Dagon (2001 film)

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Dagon (2001 film), AKA H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon

Summary

In an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (fiction), a boating accident runs a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half-human offspring.

Details

• Release Date: 2001
• Country/Language: Spain, English
• Genres/Technical: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction
• Runtime: 1 hr 38 min
• Starring: Ezra Godden
• Director: Stuart Gordon
• Writer: H.P. Lovecraft (original story)
• Producer/Production Co: Brian Yuzna
• View Trailer: (link)

Ratings

MPAA Ratings

• Rated: R (Violence, brief Nudity, Adult Content)

Not especially kid-friendly, loaded with slasher/splatter violence, as well as brief nudity and adult content.

Tentacle Ratings

A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:

• SSSS_ (Four and a Half Tentacles: Unusually Lovecraftian; a remarkably faithful adaptation)

A fairly faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (fiction), aside from an update to the modern era, relocation to Spain, and the addition of enough throw-away characters for some slasher/splatter elements to be added (in many ways, it's a Southern Gothic horror/slasher film, similar to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, transplanted to Spain).

Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.

Reviews

Review Links:

• BadMovieMarathon "Summer of Lovecraft", (link) - "It’s not good. They took a H. P. Lovecraft story... took out the atmosphere, the lines, the plot consistency and the characterisation, and put in tentacle rape."
• Y.Whateley: A fairly faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth (fiction), aside from an update to the modern era, relocation to Spain, and the addition of enough throw-away characters for some slasher/splatter elements to be added (in many ways, it's a Southern Gothic horror/slasher film, similar to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, transplanted to Spain). It's not especially kid-friendly, loaded with gory violence, as well as seasoned with brief nudity and adult content that was never present in the original story. Still, the film-makers managed to nail the paranoid atmosphere of a creepy, decaying town full of monsters lurking in the shadows nicely: the film's "Imboca" (Innsmouth) is perhaps one of the grossest, slimiest, most run-down villages to have ever been put to film.

Synopsis

Paul Marsh is yachting on the Spanish coast with three companions when a freak storm causes their boat to founder on the rocks. Paul goes to a nearby village to get assistance, as two of his friends have been trapped in the boat's wreckage. He notices that the locals seem odd, and their behavior grows increasingly strange. When Paul begins seeing a mermaid who has appeared in his nightmares, he realizes that the fearful world of his dreams is now a reality.

Associated Mythos Elements

• fiction: The Shadow Over Innsmouth (fiction)
• Deep Ones
• Cthulhu/Dagon
• Imboca
• Family: Marsh