Le phare de l'angoisse

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.

"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!

With Lighthouse at last we see a lottery funded co production that is trying to appeal to a mass market. Hunter has with this film managed to demonstrate that he is adept at handling action and tension while keeping the chit chat to a minimum. Some of the performances are below par but with the money he had £i.5 million we can see where Hunter has put it and it is obviously not on the performers. Notable exceptions being Don Warrington and Paul Brooke. Where the money has gone is on the set peices which are well planned and show sadistic delight in the subject matter. The production design is superb although perhaps let down by some indiffrerent cinematography in places. The film brings nothing new to the genre but Hunter does a good job with his first film. Perhaps the saddest aspect to all this is that it is inevitable that Hunter will cross the pond and work within the Hollywood system. A good watch

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)

More like outhouse as it's got the same contents. This is probably one of the worst horror films I've ever seen, and I've watched some utter drivel in my time!

A ship flounders onto a lighthouse island with it's crew of convicts and wardens and a crazed killer attempts to murder them all....and... er....that's it. Cue lots of gore and screaming and running about. This could have been so much better but it's totally spoilt by the overwrought acting by people more used to the histrionics of British soap operas.You can almost see the angst in every delivered line of dialogue from this bunch of 'lighthouse luvvies.' Drama workshop and improv style makes for a pretentious story that plays like a student film.Even the swearing is strictly from RADA drama school, i.e: 'farking.' It pains me to admit it but we Brits just can't seem to make a decent horror film anymore,at least not a straight slasher genre type which this fails so dismally at. 'Darkness Falls' was a pretty bad lighthouse based horror but it's a classic compared to this cliché ridden overblown mess.