Unfortunately, I am only familiar with the work of Howard Lovecraft from films. One of them is Dagon, which I first watched back in the early 2000s, and has since been revisited. When I was a kid, the movie scared and impressed me. Now, as an adult, I perceive some moments differently, but I still believe that this horror film can give a head start to many modern horror films.
The plot tells us about a young guy who happens to be in an abandoned fishing village located on the beach near Spain. Gradually, our hero realizes that this settlement is not so abandoned, and in order to survive, you will have to try. As I wrote above, I did not read the book that formed the basis of the script, but I did read on Wikipedia that the film has many differences with the printed work. For example, in the book, the main character enters the settlement, arriving by bus, and in the film - being shipwrecked. Other differences I will not mention, to avoid spoilers, but we can conclude that the film is more a free interpretation of the events of the book, and not a full-fledged adaptation of it. By the way, who is interested, the book is called “Shadow over Innsmouth”.
It is worth noting that the special effects in the film are at an average level. This applies to the appearance of monsters and makeup in general. And the bloody moments hardly show. By the way, there are cropped versions of this picture, in which the bloody scenes are almost absent. Even taking into account the year of release, at that time there were already pictures with much more realistic monsters and murder scenes. However, "Dagon" is capable of impressing, and it scares, above all, the stunning atmosphere. It consists of such components as the appearance of the village, and a great combination of music and action. As an ardent fan of all kinds of horror films, I responsibly declare that in the atmosphere this film is the most terrible of all that I saw. I've seen a lot of it.
Let’s add a great cast of actors. I especially liked the main character, who in the beginning was a kind of nerd-ass nerd, and in the end, looked like a real man, at least in actions. I will also mention a very colorful old man, played by the wonderful actor Francisco Rabal. Unfortunately, he died during the filming of the film. It is impressive that this fact was given a place in the final credits, thus honoring his memory. Also, I remember Macarena Gomez very much, in the role of a demonic princess – a really high-quality character.
The ending here is very successful, in the spirit of fantasy stories. In my opinion, it should have ended that way. My review is also coming to an end, and I want to highlight this film from a good side. I recommend watching all fans of unusual atmospheric horrors.
8 out of 10
It's a rather strange description of Henry Lovecraft. The producer of the film was the great and terrible Brian Yuzna, who was recorded as the leader in the number of shot nasty and nauseating horror films.
By the way, there are films where the action takes place immediately, without a tie. At first everything is clear here, but from the period when half-blind M. gets to the village of Indocca If you believe Lovecraft, in Indocca there was a revolution of the church, as a result of which, some people disown the church and adopted the cult of the personality of lunatic fanatics who completely changed the religious concept of society. Apparently, the author of the story hints at the period of the Inquisition in Spain. But what about the crowds of monsters-eaters, it is unclear. And then, if you watch the movie very carefully, it turns out that we are dealing with genetic mutants that can fertilize any living thing.
According to Wikipedia, God Dagon raped the kidnapped girls. That's not true. In fact, they thought they had been raped. Neither the rapist nor the dagon is seen in the movies. Plus a lot of logical inconsistencies. And a bunch of blunders that are covered with special effects. Maybe that’s what it’s worth watching. It looks awful in places. The bloody ending and the rest of the confusion make us once again see the instability of the mental health of those who shot and prepared the film. In the rest of the film in the category of one-day 'saw and forgot'. there are horror films brighter and smarter.
5 out of 10
My hatred of human beasts grows more and more when I watch this damned rabble. Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
The Black Sea carries a yacht on the waves, like a child playing his senseless and traumatic games. Successful man Pablo, along with his wife and a couple of friends, meet a storm that will bring not only the collapse of the ship, but also the phenomenon of mystery washed by cries of pain and unknown horror. Don’t ask for help from the fisherman. Port cities are like mold-covered journals of past death, have every chance to get into the list of those who will not remember. Or maybe you'll just trade your life for secret knowledge. Anything can happen when you go sailing through the universe of Howard Lovecraft, master of unknown horrors.
This shipwreck marks the beginning of forced tourism in the authentic city of the ancients, where ordinary mortals are very welcome, and it is easy to understand why.
For the ancients were, are, and will be, the flesh of the living is the material of infinite and secret grimoires.
There are comparisons. Few people have managed to convey the atmosphere of the works of the English reclusive, but there are people, and in my opinion, they have something like an inner ear that is connected directly to the afterlife. And from there, the dead but sane Mr. Howard whispers an idea in the darkness. Right into Stuart Gordon's brain. To show the viewer the level of creeping horror that we deserve. It is noteworthy that the emphasis is not on monsters but on quiet hopelessness. And the side as if froze behind the line of worlds and literally screams to an outsider in the street, so that he goes away. Gray colors, dampness, and endless downpour kill any hope for a successful outcome. From time to time, deformed faces flash behind window shutters, and in the old church one can hear a womb whisper in an unknown language. This is destabilizing and unsettling, taking away any hope of salvation.
And with the appearance of realistic creatures, this very hope completely disappears, giving way to primitive fear. By the way, the great merit of the soundtrack, this crackling issued by the inhabitants of Imboki inspired me genuine horror and disgust. And in conjunction with the downpour and despair, the very pristine horror that the late writer bequeathed to us is born.
Stuart's enthusiasm was evident, no matter how much he might say, there was means, there was zeal, and there was a message to recreate the very atmosphere inherent in the literary source. Plus, Gordon at some point brought the dramatic component to the first place. The personal tragedy of the scene is harmoniously intertwined with the personal tragedy of the protagonist, and this is exciting because with all the plot development there is no positive ending in sight. A magnificent work, because it is maintained strictly within the framework of the canon, with all the visual demonstrations of how having an idea in the arsenal, you can develop and implement it while preserving the spirit of the work, and not forgetting about such an incorruptible concept as a true suspense.
One. The film is dedicated to the memory of actor Francisco Rabal. This is Rabal's last role. Uncle played with Buñuel, Friedkin, Antonioni. Bow to the floor. How Yuzna and Gordon got him here, mystery. The other would have refused, but Rabal agreed. One of the strongest dramatic scenes of Dagon is associated with the hero of Rabal. He was a great actor.
Two. Don't look into Macarena Gomez's eyes, I beg. She'll eat you with her guts. Meg Foster and Barbara Steele clearly had a competitor, a-hee-hee.
Three. For a long time did not open Howard Phillips, but it seems that the story “Dagon” was about a sailor who escaped from German captivity, then met with a terrible monster. Gordon borrowed the monster itself, and was based on another story by Lovecraft, specifically “Shadow over Innsmouth” (or “The Black over Innsmouth”).
There was already a town that was inhabited by various sea creatures (half people, half fish). If I am confused now, I ask you to forgive in advance (all according to old memory), correct it. But even Innsmouth is very different from Gordon’s. It is best to say that the film is based on motives.
Gordon moved everything to Spain. Why? Because the money for the movie got Spanish investors (led by sloppy Yuzna, a-hee-hee). Gordon signed up for the film adaptation, as he had long dreamed of it. Fans of the film writer criticized (waiting for something different - well, it happens).
I really liked the movie. Yes, there's bad computer graphics here, hitting the eyes (especially in the moment with Dagon himself). And the main character is not too charming pretzel to worry about him (I was more sympathetic to the character of Rabal, such an old drunk). Gordon tried to convey exactly the atmosphere of Lovecraft.
