It has been fascinating to watch the evolution of Robert Pattinson since the role that brought him to public attention, that of the reluctant vampire Edward Cullen, in the first instalment of the syrupy teen romance franchise Twilight (2008). In a little over a decade, he has transmogrified, via a series of eclectic, often challenging roles, into a major Hollywood talent, able to hold his own with screen veteran Willem Dafoe in Robert Eggers’s psychological horror, The Lighthouse.

The Lighthouse is only the second major film directed by Eggers. His first, The Witch (2015), marked him as one of the more interesting new directors in America. It was also among a crop of recent independent films that bestowed mainstream box-office success and critical respectability on the horror genre; others include The Babadook (2014), Get Out (2017), Us (2019), and Hereditary (2018).