Edgar Allan Poe‘s Lighthouse Keeper (2016)
An interesting take on what was Poe's very last (and unnamed) piece of work that was seemingly unfinished although some scholars argue differently.
Set, i think at the turn of the last century, it tells the tale of a young man shipwrecked on a small island where he is rescued by the local lighthouse keeper. However it seems the two might not be alone on the island.
Although let down by a bit of a modern sheen from being digitally filmed, and one or two dodgy fx of a boat crashing onto rocks, Lighthouse Keeper captures the Gothic period nicely. Legendary Aussie heavy Vernon Wells plays Walsh the lighthouse keeper and his tales of disaster and woe give the film a sense of isolation. Of course isolation is a favourite detail of Poe along with paranoia and lost love and all three feature heavily here along with other typical nightmarish scenarios. There's also new love to be found as the marooned JP (Matt O'Neill) discovers a beautiful young woman (Rachel Riley) also apparently marooned on the godforsaken island.
Although classed as Poe, and in fact feeling rather Corman like in it's languid build up, without giving too much away here, i thought the film heavily reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) in both it's setting and finale and also the Halloween School Bus Massacre urban legend of Michael Dougherty's Trick r' Treat (2007) - anyone familiar with both films will probably know in which direction the plot heads as psychological horror gives way to undead horrors.
Despite having a frankly piss poor score on IMDB - 3.9 / 10 - i really enjoyed the film and could certainly imagine the likes of Vincent Price having a whale of a time had this been made by Roger Corman in the sixties.
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