7 Creepy Lighthouses Featured In Horror Films
Don't be afraid of the dark; be afraid of the light.
A symbol of both safety and danger, the lighthouse sits amongst the rocky coast, with only a few keepers and the sea for company. You may not know why, but this simple building makes you feel… uneasy.
From scarier Doctor Who episodes like The Horror of Fang Rock, to the twisted Junji Ito manga, Uzumaki, horror has always been attracted to the humble lighthouse.
But it’s not just TV and comics that have seen the allure. Whether it’s their odd architecture, or their isolated placement, the lighthouse is the perfectly creepy location to set a horror movie in. And, over the years, there have been many films that have chosen to do so.
From bloody massacres that mark the fall of civilisation, to a lighthouse keeper’s descent into madness, to the arrival of a deadly fog; there are many varied and vicious examples of the lighthouse used to further a horror film with it’s unique brand of spooky symbolism.
Whether it’s a small cameo, or the film’s main location, the lighthouse is a welcome and unsettling edition to these films.
7. The Ring
2002’s The Ring is the well-received remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film. Just like the original, it hosts an array of disturbing imagery. So much so, that you might forget the inclusion of an ominous lighthouse.
With modern technology, lighthouses have become less vital to coastal navigation. This makes them a strange and rare relic that wouldn’t usually be seen in our current narratives.
Although video tapes and VCR players may seem dated now, in 2002 they still represented modern technology. The horror of The Ring shows our comfortable, scientific world being invaded by ghosts from the past. The past is a theme used often in horror, as it starts to represent something “other” than ourselves. And this is what happens with the lighthouse.
As Rachel is desperately trying to find some answers regarding the fatal video tape, she sees something at the corner of the viewing screen. An image just out of sight. She pushes the film as far as it will go, and then, just before the machine breaks, she sees it: a lighthouse, like a bleached white bone, standing in the distance of the footage.
The lighthouse used in the film is the Yaquina Head Light (previously known by the more suitably gothic name, The Cape Foulweather Lighthouse) in Oregon, just below the rainy, moody state of Washington where the film is set.
Although its cameo is brief, this lighthouse is the clue that leads Rachel to the island of Moesko, and the old world of ghosts, curses, and death.
And Samara.