A cold, dead city, raining all the time, dark, long alleyways, locals (making strange noises) – it’s all very cool. And the ending is so delicious, I love it. I couldn’t get away from the Dagon. It's a pretty horror movie after all. He is not very scary, but he is damn curious.
Hand on heart, “Dagon” will go much better for those who did not open Lovecraft at all. Once again, I was convinced that Gordon was quite a brave director. The real author!
This is my subjective opinion and nothing more.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft wrote very atmospheric and beautiful stories, and this film is like a collection of unsuccessful takes - just horrors without any atmosphere - just thrash. Compared to a book where you feel trepidation and fear, the film causes laughter, not horror. When you read Lovecraft’s stories, you immediately create a visualization of the atmosphere that will overwhelm you completely. And the film is just empty - there's not even enough entourage to immerse yourself in the film - ridiculously made-up - especially at the moment where the scalp was shot - just funny, not scary. . .
Even if you compare the film to Dunwich's horror story, the story will win on all fronts when you read it. Compared to the film, Dagon is the story of Cthulhu's Call a masterpiece. I can also advise you to listen to Lovecraft's audiobooks - with musical accompaniments dipping into the depths of horror, if you are lazy to read, but most importantly Lovecraft is a must-read.
When I watched this film as a child – it was scary, but now we adults understand that the film lacks a strong seriousness – the film is more like the comics that fans began to make after the creation of the master of horror – Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
P.S.: The actors are not the best chosen - their play does not immerse in the atmosphere and it is bad.
5 out of 10
The adaptations of Lovecraft’s works seem to be better than the Gordon/Juzna duo, few people succeeded at all. You can also highlight Carpenter's ' in the mouth of madness' but there is a slightly different story. When it comes to all sorts of monstrous crap, the aforementioned coped with it better than others. We did our best here, too.
The story is murky like the eye of a dead fish: the main character dreams of a mermaid calling him to the underwater world of dreams, he wakes up on a yacht with another - not a mermaid, but a beauty - who seems to casually mention the wealth that suddenly fell on them. Then everything develops quite rhythmically - a storm, a reef, an accident, a village on the shore, strange, pale for the Spanish coast, guys, and so on into the abyss of despair.
I loved how the movie’s charms eluded reviewers. Acting game is quite good, the effects and makeup are excellent, the atmosphere is such that the feet become damp, and the smell of fish appears in the first half hour of viewing. Blood is also enough, while there is no really sophisticated treshatina - a fairy tale, not otherwise. Watch fans of the duo Gordon / Euzna, Lovecraftians and lovers of despair and total disaster. Don't look at the bores.
If this is a movie of pro- & nbsp;seafarers and fishers, why is it so clumsy as woodcutters?
I will immediately say that the original of Loverkaft, based on which this picture was shot, I have not read, although I am familiar with the content in brief, so initially I have a certain conviction - the film adaptation of the work of this writer should be awarded more serious and directing and acting and special effects and scenery.
“Dagon” looks like a horror film that was shot for an unassuming audience of the 60s, 70s, which can easily be brought to wet underpants with fake blood or silicone that is issued as peeled skin. Well, God with them - special effects here are cheap, tasteless, and man-made - that computer, all some frail home-grown attempt to make a very scary, put more screams, funny monsters and cthul-shaped tentacles.
But why do heroes behave as if they are claiming the Darwin Prize?
Why is acting so unnatural and comic?
I won’t spoil it, but the characters, especially GG, cause laughter and irritation.
In general, the film is third-rate, dull and completely unfit for viewing.
Stuart Gordon is an amazing director. A man whose work can not be called a typical “thrash”, although most will argue otherwise, only superficially looking at his filmography. Of course, liters of blood and black, in such films as “Reanimator” or “Outside”, speak for themselves, but from a technical point of view and semantic they carry a little more than your ordinary “bi-movie”. The director tried himself in a variety of genres with varying success, but he still preferred horrors, preferably based on the works of H. F. Lovecraft. And so in 2001 comes a new attempt by Gordon to transfer the fear of the unknown to the screens - "Dagon".
In a rather confused introduction, we meet Paul Marsh, his girlfriend Barbara, and two other friends who accompany them, who are not so important to the narrative. All of them have fun on a yacht in the sea, as a storm suddenly begins, circumstances separate the heroes and Paul and Barbara urgently need to find help in the town nearby. Arriving there by boat, they immediately notice something wrong - it is impossible to contact the outside world, the residents of the city behave suspiciously, and some of them even have gills.
The picture has very weak main characters, and this is its first minus. At the beginning of the film, Paul and Barbara are caricatures, he is a nerd, immersed in work, she just wants to live to the fullest and enjoy the moment. There is absolutely nothing to say about the other two, even though there is a sign “Victim” on your forehead. Further in the plot, Paul reveals himself a little more as a character, for example, to become more courageous and we learn his dark secrets, but this is absolutely not enough to somehow empathize with him. And that’s a big problem, because we spend a little less than 2/3 with him almost alone and it doesn’t help the fact that the actor (Ezra Godden) portrays emotions too playfully. With supporting actors much better – look ominous and even if overplay, it is not so critical, because not so noticeable and quite permissible for the image they represent. I especially want to mention Francisco Rabal, who, unfortunately, died before the premiere of the film. The local alcoholic in his performance is funny, touching and he gave such a seemingly “one-note” image of a spark that in the end you empathize with his character more than anyone.
On the other hand, the atmosphere of horror, insanity and isolation is magnificent. As mentioned above, the first 20 minutes of a movie have little to offer, but once the action begins, it doesn’t let go until the very end. Despite the fact that the costumes of the local creatures look quite cheap and rubbery, and the makeup of some participants is painfully minimalistic, they never really distract the viewer’s attention, and together with the delightful scenery create an unforgettable spectacle. No matter what anyone says, Stuart Gordon has done a fantastic job on a tight budget and his work deserves praise. Only rare CGI effects really spoil the impression of what you see. There are very few computer effects here, however, all that is – time has not spared at all. Not to say that at that time they looked decent, but still.
"Dagon" is certainly not Stuart Gordon's best work. The disadvantages here are more noticeable than, say, in Fortress, where much could be forgiven, and prevent you from fully enjoying what is happening. However, despite this, it has enough aces up its sleeve to not consider viewing a waste of time, but on the contrary - you can quite enjoy what you see. Don’t overestimate your expectations.
The movie is awesome. I've seen it many times. It's not boring. The scene with the scalp off a man is just cruel - creepy, nasty and scary - I love that. The scariest moment in the movie. Saw is resting and Kruger. Dagon itself is made very naturally - a real sea monster. Like an octopus straight. People — fish, too, fun — these monsters. Like a zombie. Well, the atmosphere of the film is simply amazing - hopeless. There's always a way, though. The law of life. Play actors are good - that guy, that girl, that grandfather play very well. The others, too. In short, respect and respect. All low bows and honors. Here we go. The scenery in the film is excellent - the village itself is very gloomy and lifeless - brings fear and horror to the viewer. And the villagers are also a bit repulsive. In short, a testimonial prophesy in the film.
