Dagon

Review

Despite Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth" being the likely progenitor of the entire subgenre of horror that is "small town gone awry, and a stranger comes to visit", which is massively popular with movies, it has never quite gotten the proper movie treatment itself. When you disect what the movie entails, it is kind of odd that this is true, too. A stranger, who takes something of a wrong turn trying to save some money, ends up in a town cut off from the outside world. There are strange people and strange customs. He snoops around and learns more than he should, and becomes a target of the townspeople. Finally, he ends up fighting back and fleeing and trying to escape. Does that not sum up about a dozen movies per year that come out? I suppose the "fish" scare away potential movie makers. I don't know. But, in fact, the only movie that I know of that direclty involves the most excellent and notably influential tale, is this one: Dagon.

Stuart Gordon has established himself as an memorable director of things both Lovecraftian and fun, so it seemed likely that if anyone could do it, it would be him. There is probably no other director who would touch it, that I can think of.

The movie itself is not bad. It's not super good, either. There is something just not quite right with it's pacing and general flow. It feels less believable than the original short story, despite most of the basic plot coming out of the source (with certain shifts for changes in technology and a change of location). I think that the sexuality of the movie is it's boon and curse. While the original story only slightly goes into the sexual side of things, it is a world in which dark and perverse things take place for darker ends. In the part of Uxia, the movie gets this right, making an interesting play on the erotic possibilities (for better or worse). In the rape by Dagon scenes, the movie gets it somewhat wrong, casting a great godlike being as a horny squid without even trying to delve into, say, possible myth structure that might make this work.

Outside of the plot's issues, the effects fail in several scenes, and the acting is campy. While some of the town and interior scenes are well shot, many of the shots of the Imbocans are kind of amateur theaterish. Towards the end, they seem more choreagraphed into a dance movie than anything horror.

But problems aside, this is a fun movie. For fans and by fans, that heart and life of the low budget horror movie (I mean, come on, they made this for 1/4 the salary that Will Smith will probably claim in his next movie). The scenery is excellent, and the actors are at least feasible as their characters. There is not much tension past the first time the protagonist gets attacked in his hotel room, but there are quite a few interesting things to see. I can't say it's a good movie, but I really do enjoy watching it.

This is an Eh movie, at best, with many probably leaning towards Meh, if not worse. But a fun one, and it will likely appeal a lot to those that like campy, fun horror movies.