I was on the search for the film that most captures the “feel” of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. He is highly influential in the horror field in such films as The Night Gallery episodes, “Cool Air” (1971) and “Pickman’s Model”, Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993), Re-Animator (1985), and the Masters of Horror episode “H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House” (2005) both directed by Stuart Gordon. He directs Dagon (2001) with a screenplay by Dennis Paoli his collaborator on the previous works. If you are interested in reading more, look up the book, The Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft (2006) by Andrew Migliore.
It interviews Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, artist Bernie Wrightson, and Stuart Gordon. Side note: if gore and nudity which are trademarks of schlock-cinema bother you, by pass this film, it is part of Stuart Gordon’s style. H.P. Lovecraft’s writing is a horror of the mind, he crafts such a world in his local New England and far off lands, with references to texts and an almost scientific understanding, that you are pulled in, but I warn everyone, his dark world view is dangerous. It is of course partially based on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936). The setting has been moved from Lovecraft’s Massachusetts town of Innsmouth to the Spanish town of Imboca.
It interviews Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, artist Bernie Wrightson, and Stuart Gordon. Side note: if gore and nudity which are trademarks of schlock-cinema bother you, by pass this film, it is part of Stuart Gordon’s style. H.P. Lovecraft’s writing is a horror of the mind, he crafts such a world in his local New England and far off lands, with references to texts and an almost scientific understanding, that you are pulled in, but I warn everyone, his dark world view is dangerous. It is of course partially based on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936). The setting has been moved from Lovecraft’s Massachusetts town of Innsmouth to the Spanish town of Imboca.
We get the sun shining through the sea as the titles run, a flashlight pans across the screen as a scuba diver, Paul (Ezra Godden), approaches. He finds an underwater sculpture in a fish shape with a hole in it’s center. The scuba diver swims towards the massive, gaping hole. He heads down the hole with his flashlight revealing strange frescos. The scuba diver brushes aside dirt from the sculpture revealing gold. His fingers trail across the gold until he finds the pale face of a woman (Macarena Gomez, hey Macarena!). It is revealed that she also has a pale, fish-like tail. She swims towards him and removes his mask, then reveals fangs as she closes in for a bite. This was used much later in the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).
He wakes up startled from the nightmare in bed with his girlfriend, Barbara (Raquel Merono). Paul says he has had the same nightmare. His girlfriend has convinced Howard to invest with them. Barbara kisses Paul’s body, but he is not interested. An attractive Spanish woman and pale guy? It seems this could only happen with casting. He checks on his stock on his laptop while Barbara reminds him they are on Howard’s boat off the coast of Spain. She unplugs his laptop and tosses it over the side of the boat. He freaks out. I get that Godden is trying to play a nerdy guy, but the whining is just too much. He was also in “Dreams in the Witch-House.” Vicki (Brigit Bofarull), sunbathing on a towel, and Howard (Brendan Price) looks on.
He wakes up startled from the nightmare in bed with his girlfriend, Barbara (Raquel Merono). Paul says he has had the same nightmare. His girlfriend has convinced Howard to invest with them. Barbara kisses Paul’s body, but he is not interested. An attractive Spanish woman and pale guy? It seems this could only happen with casting. He checks on his stock on his laptop while Barbara reminds him they are on Howard’s boat off the coast of Spain. She unplugs his laptop and tosses it over the side of the boat. He freaks out. I get that Godden is trying to play a nerdy guy, but the whining is just too much. He was also in “Dreams in the Witch-House.” Vicki (Brigit Bofarull), sunbathing on a towel, and Howard (Brendan Price) looks on.
Vicki heads below. Barbara hears some chanting and Howard says it probably from the village. Howard also sees the oncoming storm. The chanters are bringing in the storm? Storm clouds roll in from the village and Howard tries to steer the boat away from the reef. The boat is thrown towards some rocks and cracks the hull. Vicki screams for help, they scramble down to find the rock has trapped her legs. Howard gives Paul a signal pistol to alert the villagers. He fires a flare and then uses binoculars to find that the village is empty. Paul returns to the others and says they will have to take a raft in to the village. Howard stays with Vicki, their waist is nearly covered with bloody water from Vicki’s wound, actually blood would dilute in sea water so it wouldn't be so heavy in that water.
We get the grounded boat, poor effect, with the blood streaming downwards(?) and then some dark shape swims towards it. Barbara and Paul head out on the raft in the storm. Barbara cleverly has a raincoat and Paul wears a Miskatonic sweater. Miskatonic University is of course the center point for all of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales. The storm seems to be random, Paul can fire a flare in it, and then the storm hardly makes waves with the boat. They collide with something and their raft has a leak. Something boils in the water, Vicki screams, and Howard shoots at the water. The motor fails so Barbara and Paul start rowing towards shore. They reach the dock as rain soaks the village and find it empty. Really I think the first order wouldn’t to find help, but they look for an axe and medical supplies to return to the boat.
Vicki leads Paul towards the singing in the church. Paul sees the church’s name, “Esoterica Orde De Dagon” with the symbol out of his nightmare. I think that’s good reason to avoid it. They knock on the door, the chanting stops, and the door opens. A priest (Ferran Lahoz) appears and take them out to the docks. Paul points out the wrecked boat with only it’s mast seen in the stormy waters. They get the priest to tell the pale fishermen to take them out to the boat. The priest someone has to stay to contact the police. Unusual. Paul is suspicious about the priest. He hugs Barbara, then Paul boards the fishing boat, the pale fisherman knocks into him. Paul finds a fish hook dug into his palm and pulls it out. This is gruesome and not really necessary, but ok. Barbara waves to him as the fishing boat leaves the dock.
