Dagon
Directed by: Stuart Gordon
Screenplay by: Dennis Paoli
Story by: H.P. Lovecraft (short stories “Dagon” and “Shadow Over Innsmouth”)
Starring: Ezra Godden, Raquel Meroño, Macarena Gomez, Francisco Rabal, Brendan Price, Uxia Blanco, Birgit Bofurull, Ferran Lahoz
Running Time: 98 minutes
Rated: R
Release Date: 2001
DVD Release: 2002

“Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn”

Anyone familiar with me at all knows I am an absolutely monster H.P. Lovecraft fan.  I was introduced to his writing back in the late 80s and it has stuck with me through the years.  He was a master of atmosphere and mood, and there are few who have been able to match his ability in the horror-genre.  In fact, the nature of his stories makes them very difficult to film.  There isn’t a lot of action or big scares.  Everything he does is in the building of terror and hopelessness, and a film based on someone slowly being driven insane really isn’t the most exciting thing to an audience raised on slasher or heavy-gore flicks.

That being said, a lot of people have tried to adapt his work in the past to varying degrees of success.  Which brings us to Stuart Gordon and his film, Dagon.  Gordon is best known for his Re-Animator and From Beyond films, also loosely based on Lovecraft tales.  The Dagon adaptation, originally named “Shadow Over Innsmouth” after the inspiration for the movie, was originally to be Gordon’s third film after Re-Animator and From Beyond, but he was never able to raise a large enough budget to do the film justice.  After 15-years, Gordon hooked up with friend Brian Yuzna and was able to get the cash to shoot Dagon. 

Let’s do a quick rundown of the film’s plot.  While vacationing off the Spanish coast, Paul Marsh and his girlfriend, Barbara, are caught in a boating accident.  Seeking refuge at a nearby town, the pair discovers a small, decrepit fishing village called Imbocca.  As night falls, things begin to wrong.  The entire town, made up of pale-skinned, strangely chanting “people,” begins to hound the pair, kidnapping Barbara and hunting Paul.  As Paul fights for his life he discovers the terrible secret of the town, they are being slowly mutated by the creature they worship, the ancient fish-god Dagon.

From there, things go from bad to “ah, shit” very quickly. 

A lot of reviewers out there have been very hard on Dagon because of its slow build and lack of action, but I think the film is better for those things as an adaptation of a Lovecraft story.  The story builds slow, with the terror and hopelessness of the situation building with it.  I really enjoyed the creepiness of the story and the performance by Francisco Rabal, as the drunken “Last Man” of Imbocca, was incredible.  He’s creepy, he’s drunk and you can barely understand him, but he is a perfect representative of the movie itself.  Funny thing, this American movie shot in Spain very much reminds me of a Japanese horror film.  The long build-ups make the pulses of terror that much more effective.

Plus, not that this matters to the plot, but Raquel Merono is hot…and she gets naked.  Which is always nice.  Of course, what happens to her right after she gets naked isn’t nice.   I won’t spoil it for you, though.

If you are a fan of Lovecraft, or a fan or REAL horror movies, then Dagon is worth picking up.  I wish there were more films like this being made by mainstream Hollywood.  Check it out!

-Mat N., the Nifty Nerd
http://www.TheNiftyNerd.com