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Dagon
2001
This adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story from director Stuart Gordon (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND) tells the story of Paul, an American businessman (Ezra Godden) on a cruise with his girlfriend off the coast of Spain. After the ship crashes, they go ashore to find a strange and ancient fishing village. As night falls, the town's .. Read more
| Starring | Ezra Godden, Raquel Merono, Francisco Rabal, Brendan Price |
|---|---|
| Director | Stuart Gordon |
| Genres | Horror |
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Dagon
This adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story from director Stuart Gordon (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND) tells the story of Paul, an American businessman (Ezra Godden) on a cruise with his girlfriend off the coast of Spain. After the ship crashes, they go ashore to find a strange and ancient fishing village. As night falls, the town's denizens begin to mutate into fishlike creatures, and Paul learns that the town is ruled by Dagon--a monstrous sea god which forces the town to make human sacrifices in its honor. This Spanish/American production also borrows liberally from "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," a Lovecraft story in a similar vein.
| Starring | Ezra Godden, Raquel Merono, Francisco Rabal, Brendan Price |
|---|---|
| Director | Stuart Gordon |
| Studio | PRISM LEISURE |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 34 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Horror |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 02 Feb 2004 Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews
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Gory low-budget horror with a few effective moments.
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Most helpful member's review
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10 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Enjoyable horror fare that is vastly different from most.
Based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the undisputed master of the macabre, Dagon tells the story of Paul Marsh, a young man who discovers that remote village on the Spanish coastline harbors a dark and shocking secret. A boating accident off the coast of Spain sends Paul and his girlfriend Barbara to the decrepit fishing village of Imboca looking for help. As night falls, the townspeople leave their houses and start stalking Paul until before long he finds himself pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's dark secret: that they pray to Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea. And Dagon's unholy offspring are freakish half-human creatures on the loose in Imboca...
The story itself is a classic and this film, based on the story is pretty good. A real sense of foreboding is created when you first see the village and its strange church and this is nicely followed up by the grotesque human-like creatures that start to pursue Paul through the village.
Acting throughout is generally great from this cast of virtual unknowns (with the exception of Ezra Godden who hams it up a bit TOO much as Paul) and they really make the most of the sotry they are given.
The effects for the most part are great, although there are a couple of moments where some lame looking CGI is thrown in and this detracts MAJORLY from the overall feel of the movie.
The end of the movie itself is good also, although the could have tried to handle it a little better as it becomes a little confusing.
Overall however, this is a solid and well done film, and a little different from your typical horror fare. Also be sure to check out Raquel Merono and MAcarena Gomez, who positively shine in this movie, and give you plenty to be happy about. Even if one of them is a LITTLE different... -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Excellent H.P.Lovecraft Adaptation
This film is an adaptation of H.P.Lovecraft's novella 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth', rather than his short story 'Dagon'. This name change sort of makes sense, because Innsmouth has been relocated to Spain and renamed Inboca (according to an online dictionary, boca is Spanish for mouth) - I guess 'The Shadow Over Inboca' wouldn't have sold as well. Also the mutating townspeople in 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' worship the god Dagon so it fits in quite well. The story is similar to the novella, though the main characters are quite different, but the feel and atmosphere of the original has been captured perfectly and the film has a similarly satisfactory ending.
Paul, the 'hero' of the story isn't particularly likeable, but he fits the story very well. There's lots of Spanish dialogue that isn't subtitled, but this adds to paranoia and feelings of alienation that Paul is experiencing. I suspect an understanding of Spanish would be detrimental to the feel of this film.
This film has been produced/directed by the Yuzna/Gordon pairing of 'Re-animator' fame. This film is quite different to 'Re-animator' though. The story follows the original source material much more closely and it's more of a horror film than a comedy, though there is a little humour in 'Dagon'. The gore and nudity is there, though it's limited to near the end of the film and it's not a strong as (the uncut region 1) 'Re-animator'. Some of the special effects in 'Dagon' use CGI, which is a shame because for this sort of film, mechanical effects work so much better (well except for perhaps the underwater scenes).
Picture quality and sound are fine, but the extras are fairly pityfull. There's a trailer which is OK, and a short 'making of' which is just an excuse for those involved in the film to tell us how wonderfull which is certainly not OK.
Overall I really enjoyed this film, but there again, I'm a H.P.Lovecraft fan and 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' is one of my favourites. However if you're expecting another 'Re-animator' you're probably going to be dissapointed - this is quite different in feel and tone. Although in my opinion, in it's own way, it's nearly as good as 'Re-animator' (and better than the cut region 2 version). -
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Dagon
This adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story from director Stuart Gordon (RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND) tells the story of Paul, an American businessman (Ezra Godden) on a cruise with his girlfriend off the coast of Spain. After the ship crashes, they go ashore to find a strange and ancient fishing ...
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