The Lighthouse

Based on a true story, Chris Crow’s atmospheric chamber piece follows the dark and dire fortunes of two men trapped on a lighthouse for months on end.

Based on the true story of the Smalls Lighthouse Incident of 1801, Chris Crow’s atmospheric feature follows the dark and dire fortunes of two men trapped on a lighthouse for months on end. As a deadly storm rages outside, so begins a desolate descent into recrimination, violence and madness.

Over the course of several features (Panic Button, Devil’s Bridge) director Chris Crow has established himself as a virtual one-man genre film industry working out of Wales. But despite Crow’s horror pedigree, The Lighthouse eschews the story’s potential for cabin-fever carnage in favour of a more studied meditation on themes of guilt, grief and masculinity. Working with a bigger budget (and backing from the likes of BBC Films) Crow steps up admirably, presenting a tightly coiled, claustrophobic chamber piece that’s boosted by two commendable performances from two leads (Mark Lewis Jones, Michael Jibson) who are rarely off-screen.