lighthouse ( dead of night ) be without question one of the best thriller to come out in year . how this gem fell through the crack i will never understand . ( though in the state and blame a pix for it force and inappropriate title and amateurish b grade box art be a good place to start . ) perhaps the film be just too sophisticated for the slasher set and too gruesome and effective for thriller fan . it deserve a genre all it own . above all else it exist a an exercise in suspense and a very successful one at that . sport vividly realize and even brilliantly conceive scene of terror visually reminiscent of argento best and pace that could only be compare to that of the young john carpenter and lighthouse should be see by anyone the least bit interested in horror or good film making . one of my favorite scene involve a flashback or dream sequence so beautifully compose it evoke the great german expressionist in it vague shadowy ambiguity . ( when be the last time you rewinded a scene in a horror movie to watch it over again . sad isn not it . ) before the film end and it miraculously transform genre yet again into full throttle action a the hero find themselves dangle outside the lighthouse in a final showdown with the madman . the background set in these scene ( orange grey sky and endless ocean ) be as glorious a something out of old hollywood or the film of the great james whale . how teenage dreck be release into theater while brilliance be shove into a videobox with a generic skull on it be anyone guess . this film deserve the same release a other harder to classify and adult genre film like the cube and ravenous and existenz . expect to find lighthouse in year to come refer to a an overlooked classic and expect it director to be on the forefront of the next wave of horror .