Philosophy in the film is just amazing. Very interesting. But more like a fairy tale. So that’s the director’s fantasy – the whole movie. In short, the philosophy is that there are underwater creatures like this Dagon God out there. That's it.
Dagon is a great horror story about the sea god. Everybody watch. You won't. The movie is a bomb. Only the highest score.
If you translate the name of one much more famous horror film, Silent Hill, you get what I put in the title of the review, and that title could well be called the film that will be discussed on this page. The name received by this picture means the pagan demonic god, which appears in this creation, aimed at scaring the viewer, greedy to mystical horror stories. The action of the film takes place in a quiet sinister environment, in which evil rules, brought by the inhabitants of this place, and no one invited guests there, and random visitors to the cursed city will not be good in this abode of nightmare.
The film begins with the nightmare of a guy who goes on a cruise with his girlfriend, and they are thrown into a storm, and are thrown to the island where the village is located. Residents of this place look and behave strangely: one has fused fingers, the other does not answer questions, and on his neck he has scars. For quite a long time, the scene with the protagonist running around the hotel from wild people resembling zombies, after which this man sees an ordinary old man who asks for help, and in response to a question about what is happening here, tells a stunning story about the past of this village and about the sudden change of religion from Christianity to paganism (strongly reminiscent of Silent Hill). The scene with the sacrifice of a girl resembles simultaneously similar scenes from the adventure blockbuster “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Destiny” and from the mystical horror film “White Worm’s Lair”.
In general, a rather useful mystical horror film, shot not for fabulous money, and therefore not able to boast of a cool visual, which differs even more brilliant and rich in events and secrets "Silent Hill", but also with a budget of $ 4.8 million , which is negligible for a movie, which in theory should please the eye, we see that this amount is spent more than reasonably: in the film there is something to see, the elements of horror are not weak, and the film is able to frighten and immerse the viewer in the atmosphere of evil, from which there is no protection. Perhaps the film based on the novel of the brilliant writer Lovecraft should have been more saturated with visual charms, as it was with the more famous horror film “Outside” in 1986, based on the novel of the same writer, which received an award for the best special effects, but what we saw in “Dagon” can not be called cheap. Even a pity that the film was almost in the shadows, and few people know about it, and personally I learned about “Dagon” from my friend, who has a jik on horror films, and he liked this one so madly that he regularly asked me when I watched this film, and I had to give in to persuasion, which I did not regret. The film really deserves attention. It is desirable to watch at night, so the effect of immersion in the citadel of evil is achieved as much as possible.
9 out of 10
I don’t know how you could have ruined such a wonderful story. First, the writer of the script completely distorted the plot. In the original, the action took place at the beginning of the 20th century, not at the end, and in New England, not in Spain (although the choice of this Spanish village is very good, it completely matches the view of Innsmouth). No girl and two friends the main character was not, he came to Innsmouth to see the local sights, and on the bus, not on a yacht. He did not attack the old man with a knife, but tried to talk with a bottle of whiskey, and this was before he was attacked in the hotel, not after, and so on. Lovecraft's reserved language was also lost. I can't imagine GG saying something like "Oh, shit!" and yelling so loudly and being afraid of everything, in the original he was much more restrained and did everything in silence. The old man's story is also spoiled by his errors in conversation (because he is Spanish and speaks English poorly). Why? Second, special defects. I won’t even say anything about them, everything was done in a pitiful and primitive way, although 2001 was still a year. Third, the atmosphere. “Shadow over Innsmouth” is a very calm and restrained work, fear is whipped up there by almost one atmosphere, of the active actions there is only the flight of GG from the hotel, which was transmitted, fortunately, quite accurately. The film is stupid, fast and meaningless, full of nudity, themes of money and other things that Lovecraft never had. I liked only the ending, which in the story of Lovecraft was given only a hint, Innsmouth and the underwater city.
1 out of 10
What does a person need for happiness? Probably fulfilling all his wishes. People go so far in their greed that they completely lose their heads, become insane. As Adolf Hitler himself said, a madman is very fit for service. But who did the crazy guys serve in this movie? No, not another petty tyrant and a fool, but a real ancient deity.
Plot
A yacht with people on the port gets into a storm and stumbles upon a stone block. A boy and a girl, noticing a small town on the shore, go there for help. But they have no idea how dangerous this idea can be. The storm is much safer than the inhabitants of this strange place.
This film is based on the work of the famous writer G. Lovecraft. I think this is the most successful of all the adaptations of his books.
The tension will not take long to wait and will immediately capture the viewer. Only the main characters go off the boat to the shore, as events begin to develop rapidly. There are no unnecessary words, but there is a lot of action. The story is quite interesting to watch. This horror has its charm and zest. From viewing it you can get not only fear, but also great interest. The finale will be particularly exciting.
Acting game
It is impossible not to admire the male half of the cast. All the men in this movie were very realistic. Brendan Price's emotions are especially accurate. His face clearly conveys all the pain.
But the female part played quite weakly. With the exception of the spectacular Macarena Gomez, all the girls in this movie seem very stupid or plain. Their characters and the game repel and make bewildered face.
Monsters
Unfortunately, due to the small budget, the film is not too diverse for monsters. But people who turn into marine life look pretty nasty. The downside here is that the director shows us Dagon for just a couple of seconds.
Result
A very strong representative of Spanish horror, deserving of respect. It is distinguished by an interesting plot, the absence of stamps and the mysterious atmosphere of the cursed city. It's 100 percent good to watch.
The film is based on Lovecraft’s book Shadow Over Innsmouth. Despite significant deviations from the plot in the book, the film leaves a very pleasant impression.
Go through the material that offers us the Director: four friends (Paul, Barbara, Vicky and Howard) go on a yacht to swim near Spain. Suddenly there is a storm and the yacht hits the reef. Paul and Barbara take an inflatable boat and decide to reach the shore and call for help. Vicky and Howard stay on the yacht.
Docking to the shore, the heroes see a very gloomy situation: dirty streets, dilapidated houses, in addition to everything it rains. The city seems completely deserted, only music sounds in the distance. Hearing the singing, our heroes ran to a very strange church, where they found a very strange priest. Briefly explaining the situation, Paul and Barbara lead the priest to the dock. Paul then goes on a boat with the local boys to the wrecked yacht, and Barbara stays with the priest. Having found no one on the yacht, Paul returns to the pier, but Barbara is also missing.
The terrifying reality of this story is that a curse hangs over the city and its inhabitants. The punishment for the worship of the sea god Dagon. When the new religion came to replace the Christian faith, the sea was literally filled with gold and fish. But Dagon needed sacrifices. Over time, people themselves became victims, acquiring the features of the inhabitants of the sea, a kind of half-human half-fish.
In general, the film looks in one breath. The horror of this story adds to the extremely gloomy landscapes of the Spanish city and disgusting weather. I liked the acting, primarily Ezra Godden and Makarena Gomez. From the soundtrack, the blood freezes in the veins.
Of the obvious disadvantages, I would single out two. The first is the ending of the film, a bloody ritual. The extra draws attention, unlike other characters, one way or another involved in the film, then the director’s fuss ended – disgusting costumes, the feeling that in the background there are some homeless people dressed in rags. If you watch it for the first time, then of course, such nonsense may not be noted for yourself, but I have watched this film more than once, and each time it seemed to rediscover it. Well, the second minus, I will say from myself - I would like the second part!
