We’re actually kind of stunned that it’s taken Robert Eggers — director of 2016’s runaway horror hit The Witch — this long to come out with a second feature. In the case of somebody like Ari Aster, boutique production company/distributor A24 had a second feature ready to go as soon as possible (though whether or not it was a good idea to rush a neophyte director into making a thinly-sketched out three-hour epic is up for debate), but Eggers got the chance to take his time.
It looks like that decision paid off for all involved, as his latest film, the arty horror The Lighthouse, which stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as New England crusty lighthouse keepers fending off against some sort of Lovecraftian menace, has been well-received by all who have seen it. A24 finally dropped a trailer for the long-awaited film on Tuesday, and it’s definitely the most interesting thing you’ll see all day.
Take a look:
Now, that’s a striking set of visuals, huh? Well, according to Little White Lies, Eggers and his crew captured them on 35mm film stock using equipment from the ’20s and ’30s. And given the runaway success of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood‘s film-centric distribution strategy, let’s hope that A24 strikes a number of Lighthouse prints so that audiences get a chance to see this as it was meant to be seen. Besides, you wouldn’t want Robert Pattinson’s most difficult shoot yet to be for naught, right? The guy almost decked his director while they were working on the project, and we’d like to remind you that this is a dude who worked on a whole bunch of Twilight movies.
The Lighthouse hits theaters on October 18, but it’ll be making its North American premiere over at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.
Here’s the film’s first poster:
