Paul (Ezra Godden) and his girlfriend Barbara (Raquel Meroño), are out sailing off the coast of Spain, when a freak storm causes the boat to get caught up on a reef. They make it to the shore where they meet a strange priest with webbed fingers (Ferran Lahoz), and become stranded in a rain soaked, desolate town, inhabited by lumbering human/aquatic mutations. After losing Barbara, Paul meets an old man (Francisco Rabal) who tells him that the town's people disowned Christianity in favour of a God, Dagon, who saved the desperate starving people by providing them with fish and gold.  Paul goes in search of Barbara, uncovering dark secrets and trying to avoid the menacing fish people.

Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond) team up once again to bring H. P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth to life. The dark, chilling atmosphere of lovecraft’s writing is portrayed convincingly  in Dagon. The dank town, soaked by constant rain looks superb and the cast perform their roles with style. The special effects are very impressive, notably the skinning of the excellent Francisco Rabal.  Paul is reminiscent of Ash from Evil Dead and Barbara's character develops nicely with the film.  Macarena Gomez as the tentacled-mermaid-she-creature-thing, Uxia, is absolutely gorgeous, in a fishy kind of way. As a fan of  H.P Lovecraft's otherworldly horror, I found Dagon to be an absolute treat.  S.J.T.

Dagon. 2001

Directed by Stuart Gordon

© carnivalofthegrotesque.co.uk 2006-2008