In general, the film is great, I want to watch more and more.
9.5 out of 10
What am I talking about? Oh, yeah, it's a movie. But first, it’s about the horse... I mean, About the director, a few words about the director.
Stuart Gordon almost 20 years ago made the film “Reanimator”. Not that the film came out as a standard adaptation of the book or was a masterpiece of horror, but, nevertheless, it was not bad. There was something in the movie.
And now back to our sheep... horses... furrows... To Dagon, in short.
Gordon's back in charge. Again at the heart of the film is the work of Lovecraft. Again, a penny (by the standards of cinema) budget. Again, instead of the 20s of the twentieth century, modernity, relative to the release of the picture. And, of course, the love line (without it). And we get (drum roll) ... some perplexity from watching.
Gordon quite freely (compared to the same "Reanimator") treated the source. Although, it was definitely possible to convey some color. There is something that allows you to take the scene for granted, there is something remotely Insmuto-Danwich-Arkham. A little, but still.
Trying to visualize Lovecraft’s horrors is a thankless endeavor. Most of the terrible in his work is not something visible, tangible, felt, but lurks in the mind, no, even in the subconscious, subconscious fear of the unknown intertwined with fear of something real. There are exceptions, though. The same "Dagon" - quite itself has an acceptable application point for creating an appearance. Eey. It was not that bad (remember about the budget), but something really mystical is not remembered. All the same, if you follow the “letter” of the text, the emphasis should have been made not on lousy (well, the budget!) makeup, but on the unnatural behavior of the inhabitants of the village.
But! Impressed the priest. It's almost like Lovecraft's. Almost because the final scene with him is very easy to resolve. You couldn’t have become an idiot in a moment like that.
I liked the main character. I would like to note the director’s efforts to show the importance of the hero’s dreams, because when the ancients begin to awaken themselves, then people’s dreams become the first signal. In most scenes, the actor looks good. I especially like the scene of awareness of what is happening and taking the way to solve the situation.
There was an old man telling the story of the village. He even wanted to empathize (which is rare for me lately).
What music. Quite successful musical accompaniment, oppressive, pressing melody, evoking thoughts of unreality and at the same time "horror" from what is happening.
Very controversial. It seems that Gordon before “Dagon” shot a few more adaptations of Lovecraft. Maybe I’ll get back to them and reconsider (what if it’s worse?).
Trying to film Lovecraft close to the original source is almost hopeless. His language is too non-cinematic, his cosmic horror is too amorphous, which in most cases “cannot be described in words.” The reader’s imagination immediately begins to draw something abstract and creepy, which scares, first of all, precisely with its incomprehensibility and uncertainty. Moreover, everyone gives these images those features that he is afraid of - and rarely when they coincide with what the director built on the screen.
However, these delirium nightmares turned out to be fertile ground for the emergence of dozens of cheap horror films, parasitic on the sign “H. P. Lovecraft’s”, as happened with the work of Edgar Poe or Stephen King. Debuting half a century ago with Roger Corman in “Enchanted Castle”, the GFL movie by the early eighties brightly lit up in the bloody European cult of Lucio Fulci, from where he was extracted by the American Stuart Gordon. Being an ardent admirer of the writer, he almost enthusiastically created two very memorable tapes – “Reanimator” and “Outside”, where a deep, viscous suspense of books replaced the meat drive of exploitation. At about the same time, the script “Dagon” was written, which Gordon, who gradually slid into riveting low-grade slurred, managed to realize only by the beginning of the new century. As it turns out, it's too late.
And the point is not even that in the story of a millionaire glasses, captured by mutating in water occultists, there is actually no literary original. It was not in the pair of Gordon paintings fifteen years ago, which, nevertheless, became a classic of the genre – albeit a bit not the one that the connoisseurs of the magazine “Weird Tales” dreamed of. The fact is that over the past years, the director managed to lose inspiration and creative enthusiasm, as a result of which the semi-dream horror of the story “Shadow over Innsmouth” turned into a confused brew of tightly stamped dialogues, meaningless running through the dirty backstreets of an abandoned Spanish town, dull acting and a couple of scenes with exposure-dismemberment, mandatory for the budget.
The main drawback of the craft is that Gordon allegedly refused his previous sense of humor, while the script did not cease to be habitually idiotic. When you're stupid and funny -- you get funny "Reanimators"; when you don't know where to sneer and where to put the kettle -- you might realize that you're going to have a much more exciting spectacle in the fridge than you are on the screen. In addition, rarely and inappropriately appearing soundtrack kills any hint of atmosphericity, and the lack of charisma in Ezra Godden (on which, unfortunately, the narrative is held) and makes you squeeze the window of the player on half a monitor, and on the other half it is lazy to check that there is new in social networks. Adding to this questionable computer special effects, which, if frightening, it is only his antediluvian, the director forces painfully nostalgic about those fertile times when he had a talented composer, and quite gifted actors, and wonderful masters of “live” makeup, and, most importantly, self-irony, twisting the indescribable Lovecraftian madness unscrupulous tooth peel outside.
Being untenable as a horror movie, Dagon turns into a very unpleasant disappointment from the point of view of the mythology of the main visionary of New England. Gordon, categorically attributing himself to the number of his true fans (which, for example, exactly include the guys who shot in 2005 beautiful in its scrupulousness “Call of Cthulhu”), for some reason transforms many details of the story, which do not require it at all, apparently, trying to make his tape as original as possible and completely artificially distancing it from the original text. Interestingly, the transfer of the scene to Spain for budgetary reasons did not go to the harm of the picture, especially since the setting was chosen surprisingly suitable. However, the gloomy fish people here suddenly become mollusk people with zombie habits, the mysterious deep-sea ones are simply absent as a class, and Dagon himself is not only shown and because of this disappointing imagination, but also looks like a cthulhu-like cuttlefish.
To top off all the troubles, the creator’s desire to originalize and shock results in an absolutely far-fetched and frankly stupid ending with tearing off faces and covers a la gore version of Zita and Gita. Under these conditions, the suspiciously accurate reconstruction of the book scene in the hotel looks more like a mockery of the original source, as the monologues of the elderly Francisco Rabal in broken to the state of abracadabra English became a mockery of the public. Additionally, pulling details from a pile of films of previous years - from Romer's "Night of the Living Dead" to Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Destiny" - Gordon stuck them to the source material extremely mechanistic and tasteless, getting an hour and a half eclectic traction, only confirming the extinction of his horror talent.
And the surreal hromada of Dagon remained that unspeakably mysterious nightmare from the story of a century ago.
Let Kraken out! Why don't we let Dagon out? Kraken!
The creative tandem of Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna has repeatedly addressed the literary heritage of the famous master of horror Howard Phillips Lovecraft. And even the fact that they filmed well, very much for motives did not prevent the same "Reanimator" from becoming a cult thing in the circles of fans of tickling their own nerves. It would seem that in the film “Dagon” everything is done according to traditional well-established schemes, only this time it did not work at all, Cthulhu did not wake up, the fhtag did not work. Partly because the film courtyard has already come to the 21st century, in which a couple of minutes of bloodthirsty Guro, albeit very elegantly done, can not block the hopeless boredom throughout the rest of the timekeeping; catastrophic special effects that can easily cut wood, because axe; buffoon tastelessness, manifested from the desire to pull from everywhere and more. Retro is always in fashion, but in this case, the old-fashioned directorial approach, multiplied by indistinct kitschy and departure from the original source, went to the film adaptation exclusively to the detriment.
