I'm not a huge Lovecraft fan. Don't get me wrong, the man was a master - but that's the problem I have with him. He simply wrote too well. His mutant fish fixation has always upset my equilibrium, and his tentacled Monster Gods still give me nightmares. Maybe, as a Pisces, I was subconsciously insulted, I don't know...but I've never sought out either his written works or the films based upon them. So, it was with little enthusiasm that I watched "Dagon" one cold, rainy morning. I wasn't sorry.
This film could probably be easily lost in the deluge of direct-to-video slashers with unimaginative plots and stale gore effects, which is a shame because it is neither stale nor a slasher. Based on a short story (which runs no more than five or six pages, if memory serves me correctly) "Dagon" is a cold, slithery, unnerving tale set in one of those isolated seaside towns that Lovecraft loved so much to write about. A boat accident sends a young couple ashore seeking help for their stranded friends. There have been warnings already, in the shapes of underwater nightmares suffered by the young man; a huge, submerged stone disk, a mermaid with a vampire's mouth, etc. The town's listless inhabitants soon reveal themselves to the terrified young couple - white, slimy gills and fish black eyes make their appearance, and by the time they do, it is too late.
There's a beautiful syren with mesmerizing eyes and an unfortunate case of tentacles, a bloody sacrifice above a stone pit, a sick face-ripping scene, a self-immolation and a twist ending. "Dagon" is hardly a throwaway slasher flick - its a dark, nasty, twisted fairy tale with neither a happy nor an unhappy ending. People with fish phobias probably would do well to steer clear, but this is a very well done little film that deserves better attention.
