Lighthouse (2000)

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

While interesting and actually frightening at times, this experiment felt more like an Alien film (preferably Alien3 and Aliens mixed) with a slasher holdover in the late 90s. Hard to watch the way I did - only copy online I could find was some VHS upload into YouTube - not a good combo. But, it was doable. Recommended by the podcast Shockwaves as a lost and understated 90s horror flick. Honestly, it could've remained lost and it would be no big, well, you know.

A ruthless killer named Leo Rook (Adamson) is being transferred by ship to an island prison. Also on board is the profiling Dr. McCloud (Shelley) who knows Rook's entire story and a handful of guards and other prisoners who are unaware of traveling with the notorious Rook. With the help of a staff member, Rook escapes his cell and quickly snaps the neck of the woman who helped him. He gets off the ship and makes his way to a Lighthouse in the distance, all without anyone on board knowing. He slaughters the staff at the lighthouse in grisly fashion and then shuts off the beam causing the ship to crash and sink. Some of the guards and prisoners and Dr. McCloud make it to the island when the doctor informs them about Rook's presence on the ship. To their horror, the survivors realize the only place to take cover is the creepy lighthouse and Rook beings to stalk them. Originally titled "Lighthouse" (a far superior title) this British film is a great example of a slasher film being done correctly. First time Director/Writer/Producer Simon Hunter quickly shows you this isn't going to be filled with clichéd slasher ideas such as dumb teenagers going off to have sex and getting killed. The characters are will written and act intelligently, exactly how they would if this was real. Hunter keeps his killer in silhouette and shadows and darkly lit. He is silent, swift and brutal, all things you want in a creepy slasher. Leo Rook is one twisted character and the death sequences are bloody and graphic with the attacks still being very scary. Rook, in ritualistic fashion cuts off the heads of his victims and is setting up a shrine on a lifeboat with their heads! Hunter mixes great suspense in with the gore which is a great combination for a slasher film. Just watch the sequence where a prisoner is hiding out in a bathroom stall or when another is hiding in the bottom of the lifeboat and Rook is placing the head of his friend on the shrine! This is great stuff that includes solid atmosphere and some startling jumps. Stylish and slick, Simon Hunter has crafted a serious well made slasher film that is fun, thrilling and scary!

There was a movie. With a lighthouse. A serial killer is loose and the audience is agonising, and not because the film is terrifying. The film is terrifyingly bad with awful characters, awful acting and an awful end. The serial killer was the ugliest bastard I'd ever seen, and he does not utter a word throughout the movie!!!!The whole film has a strange surrealistic atmosphere, as if the actors had been teleported into a parallel bad movie dimension. The "traumatic scenes" of the movie were more like comedy than anything else, like some awesomely bad joke told by my sister. By watching this movie I experienced no feeling of being entertained at all, it is definitely good for the trashcan.

Serial killer thriller horror is actually fairly entertaining, but does require a temporary abandonment of common sense.James Purefoy is Spader, a prisoner aboard a transport ship taking a crew of inmates to prison. Unfortunately, the ship runs into trouble and sinks, leaving only a few survivors. Spader is one of the said survivors, as is Rook, a psychopath who kills anyone he sees. The small band of survivors, including Spader, set up stall in the lighthouse which is on the land the survivors reach, and aware that Rook is out there, endeavour to protect themselves.Lighthouse is a British horror, which generally have a gritty feel to them. This one is no different. It certainly has that hard edge we come to expect from UK horror like 28 Days Later etc.It also generates a pretty atmospheric facade, showing up moody storms and the isolated lighthouse. Decent work was done here.The direction is generally pretty clear, and doesn't confuse too much. It does a good job of keeping the pace fairly quick.In a technical sense though, the dialogue is a slight problem with very murky delivery in places. I am unsure if the actors specifically muddied their lines or if it was just a bad sound system, but some of what is said is decidedly incoherent.The acting is generally mediocre, with one particularly awful performance from Don Warrington who was hopelessly miscast. The guy is a thesp, not a jibbering wreck as he was asked to play here. He struggles obviously at times, and one can only have sympathy with him.The rest gamely chug on, with Purefoy being the handsome and charismatic male lead and doing a reasonable job of it.The last flaw though, with Lighthouse, is that there are just too many daft moments. Too many occasions logic is dismissed and reason flies out of the window. As such this is not exactly the most realistic of horrors but as long as you accept you're not getting common sense, it's passable enough.Indeed, as long as you can dismiss the stupidity of much of it, it is actually OK and worth a couple of hours of your time. There are certainly much worse efforts out there.