BRITISH DIRECTOR CARVES NICHE IN SLASHER GENRE

New York Post

article by Lou Lemenick

'LIGHTHOUSE," a rare example of a slasher movie from Britain, is several cuts above the norm for the genre. Debuting writer-director Simon Hunter makes clever use of his novel setting, a remote lighthouse hundreds of miles off the English coast.

When a prison boat sinks nearby, the half-dozen survivors who make their way to shore discover that a serial killer (Chris Adamson), having escaped undetected from the vessel, has already decapitated the lighthouse staff. The killer soon turns his attentions to the group trapped in the disabled lighthouse, most prominently a plucky but troubled psychologist (Rachel Shelley) and a convicted murderer (James Purefoy of "Mansfield Park") who proclaims his innocence at regular intervals.

A scene in which a potential victim hides from the white-shoed killer in a toilet stall is as suspenseful as any in recent memory. Hunter doesn't stint on the gore, but his artfully composed and edited images help compensate for the coincidence-heavy plot and colorless performances by a cast with thick British accents.

"Lighthouse" should delight fans of the genre -- and may well land Hunter a Hollywood project.