A low budget, at times amateurish affair, Simon Hunter’s Lighthouse looks slightly at sea on the big screen. That said, it has just enough well-executed set-pieces to steer it to safety.

A slasher flick with a twist, it’s set on a small island where a handful of shipwreck survivors are recovering from their ordeal. Trouble is, the boat was transporting serial killer Leo Rook (Christopher Adamson) to a high security prison, and this “sick fuck” has clambered to safety too…

As fodder goes, it boasts an adequate cast, with James Purefoy leading a bunch of Brit character actors thought their evasive paces. But craggy faces don’t spell realism: Debbie Wiseman’s woozy, surging score echoes Bernard Herrmann’s Cape Fear music, and the melodramatic atmosphere is pure ‘40s film noir. Add an ocean’s worth of the red stuff and a sphincter-spasming sequence set, fittingly enough, in a toilet, and this ain’t half bad. Even if it does resort to the old shrieking-rat-jumps-at-the-camera trick at one point.
Jamie Graham