H.P. Lovecraft’s Dagon

Summary

“Please don’t let it be sharks!”

In 2016, Lionsgate Films started releasing cult films for collectors under their Vestron Video line. The films released on the line were chosen wisely and harkened back to the days that Vestron was a powerhouse VHS label that distributed films like Monster Squad and the Cannon Films library. For a while it seemed like this reiteration of Vestron had disappeared until the recent announcement that it would be releasing David Cronenberg’s film Shivers and the family film Little Monsters. To celebrate the rebirth of the label, this weekend I checked out Vestron’s 2018 release of Stuart Gordon’s film Dagon. I am a fan of Gordon’s films Re-Animator and From Beyond, so I was happy to see him adapt another Lovecraft story. The film is actually based on two short stories by H.P. Lovecraft – “Dagon,” and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth.” Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna had actually been trying to have Dagon made since directly after Re-Animator, but Charles Band did not like the idea so they pursued From Beyond. They succeeded in making the film in 2000 with the caveat that it be made in Spain instead of New England. The resulting film was then purchased to air on SyFy Network. I was glad to check it out this weekend.

As the film begins, Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) has a dream that he is scuba diving. After discovering a golden emblem, he encounters a deadly mermaid (Macarena Gomez.) He wakes from his nightmare to his girlfriend Barbara (Raquel Merono.) They are in the cabin of a boat off the coast of Spain. She tries to hook up with him but he is too distracted. He tries to do some of his work on his laptop so she promptly throws the laptop overboard. They are on the boat of a rich husband and wife – Howard and Vicki. A huge storm drifts in while they are off the coast of a mysterious town. Their ship crashes into the rocks and Vicki’s leg is injured in the cabin of the ship. Paul fires a flare and he takes a raft into town with Barbara to get help. Meanwhile, Vicki’s leg injury is partially outside the boat and her blood draws the attention of some unseen thing. Howard shoots at whatever is attacking them. Arriving on the island, Paul and Barbara immediately seek out help from the strange people residing there. Finding a priest of a church of unknown origin, the priest takes them back to the dock. A ship offers to take one of them to the crashed boat, but the other must remain behind. Paul offers to ride out to save their friends while Barbara remains behind. While he is away, Katherine notices that the priest has webbed fingers. They don’t realize the danger that they are in.

I really enjoyed Dagon. It is obvious when watching the film that the budget could not quite cover some of the big ideas in the film – most notably anything computer generated looks pretty cheap and bad – but the film does an amazing job of creating an oppressive setting for the main characters. Setting a story from Lovecraft in Spain seems like a bit of a stretch, but the medieval surroundings actually work well with an appropriately grey palette. The script by Dennis Paoli finds smart ways of terrorizing the main characters and has a carnival show atmosphere to how everything unfolds. Paoli also worked with Gordon and Yuzna on both Re-Animator and From Beyond. I have read the short story by Lovecraft called “Dagon” and I like that it borrowed the best elements from that story without being a literal adaptation. The film is at its best when it uses practical effects including one ghastly scene towards the end of the film. 

The acting in the film is capably done. I really enjoyed Ezra Godden in the lead role as Paul (obviously a stand-in for Jeffrey Combs,) and likewise I enjoyed Raquel Moreno as Barbara (obviously a stand-in for Barbara Crampton.) The film also featured the last performance by Spanish actor Francisco Rabal. Apparently he was a huge fan of Lovecraft and signed on despite the budgetary limitations.

I think the big question about this film and whether it will appeal to you is whether or not you can handle a film with “fish people.” If you can, this is a great compliment to the wonderful Lovecraft films of Yuzna and Stuart Gordon that is well worth checking out. The film has a tremendous amount of imagination that sets it apart from other horror films, even if some of the ideas are bigger than the budget.

Video

Dagon is presented on Blu-ray with an MPEG-4 AVC encoded 1080p transfer in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This transfer is the sole complaint I have against this disc. The transfer does not have a sufficient amount of grain to capture fine detail, lending to a somewhat plastic look for the actors. The film is also a bit on the soft side. I noticed some crush and some other anomalies compression wise while watching the film. It is more than likely the best that the film has looked, but still falls short from what people might hope.

Audio

The audio treatment of Dagon sounds pretty good with a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track. The track is not as complicated and immersive as some surround tracks, but it is also more immersive than many similarly budgeted films. While the sound design itself is not amazing or anything, I had fun listening to this track which is capably replicated on this disc.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Screenwriter Dennis Paoli
• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Star Ezra Godden
• Gods & Monsters – an in-depth interview of director Stuart Gordon by filmmaker Mick Garris. This is a really enjoyable feature.
• Shadows Over Imboca – producer Brian Yuzna discusses the difficulties they faced getting the film made and his pleasure in the final product.
• Fish Stories – S.T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft, gives a nice appraisal of the two source materials for the film and also discusses the elements that make the film really feel Lovecraftian.
• Vintage EPK Featurette 
• Archival Interviews
• Conceptual Art Gallery
• Storyboard Gallery 
• Still Gallery 
• Theatrical Trailer 

Overall Scores:

Video – 3/5 

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 5/5

Overall – 4/5

Dagon is a really enjoyable and totally off-the-wall film from director Stuart Gordon and producer Brian Yuzna. While the film may not have a premise quite as enjoyable as Re-Animator or From Beyond, I think fans of those films would really be missing out to not check out Dagon. The film has a great setting and lots of strange Lovecraft inspired visuals to enjoy. The weak spot of the film only shows itself whenever the film uses computer generated imagery which quickly shows the lack of budget and ages the film. Lionsgate’s Vestron Video series provides the film with a great array of fantastic supplements, but the video transfer is a little problematic. As mentioned before in other reviews, the film may not work for you if the concept of “fish people” is a deal killer. I really enjoyed the movie personally.

In a side note, Stuart Gordon passed away in March of this year. His filmmaking contributions will be missed.