Traveling on a yacht, a young couple + their friendly mobs, which immediately on their indistinct average ends are written “we will be the first to become consumables for bad people”, by the will of the storm they find themselves in a coastal town, whose residents will clearly bite, beat and hurt them in a Barmalean way. Lent from any youth modern survival horror, aggravated by no less lean implementation. The literary basis of the film was a swift (how much Lovecraft can be “rapid”) story of one escape, where a loner stuck his nose in the meat grinder of ancient cults that sprouted in a degraded port town, and almost lost it. The scene of a panicky night escape from the hotel (later brilliantly recreated in a computer game based on the same story) was generally one of the most frightening and tense things that a writer ever managed. For Gordon, this chase turned into a kind of caricature Bennihillism, which only lacked the characteristic stupid music in the background. Residents of the town, who should look degraded from incest, lack of sunlight and negatively affect the appearance of sexual relations with mutants, but still people, walk here on tentacles (???!!), instead of hands they also have tentacles (???!!!), they are blue and bruised, like zombies George Romero and scream like dolphins. Talking about a suspense in this case is a dead thing.
About his application for old-fashioned cinema broadcasts already from the opening credits, conveying greetings to the traditions of the studio “Hummer”. And it seems that everything in this film: from the abuse of jet shots, the use of natural “terrible” makeup, ruthless and repeated exploitation of interruptions and ending with the main character, embodying the cartoon image of almost all nerds wearing glasses from horror films of the 70-80s, all this is aimed at emphasizing their belonging to “them, not these”. The problem is that Gordon never had a sense of style, even in Reanimator, making up for it with old-school enthusiasm and exquisite cruelty, but here he becomes flat. Cinema rushes from horror category "B" to stupid comedy, while positioning itself as a film adaptation, which the viewer is directly informed at the very beginning. A comedy adaptation of Lovecraft. Looking at his portraits, can you imagine his works comedic for a second? It's hard to believe he's ever smiled. And it seems that rare moments from the original book are attracted here precisely to justify their “kinship” with him, to attract people who are not indifferent to the writer’s work, and not for the film itself. Only when the caring people see Dagon, who suddenly looks not a fish-amphibian, but very funny and ... like Cthulhu, when the mutated inhabitants of the city also look like little cthulhiks with cute tentacles instead of face, legs and hands, they become unfun. And apart from the original source, the film boasts almost nothing, except that the last role of a close associate of Buñuel - the beautiful Francisco Rabal, the languid eyes of Makarena Gomez, the vintage phrase "Something in the water!!!" and the inscription "Miscatonic" on the jersey. Oh, and then the skin was removed alive, and Dagon-Cthulhu did to the girls what Gordon did to the source. These are quite doubtful virtues, but the rich they are, the more they are happy, when there is nothing to brag about, then it will be useful and such that Cthulhu woke up right on their heads.
I will see your faces again, but you will not see me.
We will go deep, passing through the countless black abyss... and there, in the heart of these unknown depths, we will remain... surrounded by glory and splendor, forever and ever.
In my life, I have watched Dagon only 2 times: when I was 12 years old and yesterday. For a long time, I hesitated to review it, as I was afraid of losing the bright aftertaste that remained after watching the film as a child. After all, very often, when we review over time our favorite comedies, they seem stupid and flat, horrors – funny and ridiculous, dramas – naive and sucked out of the finger. Time imprints on the perception of the world of the outside and the world of culture, but “Dagon” is the film that will always be a classic horror, rich and atmospheric, no matter what.
Why is it worth watching?
First of all, it's Lovecraft. In general, I cannot say that this writer is remarkable for the abundance of metaphors and extensive colorful description in his works, his peculiarity is the non-triviality and capacity of the plots. At a time when it was fashionable to write about vampires, witches and evil spirits, Mr. Lovecraft tirelessly lobbed the theme of the abyss of water and the nightmares lurking in it. That is why it was especially important for the film adaptation to take a person who is able to preserve the spirit of the work and the spirit of the author. I think Stuart Gordon did it at least qualitatively.
The film “was born” already well-known in the genre of horror director for 15 years and, interestingly, he managed to “suck” from a relatively small work “Shadow over Innsmouth” a very juicy and exciting plot, and this is all with an extremely limited budget.
About the movie itself: it completely captures literally from the first minutes of viewing, makes you hold your breath and contemplate. This is not a superficial horror, designed for the mass audience - this is a rather deep film with a lot of motives and stories inside: here the theme of human loneliness, faith and renunciation of it, love and loyalty, the predominance of the material over the spiritual as the root cause of the loss of a person's human appearance is clearly expressed.
If you delve into the visual component, it becomes clear that her role in the film is one of the main. Very masterfully depicted eternally wet and dilapidated city on the ocean: dirty, sinful and God-forgotten. You, sitting in a chair in front of the monitor, literally get there and instantly feel cold in your legs and moisture on your face, want to wash yourself, wipe off a layer of dirt, blood and mass psychosis. The atmosphere of the work is recreated perfectly, throughout the film the idea of the borderline state of the main character and obsessive sleep stretches. The line between good and evil, good and bad, reality and nightmare is lost. Trying to wipe the sweat from your forehead after a nightmare, you seem to break out of its shackles, but immediately plunge into a new abyss, realizing that now this dream is your reality. Also incredibly pleased with the fact that the film is largely devoid of movie clichés and cliches, it stands alone among the huge mass of horror films of the early 21st century and quite clearly proves that Spanish cinema is alive and breathing, and in order to make a quality film, do not need billions of budgets and entirely star cast.
Definitely, this picture is harmonious in its depth and enticing disgust.
Who would have thought that in the last two decades, the real beacon of Spanish horror films will be a real American. Brian Yuzna, at the turn of the 80-90s of the last century, having shot several good films in his homeland ("Book of the Dead", "Bride of the Reanimator"), decided to leave Hollywood and went to Spain to develop the cinema of the sunny country according to his own patterns. And, it is worth noting, Yuzna really succeeded. Under his leadership, the Spaniards every year release several films of the intimidating genre, and Yuzna himself, if he does not act as a director, then watches the process as a producer. In 2001, the filmmaker turns his attention to the work of the cult writer-mystic of the beginning of the last century Howard Phillips Lovecraft, famous for his love for the sea deity Cthulhu, crowned with many tentacles and passed a red trail throughout the work of the writer. Brian Yuzna decided to take as the basis of his next project a novel by Lovecraft called "Dagon". Deciding not to change the original name and limited to the functions of the producer, Yuzna entrusted the post of director to his long-time comrade Stewart Gordon, familiar to us from the fantastic action movie “Fortress” with Christopher Lambert. The budget of the film was almost $ 5 million, which was somewhat small, as for the embodiment of all the ideas of an extraordinary writer, but to maintain his favorite gloomy atmosphere, this was more than enough.
