11 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Enjoyable horror fare that is vastly different from most.

David Gray from Clackmannanshire, Scotland, 31st March, 2004

Based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the undisputed master of the macabre, Dagon tells the story of Paul Marsh, a young man who discovers that remote village on the Spanish coastline harbors a dark and shocking secret. A boating accident off the coast of Spain sends Paul and his girlfriend Barbara to the decrepit fishing village of Imboca looking for help. As night falls, the townspeople leave their houses and start stalking Paul until before long he finds himself pursued by the entire town. Running for his life, he uncovers Imboca's dark secret: that they pray to Dagon, a monstrous god of the sea. And Dagon's unholy offspring are freakish half-human creatures on the loose in Imboca...

The story itself is a classic and this film, based on the story is pretty good. A real sense of foreboding is created when you first see the village and its strange church and this is nicely followed up by the grotesque human-like creatures that start to pursue Paul through the village.

Acting throughout is generally great from this cast of virtual unknowns (with the exception of Ezra Godden who hams it up a bit TOO much as Paul) and they really make the most of the sotry they are given.

The effects for the most part are great, although there are a couple of moments where some lame looking CGI is thrown in and this detracts MAJORLY from the overall feel of the movie.

The end of the movie itself is good also, although the could have tried to handle it a little better as it becomes a little confusing.

Overall however, this is a solid and well done film, and a little different from your typical horror fare. Also be sure to check out Raquel Merono and MAcarena Gomez, who positively shine in this movie, and give you plenty to be happy about. Even if one of them is a LITTLE different...

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4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent H.P.Lovecraft Adaptation

Phil from Saffron Walden, England, 19th October, 2004

This film is an adaptation of H.P.Lovecraft's novella 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth', rather than his short story 'Dagon'. This name change sort of makes sense, because Innsmouth has been relocated to Spain and renamed Inboca (according to an online dictionary, boca is Spanish for mouth) - I guess 'The Shadow Over Inboca' wouldn't have sold as well. Also the mutating townspeople in 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' worship the god Dagon so it fits in quite well. The story is similar to the novella, though the main characters are quite different, but the feel and atmosphere of the original has been captured perfectly and the film has a similarly satisfactory ending.

Paul, the 'hero' of the story isn't particularly likeable, but he fits the story very well. There's lots of Spanish dialogue that isn't subtitled, but this adds to paranoia and feelings of alienation that Paul is experiencing. I suspect an understanding of Spanish would be detrimental to the feel of this film.

This film has been produced/directed by the Yuzna/Gordon pairing of 'Re-animator' fame. This film is quite different to 'Re-animator' though. The story follows the original source material much more closely and it's more of a horror film than a comedy, though there is a little humour in 'Dagon'. The gore and nudity is there, though it's limited to near the end of the film and it's not a strong as (the uncut region 1) 'Re-animator'. Some of the special effects in 'Dagon' use CGI, which is a shame because for this sort of film, mechanical effects work so much better (well except for perhaps the underwater scenes).

Picture quality and sound are fine, but the extras are fairly pityfull. There's a trailer which is OK, and a short 'making of' which is just an excuse for those involved in the film to tell us how wonderfull which is certainly not OK.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, but there again, I'm a H.P.Lovecraft fan and 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' is one of my favourites. However if you're expecting another 'Re-animator' you're probably going to be dissapointed - this is quite different in feel and tone. Although in my opinion, in it's own way, it's nearly as good as 'Re-animator' (and better than the cut region 2 version).

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Fun old-style horror

Melon from East Sussex, 14th January, 2005

Geek Paul and his babe gal Barbara are shipwrecked into a town of weird fish-people. This is Stuart Gordon ('Reanimator', 'From Beyond', 'King of the Ants') returning to his monster mash ways with yet another Lovecraft adaptation that runs a tightrope over spoof land. It's silly, schlocky, not in the least bit scary, but terrific fun all the way. Whether you like it or not probably depends on your trash aesthetic, but I watched it with a big smile on my face.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Something fishy this way comes...

Whipster from from Shropshire, 22nd August, 2006

...but you'll wish it hadn't! For those expecting a fun fest like (the excellent) Re-Animator prepare to be disappointed. Special effects are the worst I've ever seen. Acting and storyline are of the lowest order. H P Lovecraft 'will' not be pleased! This really is a pile of doggy doo doo.

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Fishy Horror

Smudgy from , 13th December, 2009

This is a poorly acted, poorly scripted horror, with poor special effects that puts one in mind of old Hammer movies, but without their charm. It started out as a pretty interesting premise, but goes off the rails quickly. All running about screaming around a fairly thin plot. It does get you thinking about what you would do if you met a really hot woman who was half fish thing, though.

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Classic

Kirsty1 from , 13th September, 2009

This is certainly a bit different, classic HP Lovecraft and thoroughly enjoyable

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Bizarrely campy (yet gory) horror hokum...

wikkidsmyle from , 16th May, 2009

I don't know why I rent this movie, but in some way I'm glad I did. Aside from some hammy acting (and impenetrable accents) the story is refreshingly different from the standard horror fare and most of the effects are nice and cheesy (although watch out for a rather nasty execution sequence towards the end that even had me squirming). Ezra Godden does a decent attempt at nerd-cum-hero, although it is the late Francisco Rabal as the only (drunk) human in the village, who steals the movie. Worth viewing...

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kept me interested

A Customer from Glossop, 12th March, 2009

There was enough horror novelty and pretty good acting to keep me interested in this film. I have always enjoyed Lovecraft stories anyway, and thought the director and cast did it justice. I enjoyed the growing sense of menace and realisation of just how weird and strange the fishing village Really was!!

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