The Lighthouse

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson are unforgettable adversaries in this eerie, unnerving two-hander from The Witch director Robert Eggers. Co-written with his brother Max, the film unfolds in moody monochrome as two lighthouse keepers arrive for a stint manning the ships' beacon on a remote New England island in the 1890s. Ominous signs abound as Dafoe's superstitious veteran lords it over the younger Pattinson, setting a punishing work schedule, yet remaining fiercely protective of the light itself, which seems to possess supernatural qualities. When the men turn to drink and misfortune befalls them, sanity becomes as much a stranger as civilisation. Eggers conjures an oppressive and unpredictable atmosphere, with the pair seesawing between booze-fuelled affection and violent vitriol, while Pattinson's visions of an alluring and monstrous mermaid adds a further note of the uncanny. With its captivating, chiaroscuro-rich cinematography, and two leads operating at the peak of their powers, The Lighthouse remains horribly effective to the last.