Horror Master’s Final Tale Resurrected as Motion Picture
For the first time, Edgar Allan Poe’s final, unfinished short story known as “The Light-House” is being adapted as a feature film.
In the movie, a young man awakens alone on a remote beach, marooned there by a violent storm. Above the the rocky crags, a lighthouse stands like a sentinel. The man seeks the help of Walsh, the enigmatic lighthouse keeper. Walsh insists they are the sole inhabitants of the peninsula. But the man is haunted by fleeting glimpses of a beautiful young woman, and plagued by visions of hideous phantoms reaching out from the depths. As this horror tale races towards a mind bending finale, the man must confront the grotesque denizens of the night, or heed the lighthouse keeper’s cryptic warning to “Always keep a light burning!”
“I was promoting my monster movie, PRIMITIVE, in San Luis Obispo when a representative from the non-profit group, The Lighthouse Keepers, suggested I shoot a movie at the Point San Luis Lighthouse, built in 1890, the last Victorian style lighthouse on the West coast,” Director Benjamin Cooper said. “It was too good an opportunity to pass up, and being a fan of Roger Corman‘s Edgar Allan Poe cycle since I was a kid, I instantly thought of Poe’s story.”
Cooper teamed with Executive Producer Jeff Miller (AXE GIANT, THE BURNING DEAD), and screenwriter Carl Edge to bring the story to the screen.
“We made a real effort to inject the kind of energy and scares modern audiences would respond to.” Cooper said Andrea Wiersma (PUPPET MASTER X) delivers special make-up effects with unmistakeable style. “However, I also wanted to honor Corman’s pictures and the original Poe. Above all, this is atmospheric, gothic horror.”
The original Poe tale was brief and unfinished at the time of the writer’s death, so Cooper approached the material just as Corman had done, by using the short as a springboard into a newly invented story in the spirit of Poe.
Fan favorite Vernon g Wells (MAD MAX 2: ROAD WARRIOR) plays the titular Lighthouse Keeper. “I worked with writer Carl Edge to make this a real showcase for Vernon. The character required somebody mysterious, and with commanding presence, but also with a lot of stuff going on beneath the surface. Vernon relished the challenge.”
