Dagon

Dagon tells an incredible story of terror , marine monsters and including fantastic touches. As it packs horror ,suspense , plot-twists, tension , chills , thrills with sensationalistic scenes . A shipping accident off the Galician coast of North of Spain sends the starring named Paul (Ezra Dodden) and his sweetheart Barbara (Raquel Meroño)to the decrepit fishing village called Imboca looking for help. As night falls, people start to disappear and things not quite human begin to appear. Paul finds himself chased by the entire people of Imboca . There he meets an old fisher named Ezequiel(Francisco Rabal) and a strange young girl (Macarena Gomez). Running for his life, Paul uncovers Imboca's dark secret but he is taken by the secret sect . The villagers worshipping the God Dagon and his unholy offspring are on the loose in the place .

Based on two short stories by the undisputed expert of the terror H.P. Lovecraft titled ¨Dagon¨ and ¨The shadow over Innsmouth¨ . The picture packs thrills, chills , terror , fantasy and lots of blood and gore . Furthermore , unrelenting twists and turns as when the starring discovers that the truth will not set him free instead it condemns him to a waking nightmare of impressive horror . B-entertainment with a fairly suspenseful and horrifying story about an ancient fanatic religious cult of followers of Dagon. This tale about a young couple who is involved into a twisted intrigue begins well and grows more and more until a downbeat finale . Good makeup on the freakish half-human creatures by DDT that subsequently won Academy Award for ¨Pan's labyrinth¨ . Dark and colorful cinematography by Carlos Suarez and atmospheric musical score by Carles Cases that includes Galiacian sounds . The flick is finely produced by the chairman of Filmax and Castelao Productions , Julio Fernandez who along with his brother Carlos Fernandez are two successful producers and experts on Horror genre , producers of hits as ¨The machinist¨ ,¨ Fragiles¨, ¨Darkness¨, Rec 1, Rec2 and many others. The picture is compellingly directed by Stuart Gordon who along with Bian Yuzna are important American filmmakers expert on terror cinema , both of whom working for Castelao , Fantastic Factory or Filmax . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable film , though contains some flaws.

This movie is based more on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", "The Festival" or "The Stange High House in th Mist" than on "Dagon". Still, this sort of strange tale tends to fall into a certain pattern and if you enjoy this movie, you may find that you like Lovecraft's tales also. This movie captures the atmosphere of many of these stories and presents some of their weird concepts as well as any I have seen. It also plays sort of like an adventure serial, so it dosn't hurt that the hero is played in the manner of Harold Lloyd. There is plenty of comedy and gruesomeness, and the question of whether human self-determination or monstrous outside forces are stronger gets asked, in a nice graphic, non-preachy way. My only complaints are the "orchestral crash" which accompanies some of the shock effects, and the fact that aside from one showing in Hollywood two days ago, this movie seems destined only to be seen on the small screen in North America!

Dagon was the first horror movie I've seen in a few years that both had a good plot and kept me on the edge of my seat. After reading most of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories on which this movie was based, I can safely say that this is the only movie based on Lovecraft that is true to the atmosphere and plot structure of his stories. The special effects are not overdone and there is minimal (and yet effective) "splatter," unlike the movie "Necronomicon," which is also based on Lovecraft. The horror and suspense of the movie relies on xenophobia, fear of the strange and unknown, and this plays into the movie's surprise ending where the hero must question his own path.

I'd also like to add that this movie was filmed in a coastal village in Galicia, Spain, and the scenery is both realistic and haunting.

All in all, this movie should be a pleasure to both fans of H.P. Lovecraft and the horror genre.

I love Lovecrafts work, I grew up with them and yes I'm fully aware that's probably not the best reading material for the young!

It's prime material for movie adaptations, but they always tend to be terrible. Sure there have been exceptions like Necronomicon (1993) and the Re-Animator franchise but for the most part they've been plain awful.

Dagon is a rare exception and is fantastic on near every level. Spanish made it tells the story of two couples of after a boating accident are forced to seek help at a nearby island which holds a horrific secret.

Cue the great visuals, strong performances and a near flawless story. I watched this immediatly upon release and have thankfully had the chance to watch it multiple times since then. It's a pure unadulterated horror nightmare which I think is highly underrated.

It looks Lovecraft, it feels Lovecraft, it IS Lovecraft.

The Good:

Looks great

Mostly loyal to the source material

Genuinely atmospheric

The Bad:

Could have done with being a tad longer

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Proof! The problem is the filmmakers not the material

Movies are just better with tentacles

Just watched Stuart Gordon's DAGON. Having enjoyed Gordon's 80's genre outings Re-animator, Bride and From Beyond I was looking forward to this latest opus.

Now the problems I have with the film aren't insurmountable but they do take away some of the enjoyment. Firstly Ash in evil dead was cool, that's a given but the guy in this (Ezra Godden) is like Ash lite and I never really bonded with him as a character basically coz he didn't have any. It starts with a really nice sequence that bodes well for a H.P Lovecraft adaptation but the middle third soon degenerates into a half assed prolonged chase . Now I was starting fidget just a touch but I thought I've paid for this it's got to get better and you know what? It does. WAhhaaay.

Once the Dagon Mythos is shown as back-story Told by an old fisherman in a ridiculously thick accent the Great Old Ones atmos kicks in.

The last third pulls the film up by it's Lapels from mediocrity to pretty damn good. I'll not spoil it but let's just say there's Boobies, Blood, Monsters, and one of the most painful gory protracted deaths I've seen in a long time.

This was like a welcome throwback to the early 80's when Ironic teenagers hadn't yet nudged and winked the credibility out of the genre.