, the decision to go black and white for The Lighthouse makes every shadow and every scene all the more unsettling. Location filming took place at the real lighthouse on Cape Forchu in Nova Scotia. The normally attractive tourist spot becomes a menacing gothic figure surrounded by crashing waves and angry storms under the lens of Bashke.

Accompanying this beautifully shot film is a menacing score by Mark Korven, another alum from Egger’s The Witch. From the opening shot, ominous deep minor notes immediately make you aware that an impending dark tale is about to unfold and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Throughout the narrative, Korven’s score looms over scenes like a heavy anchor around the necks of the characters, weighing the feel of the film down with moods of unease, even in the most mundane of scenes.

Much of what makes this film work hinges on the ability of just two actors to carry this film with a minimum of budget and special effects. Fortunately for us, Eggers draws out some of the best performances on the year from the two cast members. Robert Pattinson has steadily been building a solid acting resume, post Twilight and he is steadily maturing as one of the most respected and accomplished actors of his age. Willem Dafoe turns in what is possibly his best performance ever as Thomas Wake, channeling a dark abusive old sea dog, chewing on a pipe, and dripping salty, often vitriolic lines.

 

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Despite this being a horror film, it won’t appeal to all horror fans. There are no jump scares and there is no masked slasher slowly stalking victims trying to run away. Much of the horror in this is psychological and builds up as characters begin to lose their grips on sanity. Soon both men will descend into their own form of madness and we as a viewer are left to wonder whose vision of reality is true — or even if both of them are not seeing things as they are. Most certainly, the ending may not make much sense to average horror fans but even so, it will be one of those endings that will make you think about it after the lights come on in the cinema. If there is a universal lesson that we can all take from this film it’s that it’s bad luck to kill a seabird.

Robert Eggers, with his follow-up to The Witch is carving a niche for himself in the horror genre that elevates him to an auteur status that is currently occupied by artists of vision like Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) who are changing how we see modern horror movies. Instead of going for cheap jump-scares and torture porn deaths, they make you feel dread, fear, and unease. And in the end that is those things make for good horror.

Final Score: 9/10

Bonus Content: While watching The Lighthouse, I could not help but think of an episode of The Simpsons. And true to the South Park meme, The Simpsons already did it with an episode titled Mountain of Madness where Mr. Burns and Homer are trapped in a cabin together and they slowly go mad. Of course it’s not the exact same story but it is a little fun to compare the two.

So for legal reasons, and for my declaration of fair use, below is a clip from that episode.