Since Dagon was created on the basis of Spanish cinema, it is natural that the film will unfold not according to the canon, in New England, but just on the shores of Spain. The main character of the picture is a young American Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden), who, in the company of his wife Barbara (Rakel Meronho) and a couple of friends went on a luxury yacht on a long journey near the Spanish land. Suddenly, a rapid storm hits the yacht and Paul and Barbara have to leave the yacht and friends to save themselves and help them. However, the joy of getting on land is overshadowed by a meeting with the mysterious inhabitants of the ancient village, who not only look like drowned people, but also behave like real bloodthirsty thugs! Moreover, inadequate locals kidnap Barbara, and Paul begins his desperate battle with the forces of evil, who keep a terrifying secret, whose discovery will forever change the life of the guy.
From the very beginning of the viewing, you can understand that the budget of the tape did not allow you to show the full scope of the story on the screen, and the computer effects had to be minimized in order not to turn the adaptation of Lovecraft into a farce. In addition, it is worth noting that the dynamics and style of the painting by Stuart Gordon is worth getting used to. Still, European horror films are very different from the usual American projects, and therefore do not expect from “Dagon” gloss and brilliance, which can boast of almost all new-fangled Hollywood horror, including everyone’s favorite “Astral” and “Spell”. The picture of Yuzna and Gordon can boast of eternal darkness, ugly silhouettes, scurrying through dirty streets and heavy rain, completing an already joyless picture for the unfortunate protagonist. The creators of “Dagon” do not worry about the external beauty of the tape, because sometimes it is the “dirty” that can make the viewer remember the plot shown for a long time. In fact, this is what happens with Dagon.
The main center of the narrative is Paul performed by Ezra Godden. The hero appears before us as a classic “nerd” in glasses, who spends almost all his time behind a computer screen calculating complex algorithms and playing with stocks on world exchanges. Since Paul’s finances are all right, it is no wonder that on the journey he is accompanied by a beautiful wife, who does not despise her husband. It is not difficult to guess that Paul's commitment to his work constantly causes conflicts within the young family. And sometimes only an extraordinary situation can change the main life priorities, which, in fact, happens to the heroes. Stuart Gordon decides not to torture his viewer and literally at the speed of light holds an introduction for us and introduces the characters. And already literally on the 15th minute of viewing begins a real kaleidoscope of events with constant chases, fights and investigations with Paul in the title role. The script literally floods the hero of Ezra Godden with trouble. Angry locals surround him from all sides and the tension sometimes reaches such heights that it seems that the hero has absolutely no chance of salvation, but at the decisive moment he manages to escape in order to again find himself in an even more terrible situation. So the film can be safely called a marathon of despair, which will resolve only the final story.
As for the mutants themselves, they are a budget version of the henchmen of Davy Jones from the second Pirates of the Caribbean. All of them are part of Lovecraft’s favorite mythology and are parishioners of the sinister sea cult that is behind all the misfortunes shown in the picture. And when the plot gradually switches from an unstoppable pursuit to the discovery of the secrets of what is happening, an unprepared viewer may get bored, because the ideas of the original source may not be to everyone’s liking. Personally, I also can not count myself a true fan of Lovecraft’s work, which made me somewhat boring to watch the vicissitudes of the second half of the tape, in which there is a traditional religious cult, and a monster with tentacles, as well as other favorite elements of the creations of the writer-mystic.
It so happened that it was Spanish filmmakers who in recent years undertook to film the work and legacy of Lovecraft. A vivid example of this is the dilogy "Heritage of Waldemar" and, in fact, "Dagon". Of course, the main disadvantage of these creations is the restriction in funding and a serious exaggeration of the stories told, which turns the films into a grotesque. But at the same time it has become a well-established style of Spanish horror, which can not be confused with the creations of filmmakers from other countries. Therefore, I can recommend Dagon to all fans of the genre, as this film is considered a classic of Spanish cinema. And let the narrative seem twitchy, uneven and somewhat tricky, especially in the finale, but it has its own charm, which can be realized only by personally taking up viewing.
8 out of 10
The film has a mixed reaction. So I don’t condemn anyone who is negative about this film. It is based on the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. The screenplay does not badly convey that “book-mint” (sounds tough, but you do not need 20 sentences to explain it in an intelligent way), mystically fabulous atmosphere. I haven’t read this book and can’t say much about it. As I noted above, the film is not unique. But when you consider the fact that the budget of the film is only $ 4,800,000 (while, some “have” $ 100-200 million and remove some nonsense). Even creating their own “theories” about where the money was spent, you can quite attribute many of the shortcomings of the film to the lack of funds. I've watched a lot of horror movies, and among those works were very tough movies, with candid scenes expressed down to detail. But I, a person quite cold-blooded, not impressionable and therefore, did not take into account everything that I saw on the screen. And the film “Dagon” from rare works, which periodically caused “burping” in me. But not because the movie is bad. Just, at some moments, almost in your mouth, you feel this disgusting taste of “fish waste” and these “sliding tentacles”. It is incredible how accurately the creators convey the atmosphere and make you delve into this world and feel everything on your own skin. The contact of the main character (Paul) with the Little Mermaid simply freezes the brain and everything he felt, I felt (namely, bewilderment and disgust). You can imagine that God knows how many kilometers away, you want some far from beautiful "Mermaid" (of course, I do not appeal to girls, lesbians also do not fantasize and hide tongues in the end). I mean the race of men.
Four people are stranded near the shore (as a result of a storm). Against the background of the elements, the eye catches not immediately, but a very noticeable, mysterious town. In short, Barbara (Paul's girlfriend) goes with the locals for help (or rather, to call). Then everything develops in the classical order. The secret disappearances of Barbara and her friends begin. Paul is left alone, gets surrounded by "hospitable" residents and further, everything is like a "mosaic", begins to explain not very pleasant facts about the local legend and the connection of the whole nightmare with Paul (not yet pleasant). And the ending in general “kills” and what the main character did later. I think a lot of people would do that.
As a "fantasy" and a "detective," the film justifies itself by having content. But as a "horror" he is not very good. Because it will not satisfy both fans of “thrash” and those who love mystical fear (the emphasis on this was not made, so there were few “moments”). And the "thriller" from this film is weak. And if you take in general, the film is very exciting and very atmospheric.
As a result: it is definitely recommended for lovers of topics, such as “We wandered the wrong way”, “Urban legends”, “Sea creatures”, “Fish fever”, “An unexpected finale”.
7 out of 10
My husband made another surprise last night. He showed this movie and, strangely, I liked it.
I haven't read Lovecraft, so it's just about the movie. At first, I thought it would be another mid-range horror story. At least, the beginning spoke for this scenario. But as the action went on, I completely lived through the experiences of the heroes. The film is in one breath, watching it is not boring. The mystical eerie atmosphere of the town, interestingly thought out fish-people, mysterious intrigue ... all this is great.
Of course, this is not the most terrible film, especially for modern times. But how original it is. I’ve made so many assumptions and all of them were wrong, this film completely breaks the stereotypes of ordinary horror movies! You wait for something familiar, when suddenly the plot makes a new turn, which you simply can not imagine. You have to have such a fantasy for the creators of this film that until the very end you sit and can not guess how it will all end! . . .
I was also pleased that the film was made in Spain. You can feel their color, such a mysterious Spanish village with creepy inhabitants.
I would not say that the film is cruel, on the contrary, it is a kind of humane to the viewer. A lot of violence is missing, that’s good. The focus is on mystery and mystery.
