(2001)

review by:

4-2-03

Written by: Dennis Paoli Directed by: Stuart Gordon Starring: Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Brendan Price

Paul, a student from Miskontic University, and his girlfriend Barbara are enjoying a leisurely cruise along the Spanish coast, but when they sail near the isolated fishing village of Imboca, a fierce storm arises, and their ship is dashed against the coastal rocks. With their shipmates injured and dying, Paul and Barbara go ashore to find help, and although the townspeople seem friendly enough, it is apparent that there is something not quite natural about their behavior, or their appearance. Despite this, Paul goes to rescue his friends, only to find them missing, replaced by a murky black ooze suspended in the water, and upon returning to the village, he is told that Barbara has gone to contact the police in another village. Now Paul is left alone to deal with the foul secrets that lie within Imobca… For those not in the know, Dagon is based on the short stories Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dagon, both written by the oft-heard-of-but-less-oft-read horror writer, HP Lovecraft. I myself have read Dagon (since it was less than 10 pages), never finished Shadow over Innsmouth (it was more than 10 pages), but I can tell that although the plot in this film is very loosely based on the aforementioned stories, certain elements survived the changes in setting (for instance, Imboca is basically a Spanish version of Innsmouth). Needless-to-say, the Lovecraft fan in me was pleased. And speaking of the Lovecraft fan in me, I suppose I was a little apprehensive about seeing this film; after all, there are few things worse than seeing your favorite source material being violated by a hopelessly pathetic movie (sorry, sorry, I guess I still haven't completely recovered from Dungeons and Dragons). But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie did NOT suck. Quite the opposite actually. Even though this movie has "independent film" written all over it, the acting is decent, the setting is wonderfully drab and macabre, and the special effects aren't too bad either. I really liked Paul's character, since he reminded me of what Lovecraft is all about: ordinary people facing extraordinary peril. I mean, Paul is a nerd, plain and simple. And it's that nerdiness that makes me a tad more sympathetic toward him as he struggles to survive in a town which is kind of a cross between Night of the Living Dead and Creature From the Black Lagoon. Now that I think of it, this movie deserves two different ratings. I'll give it a "Good" for non-Lovecraft people, just 'cause it's an entertaining film that I think people will enjoy (as long as they don't have an aversion to seeing a guy getting his face peeled off). But if you ask me when I'm in a coffee shop, lazily sipping a cappuccino spiked with a ridiculous amount of sugar and discussing with complete strangers whether or not Abraham Lincoln could win in an arm-wrestling match with Cthulhu, I'd rate this film an "Awesome."

AKA: What A Dark God Wants          Some Like it Wet….And Slimy

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