Dagon
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Movie Reviews of Dagon
Movie Review: A Big Surprise
Summary: 5 Stars
I caught this on the SciFi channel and have yet to see the DVD. Judging from what I saw, however, I have to say that this is definitely a must for true HP Lovecraft lovers. I coerced my wife and youngest daughter into watching it and judging from their reactions, the movie was fairly spooky. I can't say I was spooked because I know the plot line only too well.
What surprises and pleases me the most about this movie is how well, how *faithful* the flick was to the original story--which is 90% "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and maybe 5% of "Dagon", a minor work of HPL that I've read but can't recall all that well. There's a bonus to the movie that is also surprising--the updated parts (modern technology such as cell phones, etc.) are blended seamlessly into the movie and augment the atmosphere.
As the other reviewers note, this is a Grade B movie, however. The special effects aren't state of the art by any means and if that's all you care about, you might as well find a different flick.
It's the little things that matter, in this film. The fact that the hero, Paul, is classic Lovecraft in manner and appearance. He even wears a Miskatonic University sweatshirt! HPL's horror of foreigners and foreign languages, of the ocean, of anything slimy, of mold, of damn near anything a respectable but decaying Rhodey aristocrat would find yucky, is perfectly obvious in the movie. The plot, though updated to take place in Spain, rather than in New England, is remarkably faithful even to the long narration by the one townsman that remains fully human.
As in the original, Paul has narrow escape after narrow escape--indeed, quite a bit of the movie is Paul getting chased by limping, shambling, crawling monstrosities in the dark. Even the ending is faithful, which is a must for the plot line to make the slightest sense whatsoever. In point of fact, the movie has more tension in it than the story, simply because the artificial frame of the narration, so often employed by HPL, is done away with, thus establishing a sense of immediacy that Lovecraft never really achieves.
Purists of Lovecraft generally rate "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" up in the top five of the best of Lovecraft, along with *At the Mountains of Madness*, "The Color Out of Space", and "The Dunwich Horror", and it should be. And this is probably the best movie ever done from Lovecraft's work.
Browning>>>
Movie Review: Dagon...Fried Fish with a dollop of H.P. Sauce
Summary: 5 Stars
Dagon: 9 out of 10: Early on in his novella Mountains of Madness;H.P. Lovecraft paints the following picture "On and around that laboratory table were strown (sic) other things, and it did not take long for us to guess that those things were the carefully though oddly and inexpertly dissected parts of one man and one dog".
I bring this quote up because so many who are casually equated with the Lovecraftian genre naturally assume he wouldn't approve of the sex and violence portrayed in modern film versions of his work. He of course had to work within the mores of the day as he sought to get his works published in magazines often read by children. Graphic sex and violence was no more acceptable in the popular fiction of the 1920's and 30's than it was in the movies of the same time period. He however often pushed the boundaries of the time and though Victorian by both birth and nature he creatively expanded what was acceptable.
Dagon is a movie filled with nudity and very graphic violence. It is also simply the best Lovecraft adaptation ever. A combination of the title work and 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth', Dagon creates a phenomenal atmosphere and doesn't let up. The tension is palatable for almost the entire running time till the grand finale (which I'll admit was a little to much Lair of the White Worm for my tastes).
The make up and special effects are wonderful(with the exception one bad blink and you miss it CGI effect). The actors (at least the ones that are intelligible) do a fine job. But it is the incredible foreboding atmosphere that propels the movie along.
Filmed on a low budget they apparently found a remarkably frightening real life city that didn't need a lot of dressing up. Add a cast of stranger and stranger "creatures" and you simply have a winner. If you are unfamiliar with the Lovecraftian canon this is a great B movie. If you love his books however this is pure bliss.
