andrew jones Here we have another forgettable little ditty.A daft prison ship escape with an even more ridiculous villain called of all things "Leo".Not sure if the director or writer understood the basic layout of a lighthouse but here it goes....there is ONE stair case leading all the way to the top but some how our super killer manages to move about freely and kill people in different rooms without anyone seeing him!Some plot holes you could drive a truck through and some very dodgy casting decisions..Don warrington for one!One or two well shot scenes stick out such as the poor slob on the toilet who almost but not quite avoided being killed.No matter what super killer Leo does: swim in the sea,murder people,lurk in cellars or hack your head off, those snazzy white shoes just keep looking shop fresh.No wounder this slop took a while to darken our doors.

Spikeopath Lighthouse (AKA: Dead of Night) is directed by Simon Hunter and written by Graeme Scarfe. It stars James Purefoy, Rachel Shelley, Christopher Adamson, Don Warrington & Paul Brooke. The plot sees a prison ship on its way to the remote Marshelsea Island Prison run aground and sunk. The survivors, a mixture of cons and prison staff, struggle ashore a tiny island that's only function is to house a lighthouse. Thanking their lucky stars for surviving the wreck it's not long before they realise their luck has quickly run out. For psychotic serial killer Leo Rook has made it ashore before them and he has no intention of letting any of them survive the night.Funded by Arts Council money, Hunter's movie took some time to make it on to the screen. What began in 1994 ended with a video release in the US (as Dead of Night) in 2000 and then two years later it got a limited theatrical release in the UK. As a slasher movie, and a generic one at that, Lighthouse doesn't veer from the norm. However, it's still a very tidy effort that gains the maximum impact from its truly eerie setting. This dark and rocky little island that is intermittently lit by the Lighthouse is perfect for stalk and slash shenanigans. And so it proves. Yes the characters are too one note and not given the best of dialogue to churn out, but for its look and nicely handled set pieces the film ends up better than average.The cast, in spite of said bad dialogue, are more than adequate, particularly the game Shelley and the enjoyable Brooke. However, it's Adamson as nut-case Rook that leaves the best impression. As a killer Rook is really just a British version of Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers, but with his calm unflustered movements about the island, resplendent in bizarre white shoes, Rook manages to terrify and intrigue in equal measure. Why he is the way he is is not known, but this adds to the air of mystery that surrounds the man who likes to collect heads for decoration purposes! Of the set pieces, the finale is noisily OTT but works well, even if Hunter's use of slow-mo smacks of pointless pretencions. But it's with the quiet tension filled scenes where Lighthouse earns its spurs, one in the bathroom is as good as it gets for this type of film, while another involving a lifeboat down on the sand is also hold your breath enjoyable. Shot by Tony Imi on location in Cornwall & Hastings, the film is also visually appealing for those who like a grainy noir like sheen to their horror. With Hunter clearly in that frame of mind judging by his nice usage of the off kilter shot. While Debbie Wiseman's surging score has a very 50s feel to it.It's safe to say that anyone looking for something new in this now tired of horror sub-genres will be disappointed. But the look, the feel, the setting and no shortage of the claret; more than makes up for its adherence to genre staples. 6.5/10

BloodTheTelepathicDog This is by far the best slasher I have seen in recent memory. The Europeans can teach us Americans a thing or two about making a suspenseful slasher. This is far better than any American slasher flick made in the last twenty years. The suspense is constantly edge of your seat, the direction flawless and the acting first rate.The plot centers around a ship transporting convicts to an island penitentiary, that sinks stranding the survivors on a lighthouse island. One of the survivors, the feared deranged serial killer Leo Rook, begins to kill off the remaining survivors one by oneThis film is very chilling, it grabs your attention from the start and never lets go. Rachel Shelley, James Purefoy and Chris Adamson, as Leo Rook were all terrific.Only a movie this brilliant can make a ten minute scene of an obese man on the john, a nail-biting climactic experience

dbdumonteil ...this "lighthouse" gathers snatches of "the defiant ones" (the chain),of "Vertigo" (the stairs ) ,of Christie's "ten little Indians" (well-known tale of a group on an isolated island where a killer is doing away with them one by one ) and many a Jason-type film.You can guess who will die and who'll survive as soon as the characters appear on the screen.The music is bombastic and instead of enhancing the "highlights" makes them more ponderous and stodgier.One can save,at a pinch ,the sequence where one of the poor lads in in the toilets and tries not to be noticed by the criminal who's walking around . Otherwise,worthless.