Dagon

Dagon

DAGON (2001) ***1/2
D:Stuart Gordon. Ezra Godden, Francisco
Rabal, Macarena Gomez, Raquel Merono,
Brendan Price, Birgit Bofarull, Alfredo Villa.
94 mins. DVD (Trimark) 7/02

While writing my recent book The Complete H.P. Lovecraft Filmography (Greenwood, 2001), I kept track of this picture's progress. Dagon (aka H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon and The Sect of the Sea) was filmed in Spain, produced by Brian Yuzna and directed by Stuart Gordon, the creative team behind such successful Lovecraft screen adaptations as Re-Animator (1985, Elite Entertainment) and From Beyond (1986, Vestron Video, n.i.d.). Dagon was released theatrically in Spain in November

2001 but goes direct-to-video route Stateside. In interviews, director Gordon stressed that this film was not meant to supplant his project The Shadow over Innsmouth, intended to be shot in Maine. However, Dagon seems a bit closer to the famous Innsmouth story than the earlier Lovecraft short fragment entitled Dagon, upon which this film is supposedly based (hopefully, this does not indicate an abandonment of the proposed Innsmouth movie). The plot involves nerdy entrepreneur Paul Marsh (Godden), who is on vacation with his girlfriend Barbara (Merono) on a yacht owned by his wealthy new partner Howard (Price). While sailing off the coast of Spain, their ship be comes grounded on some rocks. Howard's wife Vicky (Bofarull) is injured, so Paul and Barbara go ashore in a dinghy to seek help in a fishing village called Imboco. Paul meets Ezequel (Rabal), an elderly drunk, who tells him that years earlier the isolated village abandoned Christianity and embraced the worship of Dagon, one of the Old Ones. Their religion became more fanatical over the years as strangers were sacrificed to Dagon. The people them selves began to mutate into semi-human aquatic beings. Paul later encounters a beauti ful village girl named Uxia (Gomez), whose image has been haunting his dreams. In a dramatic bedroom scene, Paul discovers she is human only from the waist up. Eventually, Paul learns that he himself was born in Imboca, and his mother escaped with him when he was an infant; Uxia, the high priestess of the Dagon cult, is in fact his half-sister. At an elaborate ceremony, the cult summons Dagon, using Barbara as a sacrifice. Uxia later leads Paul down through a series of mysterious chambers into a new realm ruled by the Old Ones. Dagon's positive elements certainly out weigh the drawbacks. One week point is that viewers unfamiliar with Lovecraft's writing might have some difficulty following the story. On the upside, Carlos Suarez's cinematography is exceptional, while the solid screenplay moves along at a brisk clip. The musical score by Charles Cases is beautiful and haunting; the make-up and effects are first-rate. The multi tentacled Dagon represents one of the best screen depictions of one of the Old Ones to date. The acting is more of a mixed bag. Godden has a Harold Lloyd-like charm as the bespectacled hero. Gomez is stunning as the vivid and alluring Uxia; her close-ups during the ritual summoning convey a breathtakingly mad intensity. Merono, on the other hand, is a disappointing Barbara, while Rabal practically steals the show in his final film (the picture is dedicated to Rabal, who died of emphysema shortly after filming). His colorful portrayal of Imboco's town drunk is unforgettable. Finally, one could almost regard this film as a reinterpretation of The Haunted Palace (1964), one of the earlier Lovecraft films: Dagon depicts the results had the sorcerer played by Vincent Price succeeded in converting the villagers. If you are a Lovecraft aficionado, mark down Dagon as a must-see.

- Charles P. Mitchell

(Any errors in spelling are my own, and not those of the author.)

(Permission to use this review was given by Charles P. Mitchell. It is copy righted by VideoScope magazine (2002). You can purchase Mr. Mitchell's books by visiting the following websites: www.mcfarlandpub.com and http://www.greenwood.com/ VideoScope can be reached online here: http://www.videoscopemag.com Thanks goes to Mr. Mitchell for this film review.)