- In Theatres
- October 18th
It’s midway through 2019 and A24 is on something of a roll. In Fabric has gotten pretty good reviews across the board and Midsommar was the talk of the internet for the weeks leading up to and after its release. Later this year in the middle of October, it’ll be the turn of The Lighthouse, a film which had its first trailer drop online today.
Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe star in The Lighthouse, a Robert Eggers-directed film presented in black and white and in a 4:3 aspect ratio. This combination is something not seen in a (somewhat) mainstream cinema release for some time and the thing that at the moment makes it stand out. The story follows the story of two lighthouse keepers who work on a remote and mysterious island off the coast of New England in the 1890s.
The Lighthouse is being billed as a horror but from what we see in this first trailer, it doesn’t feel anything like the uber-modern unsettling horror that’s becoming more common in the genre. Instead, the pacing of it, the way the dialogue is delivered, and the visual aesthetic are all super stylized but that’s not quite the truth. It’s just been produced to look and feel much more like a horror classic from the 1930s or 1940s.
Hopefully there’s a bit more to it than that; there needs to be something else for audiences once they’re comfortable with the aesthetic. The trailer focuses on the two main characters, setting audiences up for something that’s likely going to carry through The Lighthouse. It looks set to be a character piece that cements Pattinson’s ability to take on some really interesting roles and remind everyone what a great dramatic turn Defoe is able to take.
I’m certainly looking forward to seeing The Lighthouse when it releases this October to see where it goes and whether there is more to the film than its visual aesthetic.
*still courtesy of VVS Films*
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