Horror manga master Junji Ito has drawn a short adaptation of Rogert Eggers' horror film The Lighthouse.
The manga, which serves as a brief summary of the film's plot, will be distributed in Japanese theaters when The Lighthouse is released there on July 21. Two pages of the manga have been released early as a preview.
Set in the 1800s, The Lighthouse tells the story of two lighthouse keepers who slowly lose their minds when they are trapped with each other in isolation amidst a storm. Ito has praised The Lighthouse's dark atmosphere and its powerful lead performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. With his manga adaptation, Ito attempts to recreate the use of light and shadow in Jarin Blaschke's Academy Award-nominated black-and-white cinematography.
It's not surprising that Ito would enjoy The Lighthouse, as the film's gothic, Lovecraftian psychological horror has been compared to Ito's own manga. In particular, parallels have been drawn between the film and Ito's acclaimed series Uzumaki, which has its own chapter about a magical lighthouse and is receiving an anime adaptation next year.
Directed by Robert Eggers from a script he wrote with Max Eggers, The Lighthouse stars Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe and Valeriia Karaman. The film is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Kanopy in the United States.
Source: Comic Natalie, via Crunchyroll