Dagon (2001)

Directed by Stuart Gordon [Other horror films: Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1986), Daughter of Darkness (1990), The Pit and the Pendulum (1991), Castle Freak (1995), Bunker of Blood: Chapter 5: Psycho Sideshow: Demon Freaks (2018)]

Dagon’s a film that’s gotten quite a bit of respect within the horror community, and after revisiting it, it’s not hard to see why. It’s certainly not a perfect movie, but the atmosphere here is top-notch, as are some of the performances, and if you want a dark story based on some H.P. Lovecraft goodness, Dagon’s a movie worth seeing.

I believe I’ve only seen this one once before, perhaps on the Sci-Fi channel (though I can’t swear to that). What I primarily remembered was the people with fishlike attributes and that much of the film seemed to be in Spanish, without subtitles. As I revisited this, my memory was right on both counts. Though I admit the Spanish sans subtitles was annoying, the whole of the film is quite a solid experience.

Despite pulling ideas from the short story Dagon, the movie’s more based on the novella The Shadow over Innsmouth. I’ve read Dagon once before, though have not read The Shadow over Innsmouth (when it comes to classic horror literature, I admit, I’ve not read much), but after seeing this movie, it certainly sounds like a story I’d like to spend time with.

What’s really striking about this film is the atmosphere. There’s a small, coastal village in Spain that the characters find themselves trapped in. The streets are cramped, it’s raining non-stop, and the villagers have fishlike attributes – sometimes just gills or webbed fingers, other times tentacles – and most can merely shuffle at a slow speed. It’s a dark location steeped in hysterics, a great flashback told by Francisco Rabal’s character explaining the reasons the town’s gone fish. The set-up here is stellar, and then it’s actually executed well, which was great to see.

To be honest, I didn’t think much of Ezra Godden (Soul Reaper) as the lead at first. He just seemed like a whiny little bitch. Still, he grew on me pretty quickly (reminding me of Jeffrey Combs at times), and he had some quite amusing dialogue, which was nice, given that the film is tonally dark; getting a bit of humor was welcomed. Francisco Rabal (who died a few months before the film came out; this movie was dedicated to him) made for a solid character too. I don’t know Rabal (Nightmare City, Exorcism’s Daughter, Hotel Fear), but his character added a lot.

Godden and Rabal are the most important characters by far, but others come into play. Raquel Meroño (The Mark) was decent, Macarena Gómez (Shrew’s Nest, The Black Gloves) creepy, Ferran Lahoz (The Lost) also creepy, and, oh, José Lifante (who was a simple hotel receptionist with minimal dialogue) was creepy too. I really liked Alfredo Villa’s character, and he brought a lot to the flashback, which was already quite good.

There are some disturbing things in this film. Sure, the townsfolk are half-fish/half-human, and they have a alarming quality to them (which, again, helps beautifully with the atmosphere), and given this was directed by Stuart Gordon, certainly these elements of body-horror make sense. More so, we see flesh hanging up like a coat, and someone’s face getting removed in a somewhat graphic scene (which made me flash back to Faceless). It’s a creepy movie anyway, and the violence adds to the charm.

If you’ve not seen Dagon, I recommend that you do. It’s a dark movie, it’s a bleak movie, but it’s also a well-made one. Even the CGI doesn’t hurt the film much, and I found most of the finale, which is where movies can easily lose me, quite decent, almost dreamlike. Dagon’s a good movie, and definitely worth a look if you enjoy the sea and what resides within.

8/10