Lighthouse

"Lighthouse" was briefly released in theatres in March 2000, before ending up on video under the title Dead Of Night. Basically this is an excellent slasher film. Several very effective sequences between the killer and the victims make the film quite suspensful. The movie takes itself seriously unlike most of the current crop of "horror movies". The acting is passable and I liked the choice of setting and the way the film is generally set up. There is a decent amount of gore too. Lighthouse/Dead Of Night is worth a look ! It's like a British version of the 80's American slasher film only made in the late 90's after the genre became a joke and we all forgot horror movies can still be scary!

Visually it looked great, but it fell into madman hacks people to death in unimaginative ways with no suspense or caring for characters crap video territory very quickly. It's all been done before and a million times better in loads of other straight to video slasher shockers. Tony Imi was too good for them!

Many modern slasher flicks are somewhat campy and understandably so as writing a genuinely scary variant of a film type we've already seen many times isn't easy.

The Lighthouse takes itself seriously so at least deserves credit for trying although the result isn't anything special. The killer ultimately is another silent, emotionless type, the hero naturally happens to be someone accused of murder who isn't guilty.

Essentially a ship crashes leaving the criminals and officers to try surviving. Some manage to reach the nearby lighthouse. The only problem is the serial killer Leo Rook has escaped and already killed the lighthouse workers.

Actually there are good suspense scenes as certain characters try to avoid the killer. Unfortunately for slasher fans, the kills aren't terribly creative. At least it has good pacing and thus avoids being boring.

This movie has been unfairly critisied - mostly for being left on the shelf for almost 4 years (It was made in 1999 but didn't get a release until 2002/2003) The story is thrilling and imaginative, The actors were pretty good for this material,The direction and photography were nigh on excellent, It a lot better than some other recent slasher movies that have made it into the cinema. The story concerns a group of convicts and a Doctor trapped onboard a deserted lighthouse hundreds of miles from shore, where a serial killer is also in hiding... I rate this 8.5/10 (for showing what a good movie you can do with less than $2,000,000)

I bought this movie at my local video store the other day for the whooping sum of 94 cents. I figured I could`nt lose. About 10 minutes in I was thinking that I had thrown away 94 cents and was about to eject it from the VCR and throw it in the trash. However, it began to show some promise in the thrills and suspense area so I continued to watch and ended up very pleased to add this film to my collection. Even though there is nothing original about this movie (psycho killer stalks people on an island with large knife) it is well made and well acted by a cast of unknowns. At times the suspense is riveting. I would recommend this movie for at least a one time watch.