Robert Eggers's The Lighthouse : Art horror, alienated labour and capitalist routinization.

Horror films often feature lone individuals stranded in strange, remote locations, threatened both by mysterious, unknown forces and by the reactions of their own minds. On the other hand, Robert Eggers's The Lighthouse (2019) suggests that it might be even more terrifying to be stranded with someone else, who might be a source, less of companionship and support, than of additional threat. Moreover, The Lighthouse is a horror film in which the principal danger might not come from spectacular, supernatural monsters so much as from sheer, mind-numbing tedium, exacerbated by growing tensions between the two central characters. While this film might (or might not) involve such things as mermaids or animals inhabited by the spirits of dead sailors, it is probably ultimately best read as a film about the horror of gruelling, repetitive, menial labour performed without any hope of genuine accomplishment, reward or appreciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]