HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 3: DAGON (2001)

One of the greatest influences on modern horror and a master of the genre is non-other than H.P. LOVECRAFT. Rats In The Walls, At the Mountains of Madness, The Dunwich Horror, and many other stories number among his works. Perhaps none are as celebrated as The Call of Cthulhu. His stories have become the foundation and basis for numerous tales and movies to come. He has left a permanent mark upon horror literature inspiring modern horror masters like Stephen King to filmmakers like John Carpenter. There is no medium of horror storytelling telling that hasn't been influenced by Lovecraft.

Director Stuart Gordon has brought more of H.P. Lovecraft's stories and ideas to the screen than perhaps any other. Re-Animator and From Beyond are Gordon's best known adaptations of Lovecraft's work but certainly not the only Lovecraft adaptations he has done. DAGON is a 2001 film from Stuart Gordon loosely based on the Lovecraft story The Shadow Over Innsmouth rather than the story Dagon. The film received a theatrical release in Spain and a direct to video release stateside. Now, I know what you're thinking, direct to video is a bad sign. 9 times out of 10 you'd be right to think so. Dagon is that 1 out of 10 direct to DVD films that's worth a look.

Dagon has some truly skin-crawling moments and shocking gore. Lovecraft's Cthulhian mythos are wonderfully displayed.

THE PLOT

Paul's been having strange dreams. The dreams have become more visceral since he began sailing around the world with his friends. A freak storm steers the boat into a rocky outcropping just outside a remote Spanish city. The rocks tear a hole in the hull of the boat and injure Paul's friends. Paul and his girlfriend Barbara take a raft to the town looking for help. What they find are the town's bizarre residents, sickly in appearance, exhibiting peculiar mannerisms. Barbara is abducted by the townspeople and prepared as a sacrifice to their primeval god, Dagon. Paul begins seeing elements of his dreams in real life as if some otherworldly force had guided him to the town. As a gruesome fate looms closer for Barbara will Paul chose to save her or give in to a darker destiny?

WHAT I LIKED

(spoilers ahead)

Practical Effects. Around 2001 Hollywood genre films were going nuts using CGI effects. With some exceptions much of the CGI doesn't hold up anymore (or if it ever held up at all). With a low budget film like Dagon the crew had to rely on good old practical effects as in prosthetic appliances, make-up, and costumes. And also keeping some of the horror in shadow, letting the audience's imagination take over. You get the idea.

The townsfolk are half-human half-fish. Sounds strange but the filmmakers really pull it off. Whether it's gills in the neck, tentacles for legs, or full on crab-monsters, all the effects look good. And it varies too. No two fish people are the same and each has varying degrees of transmogrification. Some of it is really simple and really effective, for instance, a figure in silhouette shambling towards the camera making a bizarre sound. Those townsfolk that still look like people are pale white, skin glistening with sweat or slime (like a fish), and all with large unblinking eyes. I thought all the tricks the filmmakers employed worked well.

The Gore. When this film goes bloody it goes bloody. Perhaps the most striking moment in the film is when one of the characters is skinned alive. They show it all and it's brutal. This moment is the highlight of the film and even upstages the climactic final scene. Throughout the film you see hints of this like a barn filled with the dried pelts of human flesh. The inference is that what may look human about the townsfolk maybe simply them wearing the skins of humans to blend in.

NITPICKS

CGI Effects. Remember those bad CGI effects I was talking about earlier? Well this film has one solitary CGI shot. It's supposed to be the money shot of the film but it kinda fails. At the end of the film we finally get to see the vaunted elder god Dagon and it's a quick CGI shot that looks like some of those made-for-television Sci-Fi Channel originals. It's such a let down cause the effects just don't compare to the practical effects from earlier in the film. They may just as well have used classic stop-motion animation, it would've looked just as convincing. Sadly some of the actors could've been a little better too, like our main character Paul. If it had been Jeffrey Combs then it would've been all right.

THE VERDICT

Stuart Gordon's realization of the frightening world of H.P. Lovecraft is quite effective and disturbing, though a shade below his previous efforts like Re-Animator and From Beyond. The practical effects are top notch and in your face and the actors portraying the fish-people are shivering to watch. The poor 2001 CGI money shot at the end of the film along with a bit of spotty acting by the lead player stop this movie just shy of being legendary. Still, if you're a fan of Lovecraft this movie does a good job of portraying that frightening world.

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 4 out of 10