Lighthouse (1999)

A prison ship on its way to a remote island prison runs aground on rocks and sinks. Mixed survivors of cons and prison guards struggle ashore, only to discover to their horror that another ... See full summary »

Director:

Simon Hunter

Writers:

Simon Hunter, Graeme Scarfe (story)

Stars:

James Purefoy, Rachel Shelley, Christopher Adamson

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Purefoy	...	Richard Spader
Rachel Shelley	...	Dr. Kirsty McCloud
Christopher Adamson	...	Leo Rook
Paul Brooke	...	Captain Campbell
Don Warrington	...	Prison Officer Ian Goslet
Christopher Dunne	...	Chief Prison Officer O'Neil (as Chris Dunne)
Bob Goody	...	Weevil
Pat Kelman	...	Spoons
Peter McCabe	...	Prison Officer Hopkins
Norman Mitchell	...	Brownlow
Howard Attfield	...	Sykes
Jason Round	...	Spitfield
Stuart Callaghan	...	Ship's Mate
Yolande Davis	...	Young Prison Officer
Sarah Wateridge	...	McCloud's Mother

Storyline

A prison ship on its way to a remote island prison runs aground on rocks and sinks. Mixed survivors of cons and prison guards struggle ashore, only to discover to their horror that another survivor has made it ashore before them. Murderous psychotic, Leo Rook, who not only had a hand in the ship's sinking but has decapitated all but one of the island's lighthouse crew. Stranded, with no means of escape or call for help, the survivors must face a night of terror as they know that since they've learned that Leo survived going down with the ship he can't let any of them live and is hellbent on adding their severed heads to his collection.

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Plot Keywords:

rock | severed head | night | lighthouse | person on fire | 

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Taglines:

Evil lurks in the light.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence/gore and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official "Lighthouse" Website

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 July 2002 (UK)

Also Known As:

Dead of Night

Filming Locations:

Cornwall, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Screen Productions, Arts Council of England, Winchester Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lighthouse is identified in a framed cross-section as "Gehenna Lighthouse." According to Wikipedia, Gehenna is the special section of Hades reserved for wicked persons. In the New Testament, it was a place where children were sacrificed by fire.

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Quotes

Dr. Kirsty McCloud: The only pleasure in life came from his lab. The hobby turned into a job, the job turned into an obsession, the obsession turned into this!

User Reviews

Suspension of disbelief required.

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.