July 30 (UPI) -- The Lighthouse has released an atmospheric first trailer.
The new film from The Witch director Robert Eggers shared a preview Tuesday featuring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as Thomas Wake and Ephraim Winslow, a lighthouse keeper and his new apprentice.
Rolling Stone said the movie takes place on an island in New England in the 1890s. The film was shot on 35mm black-and-white film and is presented in Academy, or a nearly-perfect square, ratio.
The trailer shows Thomas (Dafoe) and Ephraim (Pattinson) court madness as they work, drink and keep secrets on the remote and stormy island.
"How long have we been on this rock? Five weeks? Two days?" Thomas asks Ephraim at one point. "Help me to recollect."
Eggers discussed his process while promoting the film at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
"I like to do a lot of research so it's period-correct. And to achieve this crusty, dusty, mucky, rusty, tactile atmosphere I knew it needed to be in black and white," he said, according to Collider. "It's not supposed to seem like an old movie ... But it also brings you to the past."
The Lighthouse opens in theaters Oct. 18.
