CANNES, France (AP) — Robert Pattinson says that making the turn-of-the-century nautical psychodrama "The Lighthouse" involved some of the most terrifying work he's ever done.

"The Lighthouse" premiered Sunday in the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight section. The black-and-white film is Robert Eggers' follow-up to his 2015 hit horror film "The Witch." It stars Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as lighthouse keepers on a remote Maine island.

Eggers is known for extreme period research. That meant that Pattinson was in some scenes sprinting across the rock shores in period-correct footwear. The actor said it was "one of the more terrifying things" he's ever done.

"The Lighthouse" has been enthusiastically received by critics in Cannes who hailed it as Herman Melville-inspired descent into madness.