The leader's daughter in love is grace. She pleased me, a real siren of legends, with such clear eyes.
I recommend you, you will not regret it.
The film is dedicated to the great actor Francisco Rabal. What a nightmare.
It's a stupid movie. The plot, in accessible language, is half delusional, half incomprehensible. A kind of mixture of a youth horror story - an accident, a search for help, running from monsters, with a fantasy fairy tale like Conan Varvara and tearing off limbs (al-la “Saw” and the like). And it would be fine if everyone did it at an acceptable level (about high I do not stutter - not to fat, I would live), but no. The film boasts little, except that good scenery, and a couple of beautiful girls.
The first 20 minutes of the film still look bad, and then begins a delirious endless run from the monsters of papier-mache. There are no terrible scenes here, so suspense lovers are waiting for an offensive bummer. Well, taking off the scalp, tearing off the hands and dipping the head into a dirty toilet is a kind of nauseating scene, of which I am not a fan.
Perhaps the authors hoped that the ending of the film will smooth the impression, but it only caused confusion and left a sense of understatement and uncertainty. Dagon himself was not really shown to us, limited only to a couple of huge tentacles, but did not fail to report that Dagon will have a carnal connection with the victim. However, the possibility of what is happening does not fit in the head, or in the language of Ross Geller (see the series “Friends”), who very violently reacted to Chandler’s joke about sex with dinosaurs – “It is not only not funny, but physically impossible.” Depending on their appearance, I would need six meters. This is not funny!
In short, don’t watch this Spanish movie. You will not see anything new or interesting there. Fans of bloody meat should immediately go to the scene with the scalping, the rest can be missed as unnecessary.
Yes, low-budget, yes, unpleasant, this film, nevertheless, is remembered and remembered very well. The hopelessness of a nightmare, dreary, inexhaustible, wonderfully conveyed here.
For me, Dagon is a film by one actor, or rather an actress, a merit film, a medal film. The image created by this actress is certainly key and unsurpassed, without him the horrors of Dagon would have remained only horror stories. No, the other characters are certainly calibrated and appropriate, but next to her they pale, even the excellent HarActor tramp Francisco Rabala fades into the background. All the concentrated horror of this strange story is embodied in one little Hispanic girl.
“We will soon go to a beautiful place. You will forget your world and your friends. There will be no time, no end, no yesterday, no today, no tomorrow - only eternity, eternity and eternity - forever. Frost sweeps through the skin from the words of these beautiful mermaid Ukhia, her eyes like two pools, like two mouths of madness. The degree of horror raised by the young actress Makarena Gomez to the extreme level, blunders and special effects are no longer important. Of course, after this tape, the pale Spanish Macarena can claim the title of Queen of Horror. It is better to say, princesses: the queen is something too powerful and weighty, the princess is more subtle, subtile and tragic. After all, in the story she is a princess, and a mermaid in combination. And with mermaids, as with fairies, you should know this, jokes are bad.
I think Mr. Lovecraft himself would have lost his head if she had come to him in a dream, bottomless-eyed, in a quiet sad weeping and with an intricate shell on a round head, chilling and disembodied, with a graceful half-tail, half-tentacles instead of legs (the most tangible thing that it has), a thin etheric substance ... To be like Lovecraft, this performer, how to match! Edgar Poe is the best! White as chalk, smiling, puffy, she is beautiful in her mermaid role of a special aching beauty - truly unearthly, unhealthy and piercing beauty of decline, death and doom. Here is this calm, lyrical, doom, lunar longing, cold as darkness over Insmouth, but defiantly compassionate - Makarena Gomez impeccably embodies it, in ordinary life like a well-smoking schoolgirl, but we, moviegoers, well understand how beautiful, mysterious, beyond and difficult it is, and then she suddenly takes a golden dagger in her hand, and hair on end at you and at us! Her sorrow is bright, the horror it causes is also paradoxically bright, and she also secretly sympathizes with us, tailless as we, tailless, her. Perhaps she feels sorry for me: her eyes are blue like mine, as one friend of mine, a star of the courtly underground, used to say. Mermaid eyes, however, as befits a representative of the species, are rather green, but in any case it is better not to look at them. For the mermaid Uhia
In Western Semitic mythology, worshippers of all cults and religious views identified with the name “Dagon” the very real deity, which from the Philistines acquired the status of national. This name was associated in its origin with the Hebrew language, according to which the essence of the name was expressed in the words “grain” or “grain”. At the same time, the Hebrew interpretation appeals to the transformation into a fish, which is associated with folk etymology. Thus, it is assumed that Dagon was the god of agriculture – the very important deity that provided its power to actually saturate and feed its worshippers, and this is his high importance. One can prevail in his faith in the gods of war, family hearth and other things, but one always wants to eat, and it was Dagon who blessed with his person the best satisfaction of these human needs, manifesting in his essence agriculture, fertility, bread making and sowing grain.
However, it is in the traditional interpretation of the Bible that “Dagon” is combined with the Hebrew word “fish”, and the deity itself is designated as a half-man-half-fish. It was this version of the interpretation used by the famous writer Howard Lovecraft, creating a pantheon of his mythical deities and presenting Dagon as a half-man-half-fish of enormous size.
In the worlds of Lovecraft, Dagon was one of the lesser deities and together with his wife Hydra reigned over the Deepwaters. The deity is mentioned in several stories of the writer, including the eponymous "Dagon" and "Shadow over Innsmouth". And it was the latter work that largely formed the basis of this Spanish film, albeit with significant deviations, sometimes causing controversy from fans of the literary basis.
Created by the main screenwriter of Lovecraft’s works by director Stuart Gordon, the film, with a budget of almost $ 5 million, still acquired some budget in appearance, which completely affects the computer effects (well, there are few of them). But most importantly, it creates an atmosphere that's mystical, deserted, rainy. This may not be the atmosphere of the works (in general, in the review I would not like to associate the film with its literary primary), but it is present, which is emphasized by the types and places that add up the necessary components, music and the color scheme of the film.
Four people, consisting of two women and two men, are resting here on a yacht near the Spanish coast. More mature people, apparently, are already spouses, and the remaining young-looking still gracious in stormy romantic and sexual passions, only the boy earned a little and thinks about working even on vacation. It seems that the beginning of a small quarrel about this soon ends with an instant storm – the sky turned black, the wind accelerated, the sea swirled, the rain poured. The yacht is stranded, the spouses are in a life-threatening situation, the youth goes to the shore, where they are surrounded by a gloomy, colored asphalt-gray-earthly deserted town, where no soul is created by the tension of a completely different reality. Such a sudden and dramatic change from the sunny sea and a morose abandoned town seems fantastic and, at the same time, alive. Here fit the elusive feelings of Gothic and noir, later sometimes combined, and sometimes replaced by the atmosphere and mood of the painting “Dark City” from 1998 and the computer game Bioshock. However, the atmosphere does not seem fatal and not pressing, but as if fabulous, some naively fantastic, similar to the feelings generated by the backs of dark computer quests about terrible and strange events.
