The Lighthouse — The Lighthouse( Blu Ray)
The Lighthouse was the second feature film from New Hampshire-born writer/ director Robert Eggers. It appeared five years after his decidedly divisive and post-horror-defining debut film The Witch, and it’s fair to say another very distinctive cinematic experience. The film hovers somewhere between glum ‘n’ grim period drama, mystery, and fantasy- with darts of horror and very darkly hued humour- all socked in a deep bath of dread & uneasiness. Here from Arrow Video UK is a new release of the film- coming as either a Blu-Ray or 4K disc. It takes in an HD presentation of the film, a new commentary track, a new documentary on the making of the film- and a few other new & archive extras.
The Lighthouse is set on a remote New England Island in the 1890s. It focuses on two men working a four-week shift together on the island's lighthouse. We have grizzled, bearded, and cantankerous Tomas (Willem Dafoe) who is seemingly a seasoned lighthouse keeper. And moustached, younger, and new to the lighthouse keeper game Ephraim (Robert Pattinson).
The black and white film opens in a decidedly grim and brooding manner- as we see the two men standing with their backs to the camera as rain & wind lashed the small boat they are travelling on, as the darkly billowing score plays. As they settle into the lighthouse- it’s clear Tomas is a hard taskmaster- who likes to drink, as well as belittle and degrade Ephraim at every opportunity. The older man sits up with the tower's light, as the young man does the hard labour- and a host of pointless tasks.
As the grim day in and out of life on the island unfold- we keep getting hints that something else is going on here, and that maybe one or both of the men are not quite what they seem. Yes, much like The Witch there is a rather arthouse feel to the film- but unlike that film, it does keep moving/ is fairly captivating/ engaging.
Both actors do very well in their roles- and you really do see them slipping fully into their characters. Just like The Witch- we have of-the-time accents/ pronunciations- but these are easier to understand/ take in than that of The Witch- though we do get the occasional mumbled line.
The film plays at one hour and forty-nine-minute mark, and largely the pacing/ appeal of the film remains firm, and you do really start to get pulled into the lives of these two characters. The drama, which from time to time is lightly edged by dark humour- plays out well. When the elements of dark fantasy and horror are brought into the film- these are done in an impactful way, and throughout Eggers creates a very effective feeling of glum uneasy and foreboding.
It's not really a film you can go too deep into plot-wise- as it would rather ruin its impact, as well as a feeling of mystery/ what the hell is really going on here vibe. I’m still very much on the fence about Eggers's first film- but I must say The Lighthouse is a better-paced, conceived, and at points downright unnerving to horrifying experience, than The Witch.
Moving onto this new release, and as you’d expect from Arrow we get a wonderful new print of the film- which really brings out depth, clarity, and detail in the film's black and white stock. Moving onto the new extras, we get a nice selection of things. First up we have a commentary track from authors/ husband & wife team Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict- this is the second track I’ve heard from these two, and once again it’s a wonderful researched, observed, and very dryly funny track. They begin by discussing the film's boxy ratio, and how it works well within the presentation. They chat about the film's two actors, and how they came to the project. There’s talk about one of the theories that the film only features one man. We get talk about the project's development- which started before the making of The Witch, when director Eggers and his brother discussed adapting The Lighthouse by Edger Alan Poe- before the project later took off down its own path. We get to talk about the said story, which is meant to be the final short story Poe wrote. We find out the director went all over the US, Canada, and the UK to find the right Lighthouse- but couldn’t find exactly what they wanted- so they built it from scratch on the barren coast of Nova Scotia. We find out that the film used three trained seagulls, and that the foghorn was created by using the sound of two different horns. Later on, they talk about the sea-bound mythology & gods referenced in the film, and other references in general throughout the picture. Quotes from interviews with the director, and much more. Really a must-play track!...and I do hope these two do more tracks down the line, as they really are the most informative-yet- generally funny commentators out there. Otherwise, there’s Art Of Darkness- a one-hour and eleven minutes documentary. This is an eight-part affair, taking in input from Robert Eggers, crew members, and authors Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict. This is a wonderful in-depth doc- going right from the project's origins, it's making, and its legacy. We have The Lighthouse Next Door: The Consuming House Tale of Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse( 19.32) which is a visual essay from author and critic Kat Ellinger- and as always with an Ellinger extra it’s most worthy. She talks about the influences of both folk horror & American gothic horror in the film.
On the archive side, we have a director's commentary, two deleted scenes(2.38), and A Dark And Stormy Tale( 37.56) which is another making-of-doc. There is a selection of trailers and an image gallery.
The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork. A sixty-page perfect bound book featuring new writing on the film by Simon Abrams, Wickham Clayton, Martyn Conterio and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork, and six double-sided collector’s postcards.
It’s great to see The Lighthouse getting this classy treatment from Arrow Video. With the crisp & clean HD scan looking wonderful, with a good selection of new & archive extras, and the sixty-page book. I’d say if you were on the fence regarding The Witch, I’d certainly give The Lighthouse a try- and what better way to see it in this new edition?