The Lighthouse

Warning: This entry contains mild spoilers for The Lighthouse.

About

The Lighthouse is a 2019 psychological horror film directed by Robert Eggers and starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. Dafoe and Pattinson play two lighthouse keepers on a New England island in the late 19th century, and the isolation of the job slowly leads them to madness. The film was a critical success, and several elements of the film, including the performances of the two leads, its plot and its dialogue, were parodied online after its release.

History

The Lighthouse is the second feature-length film from Robert Eggers following his 2015 feature-length debut, The Witch. Pattinson and Dafoe were cast as the leads in early 2018,^[1] and filming began shortly after.^[2] The film debuted at Cannes on May 19th, 2019.^[3] The first trailer released on July 30th, 2019 (shown below). The film was released commercially on October 18th, 2019.

Reception

The film was a critical success. As of November 5th, 2019, the film has a score of 83/100 on Metacritic^[4] and a 92/100 on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5] Critics praised the performances of the two lead actors; in The Telegraph,^[6] critic Robbie Collin wrote, "Dafoe, who’s astounding, gives his best monologue while literally chewing the scenery, wadding up clods of soil in his mouth. And Pattinson gives a performance of such audacity and muscle that he recalls Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood." Indiewire called it "The best movie about bad roommates ever made."^[7]

Online Presence

In the weeks following the film's release, the film was parodied online by Twitter users who used several scenes and themes of the film for memes. Twitter user @alexqarbuckle joked about the movie by parodying a Dril tweet, gaining over 430 retweets and 3,400 likes (shown below, left). Twitter account @SimpsonsFilms parodied the film by posting a still from The Simpsons, gaining over 1,600 retweets and 8,900 likes (shown below, right).

A scene in which Dafoe's character repeats the phrase "Why'd you spill your beans?" became one of the most parodied moments of the film. Popular parodies of the line include a post by @Speed_Force_77, who used a Spongebob Squarepants reference with the line (shown below, left). User @AndyPappasmurf posted a black-and-white photo of spilled beans, gaining over 50 retweets and 310 likes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References