Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

The Lighthouse 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2023

For such a curious film that has "cult item" virtually emblazoned across its misty black and white imagery, The Lighthouse has already had a somewhat surprising three releases in Region A (two 1080, one 4K UHD). Parts of my Region A reviews are reprinted here, as appropriate.

Thunder Rock really should have been one of the biggest hits of the 1939-40 Broadway season. It was a production of the legendary Group Theater, then coming off the single biggest smash hit in its entire history, and it in fact reunited Frances Farmer and Luther Adler, the stars of that very sensation, Clifford Odets’ 1937 play Golden Boy (note that the link points to the movie version). The redoubtable Elia Kazan, then still relatively early in his career (he had actually replaced Adler as part of the touring company of Golden Boy), directed the cast (which also included a number of other Group notables like Lee J. Cobb and Morris Carnovsky), and the script was by the noted author and anthropologist (!) Robert Ardrey. Thunder Rock, which previewed under the title Tower of Light, told the story of two lighthouse keepers (or at least one lighthouse keeper and a supplier of goods to that lighthouse), one of whom is increasingly isolationist and prone to “dreaming” (if not outright hallucinating), and the other, who leaves to embark on a quest to better the world. Thunder Rock opened in November 1939, in the wake of the first battles of what would ultimately become World War II, and its message that involvement in conflict is sometimes necessary in order to end conflict was not well received by an American audience which was itself still pretty resolutely isolationist, as it continued to be by and large until Pearl Harbor was attacked around two years later. Thunder Rock may have failed on “this side of the pond”, closing after only about three weeks, but it was a substantial, even legendary, hit in London, becoming a stage symbol of British resistance. Some fans may know Thunder Rock became a somewhat ill regarded British film in 1942 starring Michael Redgrave which made some substantial changes to the original play while perhaps understandably highlighting Ardrey’s thesis that a sanguine reaction to fascism would only spell disaster. Now some 81 years after Robert Ardrey crafted a piece which (in its stage version, anyway) took place in a lighthouse populated by apparitions and with a plot that evoked both a literal and figurative “storm warning”, another Robert, Robert Eggers, arrives with The Lighthouse, a kind of nightmarish “two hander” which is similarly located, and which offers a spooky mood and some outstanding performances, but a “message” that may seem somewhat muddled.

It’s not much of a spoiler to state the Robert Eggers, who made such a splash (sorry) a few years ago with The Witch, populates this story with various mythic subtexts and even imagery. Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe, in a role which could easily bring him an Academy Award nomination in a few days) is a crusty old seaman who is mentoring a novice named Ephraim Winslow (Robert Pattinson) in a completely isolated lighthouse somewhere in New England (the film’s crew actually built a lighthouse from scratch in Nova Scotia for the shoot, according to the interesting featurette included on this Blu-ray disc as a supplement). Much as with Eggers’ previous foray into quasi-horror, there’s mood aplenty from the opening fog shrouded scenes which seem to be emerging directly from the filmmaker’s Id, but almost instantly Eggers depicts two characters who are each seemingly hiding something, with some increasing angst accruing.

The reference to Id may indicate that there’s a certain Freudian ambience to The Lighthouse, especially with regard to the power dynamic between the elder Wake and younger Winslow (a draft of the script seen in the featurette simply refers to the characters as “Old” and “Young”), which ultimately has some at least slightly sexual overtones. But the film is filled with other imagery that evokes everything from folklore (visions of a kind of frightening mermaid haunt Ephraim) to Greek mythology (the final moment seems to be a seafaring version of part of the Prometheus story, and indeed Prometheus as the “bringer of light” might be appropriately seen as informing the story from the get go).

The “secrets” which are ultimately revealed about Wake and Winslow have a surface logic, but by the point in the film where they’re doled out, things have gotten so generally gonzo due to the mental imbalance of at least one (and arguably both) of the characters that it’s hard to know exactly what is “the truth” and what isn’t. There’s also a reveal about Ephraim’s name which may indicate that Eggers is really trying to (and I’ll be a bit circumspect here in order not to post any outright spoilers) go what might be termed a “Persona route”. As such, there are probably going to be a whole slew of unanswered questions that various viewers may have as the film comes to its calamitous close, but that said, the film has an undeniably gravitational pull which, like the ferocious tides surrounding the lighthouse in the film, is impossible not to feel.

