Every Robert Eggers Movie Ranked Worst To Best (Including The Northman) (2024)

Warning: Contains major spoilers forThe Northman.

Robert Eggers' latest offering,The Northmanhas garnered a strong critical reception, but how does it compare to the director's other movies?With three feature films now under his belt, theAmerican auteur has firmly establishedhimself as one of the industry's top filmmakers. Eggers' debut,The Witch, andsubsequent movie,The Lighthouse, demonstrated Eggers' singular ability to create striking visuals and tell unique stories that differentiate his work from more typical, formulaic modern films.

Eggers' third movie,The Northman,has allowed Eggers to tell a much grander story comparedto his first two films, thanks to a larger production budget. Alongside a bevy of acting talent,The Northmanalso includes previous Eggers collaborators Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe, returning from The Witch and The Lighthouse, respectively. Yet familiaractors are not the only common threads across Eggers' three movies to date.

Related:Why The Northman's Reviews Are So Positive

Eggers' critically celebrated movies feature elements of horror and draw their inspiration from various elements of mythology and lore. Eggers likes to use animals symbolically, with wolvesplaying a prominent roleinThe Northman,just as goats took on an ethereal quality in The Witch. His filmscan be polarizing though. Given Eggers' preference for no exposition, it isn't always easy to keep up withwhat is real and fantasy in his movies, but the director's distinctive style and otherworldly tone have establishedEggers as one of cinema's most exciting writers and directors. Here'sthe ranking of Robert Egger's movies from worst to best.

3. The Witch (2015)

By no means isThe Witch a bad movie despite its placement here. Set in the 1600s, Eggers' debutis a dark tale that focuses on a Puritan familythat has been banished from their New England town. When they set up an isolated new life for themselvesnext to a mysterious forest, strange things begin to happen as William (Ralph Ineson), and his kin finds their faith staunchly tested. Given the time that theA24-produced horrorisset, William's family naturally suspects that their eldest daughter,Thomasin, is a witch who is in cahoots with the Devil.

However, despite a number of harrowing scenes, The Witch isn't a horror that relies on jump scares. Rather, Eggers' slow-burner combines aneerie score with religious imagery to build an uncomfortable atmosphere.That's not to say there are noscares in The Witch,though, with Black Phillip's takedown of Thomasin's father and the cackling, naked witch both terrifying moments. Thomasin's decision to turn her back on her religion and join the witches' coven afterwitnessing her God-loving family die cement the pervading sense of dread throughout The Witch, given her prayers are left answered.

The Witch was easily one of thebest horrors of the 2010s, so to describe itas Eggers' "worst" film is more than a little harsh. Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, and the debuting Anya Taylor-Joy all give authentic and believable performances,and the story is given time to build a sense of dread that is satisfyingly paid off.That said, Eggers'latermovies showa clearimprovement in his ability as a cinematographer.

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2. The Lighthouse (2019)

The Lighthouseis a mind-bending, genre-blending thriller that explores depravity and loneliness in equal measure. Eggers' character-based film, set in the 1890s, focuses on a pair of lighthouse keepers whose sanity slips away after a stormleaves themstranded on a remote island at sea. The excellent duo ofRobert Pattinson and Willem Dafoeare the only faces on-screen for almost the entire movie, which gives The Lighthousean intensely insular feeling. However, where The Lighthouse differs fromThe Witchis that it also hasspots of comedy, like Thomas Wake's intermittent farts, which break up the film's bleakness without detracting from the intensifying dread of both lighthouse keepers' situation.

Much likeThe Witch, though, mythology plays a big part in Eggers' second movie, but he takes it a step further inThe Lighthouse.The storyline is heavily influenced by the Greek tale of Prometheus, sailor's superstitions, and the sirens of The Odyssey. Thesefantastical elements,like the creepy mermaid on the scrimshaw, emphasize theblurredlines between reality and fantasy that highlightthe lighthouse keepers' descent into darkness.

In this way, the production and aesthetic of Eggers'The Lighthouseare better than any other Eggers movie to date.The Northman isvisually spectacular, but The Lighthouse's monochrome palette and almost square aspect ratioset it apart from other films. The movieseems like it was produced in the century it is set, and its uniquelook adds to the claustrophobic, desperate situation that the two stewards find themselves in - making Eggers' The Lighthouse a decidedly unique spectacle in modern cinema.

1. The Northman (2022)

While all three of his films are quality affairs,Robert Eggers' newest movie is also his best.The Northmanallows the director to use his talents on a muchgreater scalethan in his first outings, andEggers handles thetransition well and uses the extra funds to put on an impressive spectacle backed by a strong storyline.The Northmanis basedon the Scandinavian legend of Amleth that inspiredthe likes ofHamlet, meaning many parts of Eggers' bold tale feels surprisingly familiar despite The Northman being an original production. Much of the movie follows Amleth as he waits to enact his revenge onFjölnir, his uncle who murdered his father.The Northmanarguably has the best ending of all Eggers' films with a bittersweet and brutal conclusion, althoughThe Lighthouse'sgruesome seagull ending comes close.

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Afamiliar criticismfaced byEggers is that the fantasy scenes in The Northman, such as the Valkyrie visions, translate as perplexing. But by now, it's clear that Eggers will not change his artistic vision and that these moments are an integral part of his movies. His nextfilm will likely be his long-planned remake of the gothic horror movie classicNosferatu,where his love of mythology and fantasy will surely continue. For now, though,The Northman just about holds the top spot in the ranking of Robert Eggers' movies.

Next:The Northman Ending Explained (In Detail)