But, one way or another, on the incomprehensible call of hymns in the devastated city, the heroes fall into the occult church, designed to worship “Dagon”. Here they meet a pastor who is supposed to help them. And, while the guy goes on a yacht for his spouses (the sailors in their dark glasses and creamy white makeup are beautiful), the girl Barbara is captured. Upon returning to the city, the boy is packed in his ears a large portion of noodles that the girl left for the police. He goes to the hotel and here the whole series of incomprehensions and oddities goes into the mode of running and non-stop, when crowds of man-fish jump on the boy, making amazing snorting, quacking, hissing and moaning sounds. They move like a fish-zombie, have the rudiments of turning into fish, half-hatched eyes (some characters are similar to the heroes of the Addams Family, especially with the butler Larch) and in general they are not terrible, they caused more sympathy in me.
Later, from the mouth of the local bulldyg, the boy learned the story of the fall of the city, according to which in ancient times despair fell on the village in catching one of the only types of food - fish. A sailor called upon the people to worship another god, Dagon. Christian idols were destroyed, clergymen killed, the church converted into a cult of service to a new deity. Since then, people began to find gold in the water and did not know the troubles, but gradually began to turn into fish and then go to the sea, to Dagon, where eternal bliss and eternal life awaited them. The boy is now and then rescued by a fish princess who previously came to him in dreams, he turns out to be at the ritual of the sacrifice of his girlfriend and all the final unexpected dramatic events are played out here, based on which it turns out that the boy is here not by chance.
With the appearance and material reality with the atmosphere, perhaps, the film is fine, but the acting often did not like, especially in the performance of under Herbert West with his two capabilities. What pleases - attractive music and mystical rituals with all the famous "Ya". And the inquisitorial scene of skin removal from the face of the bouldyga, where the pastor is like a terrible inquisitor-torture, painted in bright colors, made very bloody and naturalistic-gore’ovo. Finally, the mermaid princess somewhat reminded Soledad Miranda (she, for example, played the main role in this film), and fish-people are generally incomparable with their sounds, remotely reminiscent of Dvar.
The picture in general, apparently, went a little far from the wide viewer's eye, but clearly was underestimated. Although the film largely diverges from the literary basis, it has its own interesting pros and bonuses. Dagon will open to the viewer only in the finale in the form of his snatching to Barbara chilocomputer tentacles, which is quite right, because with such effects, showing it in all its glory would smear the whole finale to hell.
The works of the American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft is almost impossible to successfully film, because he wrote a strange and unusual prose, full of hidden hints and a creepy, mysterious atmosphere, avoiding excessive bloodliness and letting readers imagine the terrible visions described by him. The story “Moroc over Insmouth” is one of the most terrible and unusual in the work of Lovecraft, but released in 2001, the film by Stuart Gordon “Dagon”, staged on this story in Spain, fans of the writer did not disappoint. Although the action of the picture is transferred in our time to Spain, the film in detail conveys the whole dark fantasy of Lovecraft, who created the eerie world of the fishing town of Insmouth, in the film became Imboca. This city, which sold its soul to Dagon, the viewer will remember for a long time, as well as its inhabitants, who became the culprits of their fall into the sinful abyss.
Of course, the film is low-budget, but the situation is saved by an excellent performance of actors, among whom there was the famous Spanish maestro Francisco Rabal, high-quality and terrible special effects, an unusual production and a delightful gloomy soundtrack of Carlos Cases, catching up horror throughout the picture.
I recommend this tape to fans of real horror, devoid of Hollywood gloss. The film should make you happy.
I began to get acquainted with the work of Howard Lovecraft through a collection of his stories. The works were written in different years of the writer’s life, but each of them began with words bearing approximately the following meaning: “You will not believe me, but it was really, and now I will tell you that even the hair under the armpits will stand on end.”
During the reading, nothing stood up or even moved. And equally sharp endings of stories began to get. There was a feeling that the last paragraphs of the works were specifically thrown out of the text. Apparently, Mr. Lovecraft was not strong in the apotheosis of his narratives. All in all, I honestly read exactly five and a half stories, closed the book and put it on the shelf in the darkest corner of my room that this American mystic writer deserves.
But when I found out that the film Dagon was based on his works, I didn’t become capricious about it. I liked the description of the film. I was wondering how Stuart Gordon would shoot it. I wanted to watch it.
And I wasn't disappointed. I saw everything in the movie that I wanted. It never stops raining at night. The crooked streets of an abandoned fishing village. A gloomy hotel with moldy shells and forever blinking lamps. Whispering prayers in incomprehensible language. The mysterious inhabitants of the village are hybrids of people and deep-sea creatures. The sounds of their screams and moving mucous limbs.
Despite the relatively small budget, the film came out beautiful, interesting and atmospheric. And it turned out to be much better than many TV screenings of the “king of horrors” Stephen King.
There is something blasphemous about the tenacity with which Stuart Gordon adds to the titles of his films "H.P. Lovectraft's", because from the books of this writer, he tends to leave only the central idea, throwing away the atmosphere and changing characters to suit his own tastes. "Dagon" is an example of such a movie.
The film is based on Lovecraft's short story "Shadow over Innsmouth" ("The Shadow over Innsmouth"), in which a student who returns to his hometown decides to visit the old fishing town of Insmouth, about which he had never heard before. The city is erased from the last maps and gives the impression of extinct, but in fact it turns out that this is not the case. There, on the narrow streets of the city, the hero of the story will open many dark pages: both the history of Insmouth and his own.
Stuart Gordon took the story to the shores of Spain and made the hero a young and successful millionaire who, along with a group of friends, gets on a yacht in a storm. The yacht runs into the coastal cliffs, and the hero, Paul, together with his girlfriend go to ask for help in a small coastal town, whose old houses are still visible through the raging storm crashed.
Despite the fact that the town is not called Insmouth, but Imboka, the resemblance to the literary original is conveyed with meticulousness worthy of admiration. Paul wanders through the damp, inhospitable streets, from time to time seeing strangely shaking shadows of rare townspeople. Soon the night will come, and all the inhabitants will get out of the houses, who, speaking in a strange language, little resembling a human, will round up an uninvited alien. All this is exactly like Lovecraft, with “warping”, “slapping” and ugly shadows crawling on the walls.
This similarity, alas, is exhausted, and we observe the classic thrash horror, the genre of which the author of “Reanimator” remains faithful for the third decade. Fountains of blood pour from the screen, women are thrown into the sacrificial well, where they are fertilized by Dagon, and men are skinned from their faces, and this process is shown quite naturalistically, in the spirit of the ever-memorable Hostels. Add to this the traditional for the genre of “gaps” (after falling from a few tens of meters on his back, through glass, and even strewn with fragments from above, the hero gets up and leaves, a little limp) – and you get Lovecraft in the interpretation of Gordon. The finale of the film, however, is unexpectedly mysterious and beautiful, again in the spirit of “Shadows over Insmouth”, but, unfortunately, in the light of the previous massacre, it looks somewhat ridiculous than many viewers who came to the bloody horror film were unhappy. And Stuart Gordon, of course, shoots only bloody horror films, and the finale, as well as the closing credit, are present here, rather, only as a tribute to the writer.
Verdict: Watch first for lovers of bloody naturalism. When people were stripped in this film, there was no Hostel yet, and Saw was just beginning. For Lovecraft fans to watch with an eye: this is a movie “based on motives”, in which the classic Lovecraft atmosphere is not so much. On the other hand, it is much more here than, for example, in Dreams in the House of Witches by Stuart Gordon.