10 Horror Movies You MUST Watch On The Big Screen

8. The Lighthouse (2019)

Robert Eggers went all-out on his follow-up to 2015's The Witch, digging deeper into the unspeakable horrors and darkness that have come to define his filmmaking. In The Lighthouse, Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star as lighthouse keepers ("wickies") who unite on a remote New England island for weeks on end, succumbing to cabin fever, alcoholism, and the lure of the lighthouse's lens. 

The Lighthouse is purposefully designed, more than any other of Eggers' films, to batter the audience into submission. The intention is very much to drop us into the wickie life, with accents, dialogue, and method acting from both leads designed to provide optimal verisimilitude with the subject matter. 

The movie harks back to classic black and white horrors, using similar framing and technology, but rather than take these elements and make something traditional, Eggers uses the limitations to the advantage of his horrors. The aspect ratio and tight framing provide a visual claustrophobia that the sound design then uses to trap and fixate us. And the sound itself is frequently deafening and brutal, with foghorn drones, screaming wickies, and caterwauling seagulls all contending for the limited space in a mono mix. 

In all, The Lighthouse is an atmospheric journey that begs for the bombast of the cinema.