By Melissa Antoinette Garza
HOLY FUCK!
Let’s just all agree Robert Eggers is the fucking man, and call it a day. Between this and THE WITCH (2015), I’m blown away.
I expected to really enjoy THE LIGHTHOUSE. The trailers intrigued me. Eggers passion for filmmaking and thought-provoking horror made this a must-see for me. I didn’t anticipate how much I would love it.
Both Lovecraft’s adoration for indecipherable mysticism and Poe’s love for increasing paranoia are brought to life in a film that deserves to be compared to both of those masterful authors.
Every scene is purposeful, every anecdote is significant and every mythological mention is intentionally crafted and woven into a fabulous tale of two lighthouse keepers and their subsequent decent into madness.
Shot in black-and-white, THE LIGHTHOUSE takes place on an island in New England in the 1890s. Stationed to watch over the lighthouse is Wake (Willem DaFoe), a gruff and disheveled old-timer who takes his job very seriously yet still drinks like a fish every night.
Winslow (Robert Pattinson) is a young man hired to be a wickie and the subordinate of Wake. The last man to work Winslow’s job apparently went mad and killed himself after talks of sirens and mermaids. Winslow himself finds a carved statuette of a siren hiding in his mattress. It entices and allures him, and he thinks of the mystical creature quite often.
At first, Winslow refuses to drink with Wake. He wants to follow the rules, but also doesn’t want to make any waves. Wake insists that he get liquored up and toast with him. Within a few nights, Winslow succumbs to the devil’s brew and kicks back with Wake.
The two men have a contentious relationship. At times, they are friendly. When drunk they dance and laugh. Other times, they are at each other’s throats and even come to blows. Living in such close quarters at such a trying job, that type of bond wouldn’t necessarily be unusual. Here though, each man is shrouded in mystery and the lighthouse itself spawns intrigue and wonder.
Wake insists on handling the lighthouse himself. He doesn’t allow Winston near it and instead Winston does all the grunt work. Soon, Winston becomes convinced that there is something mystical and wondrous in the lighthouse and that Wake refuses to share it. He sees tentacles and watches as Wake lies naked in front of the powerful brightness as he moans in ecstasy. Winston wants in, but Wake refuses to let him up. This creates jealousy and a need in Winston that overtakes him.
More, he believes he sees a beautiful siren washed on land and becomes entranced and sexually aroused so much so it breeds powerful fantasies. Feeling controlled by them, he breaks the statuette he originally found. The hold this creature has on his mind though doesn’t go away and instead is redirected to the lighthouse light even more.
Despite being warned to let the seagulls be, Winston loses it one day and beats a one-eyed seagull to death. The bird had been a bone of contention between the two men as it had been taunting Winston into delirious anger. Wake believed the soul of a sailor resided within and that it was bad luck to kill any type of sea bird. Still, Winston can’t hold back.
Shortly thereafter, the men become stuck on the island as a horrible storm hits hard. As it does, Winston and Wake start living in different realities. At one point, Wake claims they’ve been stuck on the island for weeks when Winston believes they had only been there for a day. Contradictions between the two men become more and more frequent. Even what the viewers witness cannot fully be believed as the narrators are unreliable and often drunk enough to have delusions.
Soon, they run out of alcohol. Rather than quitting, which under the circumstances would have been a good thing to do, Winston uses turpentine to make some good ol’ fashion moonshine. Now moonshine is heavy fucking shit. I won’t touch that stuff, but Winston and Wake are drinking it back like it’s nothing.
The alcohol, paranoia, and close uninhabitable quarters becomes too much to bear and everything culminates in an ending both shocking and fitting.
I can’t suggest this flick enough. I got to see it with my best friend of 18 years who I love sooooo much! I adore that girl, I do! She had already seen it but was willing to go again – and I needed, needed, and also needed to see it.
With my expectations being so high, I thought I’d be let down. Eggers exceeded my expectations. If Willem DaFoe and Robert Pattinson don’t get Oscar nods, I’ll be really fucking pissed off! Horror never gets a fair shake with award shows, and I’ve accepted that – sort of. That said, the amount of intelligence, mythology, character depth, acting skills, storytelling and the brilliant claustrophobic atmosphere deserves recognition. It was amazing!
At the very least, if I hear anyone else trashing Pattinson about being Batman before the film comes out, imma karate chop them in the throat because this film has shown he has the skills to pay the fucking bills! He is not just that kid from the shitty ass glitter vampire movies, anymore. He’s a force to be reckoned with and don’t you cats forget it.
There has never been a horror film like it and there probably won’t be one ever again. While it’s still running in theaters, go check this out. Enjoy it and rock on mofos, because this film is sen-fucking-sational.
Scared Stiff Rating: 10/10