The Lighthouse 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's standalone 1080 release. This package does not include a 1080 disc.

The Lighthouse is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HVEC / H. 265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1:20:1. While A24's own 4K release was notably silent on technical information, aside from a generic "new HDR master" on their website, Arrow doesn't provide much more information on their version, with just the following generic verbiage included in their insert booklet:

The Lighthouse is presented in 1.19:1 [sic] with 5.1 sound. The 4K UHD release of the film is presented in 4K resolution with HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The 4K UHD master data files were sourced from NBC Universal.

I frankly noticed little if any difference between this 4K UHD release and the one from A24, and will therefore repeat some of my comments from my original 4K review here. I've been on record as sometimes having an almost Pavlovian (negative) response to shot on film properties in the increased resolution this format offers, and for that as reason as well as the film's ubiquitously dark, shrouded cinematography made me as curious as I've ever been to view a film in 4K UHD. Yes, grain is very thick at times, to the point it can mask the already gray, dreary skies in outdoor scenes in particular, but it's generally rather nicely resolved in my estimation, and is part of what gives this very uniquely shot film some of its texture and ambience. HDR and/or Dolby Vision probably offer more in the shadow definition department than in actual highlights, something that can help bring out at least general detail levels in some of the rather dark interior scenes. Contrast is lustrous throughout this presentation, offering gorgeous blacks and a very nicely modulated gray scale. The 4K UHD presentation perhaps points up some slight focus pulling issues at times and I was kind of surprised to see just a nanosecond or two of very minor frame damage that I hadn't noticed before. The supposedly low light scenes featuring the two focal characters and the tabletop lamp have an almost (appropriately?) watery look in this version, with the light almost looking effulgent. That said, I didn't notice any hint of banding in situations like this.

The Lighthouse 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Lighthouse offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that derives considerable surround activity from the glut of ambient environmental effects that are a pretty ubiquitous part of the sound design. Everything from screeching seagulls to the crash of waves echo through the side and rear channels with nice authenticity. The weird thing about this film is it almost plays like a silent a lot of the time, with long stretches going by without much if any dialogue, leaving the soundtrack to be populated with nothing other than ambient environmental effects. That said, dialogue (which is fairly heavy accented with dialect work on the part of both actors) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout (there are subtitles to help with understanding some of the colloquialisms being utilized). Mark Korven's kind of minimalist score also sounds evocative and full bodied throughout.

The Lighthouse 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director / Producer Robert Eggers


• Audio Commentary by Guy Adams and Alexandra Benedict


• Art of Darkness: Making The Lighthouse (HD; 1:11:25) is a really excellent newly produced multi-part documentary that provides quite a bit of background and context, even if its Deciphering chapter may still leave more than a few unanswered questions for enquiring minds.


• The Lighthouse Next Door (HD; 19:32) is another new piece, an engaging visual essay by Kat Ellinger.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 2:59)


• The Lighthouse: A Dark and Stormy Tale (HD; 37:56) is a very interesting piece that delves into some of the subtext of the story while also providing some production information and interstitial interviews (which are almost shocking looking since they're in color).
• Theatrical Trailers (HD; 3:08)


• Image Gallery (HD)

In addition this is another handsomely packaged limited edition from Arrow, with a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeffrey Alan Love, a 60 page perfect bound book featuring essays by Simon Abrams, Wickham Clayton, Martyn Conterio and Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, a fold out double sided poster and six double sided collector's postcards. Everything is contained in a nicely designed slipbox.

The Lighthouse 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd be rather hard pressed to sum up what The Lighthouse "means", but it's one of those films that has indelible impact perhaps due to the very fact that it's often inscrutable. Dafoe and Pattinson are both pretty amazing here (and I'm one who has never really cottoned to Pattinson's acting for some reason), and the entire film is awash (sorry again) in an absolutely palpable mood. This 4K UHD version offers secure technical merits, and both the on disc supplements and Arrow's typically nicely designed package and swag are excellent. Highly recommended.