Dagon
Reviewed By : Ramius Scythe

Release Year : 2001

Directed By : Stuart Gordon

Written By : Dennis Paoli, H P Lovecraft

Starring : Ezra Godden, Francisco Rabal, Macrena Gomez

Related Links : IMDB, Official Site

 

Paul and Ezequiel are a romantically involved couple out a easy boating trip with friends when out of nowhere a freak storm hits and the find they have to take shelter on a nearby island. After encountering some of the islands weird inhabitants strange events start to occur. This all comes to head when Ezequiel goes missing and Paul has to hunt the island high and low to find her, during this process he finds that things are not so kosher with this little island and in actual fact they are worshipers of Dagon, a rather nasty looking monster. Will they make it off the island alive?....

Firstly I'd like to mention that this movie is an adaptation of HP Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. So with this in mind I was expecting good things from Dagon. Thankfully I was not disappointed, Dagon is packed full of suspense from beginning to end. It doesn't take long for the action to kick in and when it does you're caught. The acting quality is really good, Ezra Godden puts in a great performance as Paul and manages to capture the frantic situation perfectly. Everyone else is also great, with no one letting the show down at all.

SFX wise Dagon is fairly simple but what is there is done very well. The gore scenes are really quite bloody and disgusting making the movie all that more exciting. The make-up dept deserves a d3 beer for putting in some truly freaky looking folks and beasties aswell. Also worth a mention is the environment, there is definite isolated feeling that is captured in this movie. I believe this movie was filmed in Northern Spain, the architecture and set designs bring a some what unique feel to Dagon that I've never often seen and it works very well bringing a doom like atmosphere to the movie.

The storyline is interesting, the characterisations are great and the monsters/bad guys all capture you. Definitely one to check out folks, well recommended.