50 Greatest Horror Movies Of The 21st Century

7. The Lighthouse

the lighthouse willem dafoe
A24

Plot: Two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) descend into madness on a remote island.

The Lighthouse is pure cinema.

A brilliantly insane descent into the abyss that sees the great Robert Eggers using every technique and tool in the filmmaker's playbook to terrify the living daylights out of viewers, The Lighthouse is a bravura technical masterpiece that burrows its way into the deepest recesses of your mind and is likely to leave even the hardest viewer sucking their thumb in utter terror.

There are very few other movies that represent insanity on-screen so ingeniously and much like Eggers' first film, the aforementioned The Witch, The Lighthouse is also defined by its fascinating symbolism and unbelievable acting. Willem Dafoe is instantly iconic and gives one of his very best performances, yet somehow Robert Pattinson actually manages to upstage him.

The Lighthouse is arguably one of the best films of the 2010s, horror or otherwise, and it confirms that Robert Eggers is a true master of horror.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.