Movie Review: Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
This is easily one of the best H.P. Lovecraft adaptions. Surprise, surprise! What's the surprise?! Stuart Gordon has directed all the best 3 of them: Re-animator, From Beyond and now Dagon. The opening sequence on a boat is reminiscent of the short story Dagon which it is based. It may in fact be 100% accurate. Then it goes further, which all good Lovecraft adaptions do. The stories are so short 90% of the time that they do throw in all or most of it, but they jazz it up with gore and nudity and other stuff to make it a feature film. Here what they did is use the short story as the opening scene, and then developed a grandiose plot with special effects that is about a race of fish-men and women who worship a terrifying sea monster known as Dagon. As with any good Lovecraft adaption, the lead is a Miskatonic Univeristy student. He is on a boat with friends and problems arise where he and only 1 of the 3 others make it to shore. There they are purued by the fish-men, which leads to a really cool scene and set piece which involves a church devoted to the worship of Dagon. It called "Esotic Order De Dagon." They meet up with a drunken bum, who tells of his childhood dealings with the creatures. He ends up getting his face torn off by the creatures. It took me quite a few viewings to truly appreciate this masterpiece. When I did I sat down and had a few beers to the point of mild intoxication. My only would-be criticism is this is a sort of Lovecraft retread- nudity, gore galore, a hideous monster, Miskatonic University students, Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna. However, these are what makes the Lovecraft adaptions so good. A by-the-numbers classic that is getting a growing reputation as a good horror film, and one of the best Lovecraft adaptions of all time. I would also like to recommend Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak on DVD.Movie Review: Dagon
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Stuart Gordon at his absolute best, taking a minuscule budget and producing an outstanding and surreal world out of it. DAGON is a Lovecraft adaptation involving a couple whose boat is marooned on a mysterious island inhabited by strange malformed hedonists that worship Dagon, a god of the sea. The denizens of the town don't take kindly to intruders, and the couple battle to survive against the half-men / half-fish. The setting of Imboca is amazing, setting a brooding mood and atmosphere in a ramshackle town that lives under a never-ending rain cloud. Gordon incorporates deep blue tones and filters along with the constant use of water, which emphasize the importance of the ocean in the film. To reduce costs, the movie was filmed in Spain, with a predominantly Spanish cast, which gives it an authentic and unsettling feeling as compared to a town of Americans with terrible Spanish accents. On top of everything else, the FX work in the film is stunning, offering an amalgamation of different fishmen ranging from subtle webbed fingers to a woman with octopus tentacles for legs to various incarnations in between. The mobs that chase the couple make chilling calls similar to those of the velocoraptors in JURASSIC PARK as they hunt their prey, which combined with the dark setting and claustrophobic alley ways of the town makes for suspenseful and frightening chase sequences. Ezra Godden also plays a lovable geek, and though he isn't the best actor, he is excellent in the role and lends credibility to the situation. I hate to compare it to a video game, but Dagon offers the look and feel of RESIDENT EVIL 4 in a tight script and beautiful setting.
-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies
Movie Review: More Lovecraft goodness
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoy Lovecraft's stories, and the Cthulhu mythos tales especially. One of his creepier tales is "A Shadow Over Innsmouth". It's the story of a town whose people are hybrids of human and an ancient sea dwelling race called the Deep Ones. An outsider comes to the town and is pursued by the shambling, gurgling villagers as he discovers their dark secrets.The film "Dagon" is based on the Lovecraft story. To cut down on costs, the production is filmed in Spain rather than New England (the location of the Lovecraft stories). This actually works well. The coastal town has a damp, run down feel and the locals speaking another language further alienates the main characters.
A boating accident causes a young couple to have to paddle to a fishing town inhabited by strange, malformed people. As in the Lovecraft story, they soon find trouble. It all culminates with a sinister ceremony to Dagon, one of those dark gods of the sea. It is all well done and pretty effective.
The actors are all pretty much unknowns. The standout is the woman who plays the priestess. She is both creepy and beautiful at the same time. She dominates every scene she is in.
My only complaint is the use of some poor CGI effects. They did so well with so little through the rest of the film, it's a shame they resort to budget CGI that snaps you out of the mood when it appears. Better effects are shown in video game cutscenes.
Overall, this is solid saturday night beer and pretzel viewing. Not fit for the kiddies. There are a couple of pretty gruesome effects. Now if they would just make a movie based on The Call of Cthulhu...