New Hampshire director Robert Eggers made a splash with his 2015 film THE WITCH. It received critical acclaim and brought to horror fans the cult icon of Black Philip. After his freshman effort, a lot of attention followed where many wondered what would be the follow up for his sophomore effort. The film that he came up with was the recently released THE LIGHTHOUSE (2019) timed for Halloween and yet very unlike many more mainstream genre films.

Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) and Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe) are the new wickies (or lighthouse keepers) for a small island off the coast of New Hampshire. Thomas, the veteran, shows a volatile personality where he takes full control of the operation of the lighthouse while making Ephraim do the menial tasks such as clean and house maintenance. As things begin to go get worse as supplies run low and the men’s personalities begin to grate, strange things happen that begin to make Ephraim question their daily tasks.

Small in scale, the movie is most certainly an “actor’s” film. Both Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson show off their acting talents in a movie that is filled with atmosphere. Critical praise allowed the film to get a bigger than average release for an “arthouse” film and the movie continues to have high regard. Dark Discussions takes a look at this very bizarre yet interesting film.