drrotwang

I just saw "Dagon" this weekend and it was pretty much OK. Not stellar, but not crap either. It's based primarily not on H.P. Lovecraft's short story "Dagon" but on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", a brilliant tale of inbreeding, heredity, decay, Great Old Ones and being chased around by fish-people.

The tale was originally set in the fictional town of Innsmouth, Massachussetts; the film, however, is set in Spain. That feels a bit weird to a Lovecraft fan like myself, but...

There's something about the film. It feels -- I dunno how to explain it, but a lot of low-budgets movies have this look about them. I'm not sure anyone notices it but me, though. It's like the lighting is all there but it's off a little, or the shot sizes are just not quite right. Who knows.

The audio is pretty awful. I had to watch it with the subtitles on because I couldn't hear what anyone was saying. You know how a lot of Full Moon movies sound? It was like that.

The art direction was kickin', though. Very nice. The golden artifacts from the sea were very nice, and the FX were pretty OK too.

Coolest thing about it, though, is that it's the first time I've ever heard the chant, "Ia! Ia! Cthulhu ftaghn!" in a movie or TV show.

A fairly faithful adaptation, if one that has that weird, stuffy, claustrophobic low-budget look and feel to it. You'd think that'd be a good thing in a horror movie, but here it just feels flat and kind of empty.

On the DVD, director Stuart Gordon mentions that he had intended to shoot "Dagon" right after "Re-Animator" back in the 1980s, but for various reasons "From Beyond" was made instead. I have this feeling that if "Dagon" had been made in that decade (my favorite), it might've been hammier...but more pleasant, somehow.

So the flick's not bad. It's like a sandwich: it's not a punch in the face, but it's still just a sandwich.

Much has been said of this film already; therefore, I have little new to add.

However, I've noticed that one perception is held steadily throughout many of the reviews present on this database: The idea that the viewer who plays "Dungeons & Dragons" and games of its ilk will find something to enjoy in this movie.

I do.

And I didn't.

You're walking through an amusement park. All the rides around you look wonderfully scary and thrilling; they taunt you as you pass them, they promise something different, something new, at journey's end.

The final ride is a fiberglass pony in front of the supermarket.

That's the "Los Sin Nombre" experience. You, the viewer, watch as the protagonist follows clues to find her daughter -- a girl supposedly tortured and killed but now, 5 years later, apparently living. With the help of the detective who handled the original case, she stumbles from clue to clue and into...uh...well, it gets hazy. A cult dedicated to "synthesizing the ultimate evil" through "the final atrocity" and "mastering pain", because "evil is a key". A good idea crops up hither and yon, and gets you waiting, waiting for The Big Finish.

After some disturbing imagery, a whole lot of "Oh, yeah?" clues, some confusion as to why this guy named Toni is following Mom around, the overuse of the "choppily-edited-video-is-creepy!" effect and the introduction of a character whom we're asked to care about and then gets whacked, the final reveal arrives...and then...uh...the movie ends.

But the final reveal is so totally mundane in relation to the rest of the film as to feel as let-down, a waste of energy spent in caring how it will end.

This film is all style -- all tired, overdone style. Oooh, look, everything's bleak and cold-looking! Oooh, look, choppily-edited nightmare imagery! Oooh, look, clues on a videotape! Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Yeah, I know, I said the same thing.

"The Nameless". It's in Spanish. There's some icky stuff and some fodder for your "Call of Cthulhu" game. Your call.

Bring some coins for that pony.