We get the grounded boat, poor effect, with the blood streaming downwards(?) and then some dark shape swims towards it. Barbara and Paul head out on the raft in the storm. Barbara cleverly has a raincoat and Paul wears a Miskatonic sweater. Miskatonic University is of course the center point for all of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales. The storm seems to be random, Paul can fire a flare in it, and then the storm hardly makes waves with the boat. They collide with something and their raft has a leak. Something boils in the water, Vicki screams, and Howard shoots at the water. The motor fails so Barbara and Paul start rowing towards shore. They reach the dock as rain soaks the village and find it empty. Really I think the first order wouldn’t to find help, but they look for an axe and medical supplies to return to the boat.
Vicki leads Paul towards the singing in the church. Paul sees the church’s name, “Esoterica Orde De Dagon” with the symbol out of his nightmare. I think that’s good reason to avoid it. They knock on the door, the chanting stops, and the door opens. A priest (Ferran Lahoz) appears and take them out to the docks. Paul points out the wrecked boat with only it’s mast seen in the stormy waters. They get the priest to tell the pale fishermen to take them out to the boat. The priest someone has to stay to contact the police. Unusual. Paul is suspicious about the priest. He hugs Barbara, then Paul boards the fishing boat, the pale fisherman knocks into him. Paul finds a fish hook dug into his palm and pulls it out. This is gruesome and not really necessary, but ok. Barbara waves to him as the fishing boat leaves the dock.
The priest tells her to use the telephone at the Hotel Del Mar, the hotel by the sea, and she sees his hand is webbed. This is an indication of the Innsmouth hybrids with the Deep Ones. She passes a pale man in a hood in the village. Then, a strange, white face in the window. Barbara reaches the hotel and asks for a telephone from the desk clerk (Jose Lifante) with pallid complexion. She tries to make a call, the clerk grabs for her, then Barbara backs up into the priest. Both of them attack her. Barbara is an interesting character, decent actress, up to the point of her capture. The fishing boat reaches the boat grounded on the rocks and Paul leaps onto it. Paul searches below deck and only finds Vicki’s yellow towel. The fishing boat returns to the dock.
The priest is there and explains that Barbara left to find the police. He says she left for Santiago, 50 kilometers away, and will return for him in one hour at the hotel. This is where the film returns to The Shadow over Innsmouth. Paul goes to see the silent desk clerk. He finds Barbara’s lighter. The clerk doesn’t say a word, just stares, Paul asks for a room and he turns, it looks like three slashes or slits on his neck. He hands him a key and Paul heads upstairs. Paul enters the room and finds the light switch doesn’t work. He sits in the chair to rest and is startled by what looks like Barbara passing him.
Paul checks on her, but the woman has the face of a mermaid and spits out fake CG tentacles. He wakes from the nightmare and hears voices as villagers in raincoats gather in the square. They see him and starts to scream. Paul hears footsteps and finds the deadbolt is missing from his door. He uses his pocket knife to remove the deadbolt from another door and barely is able to reattach it to the front door. Paul slams into the door to the next apartment and is able to close it as the hordes of strange growling people close in. The feeling of strangeness is very Lovecraft. He had a fear of strangers so he Innsmouth-like villagers is very much in line with his writings.
Paul checks on her, but the woman has the face of a mermaid and spits out fake CG tentacles. He wakes from the nightmare and hears voices as villagers in raincoats gather in the square. They see him and starts to scream. Paul hears footsteps and finds the deadbolt is missing from his door. He uses his pocket knife to remove the deadbolt from another door and barely is able to reattach it to the front door. Paul slams into the door to the next apartment and is able to close it as the hordes of strange growling people close in. The feeling of strangeness is very Lovecraft. He had a fear of strangers so he Innsmouth-like villagers is very much in line with his writings.
Paul falls into a slaughter house. He sees the skin of Howard. The villagers look for him, he uses fuel to set fire, and get them in a panic. Paul carries out a frame of skin and then runs into an old, homeless man, Ezequiel (Francisco Rabal). He tells the story of the town that was town of fishermen when he was a boy (Victor Barreira), but the catch soon runs out. A sea captain, Captain Cambarro (Alfredo Villa) says to the church, he can bring in a new god, Dagon. The fish comes in as well as gold. The town turns against the church and Captain Cambarro kills the priest. His parents are sacrificed to Dagon. Paul wants to get a car to escape and Ezequiel leads him to the house of Xavier Cambarro (Joan Minguell), the grandson of the captain.
He hobbles out of his car using crutches. Ezequiel explains that the people of Imboco are changing, readying to go to the sea. Ezequiel goes to drunkenly distract Xavier’s men. Paul goes into the car, but is only able to set off the horn so scrambles into the house. He runs into the house and into the room of a woman, Uxia, who is in bed wearing a purple nightdress. She has the face of the mermaid. Xavier checks on his daughter, Paul is hiding at the door, and she sends him away. Uxia says she’s been waiting for him. She kisses him and then his hand slides down to her tentacled body. It gets more stranger, very misogynist, and violent as Paul finds out what is his destiny in Imboca. An Innsmouth movie still has potential, but this horror film has some of the Lovecraft tone and story.
He hobbles out of his car using crutches. Ezequiel explains that the people of Imboco are changing, readying to go to the sea. Ezequiel goes to drunkenly distract Xavier’s men. Paul goes into the car, but is only able to set off the horn so scrambles into the house. He runs into the house and into the room of a woman, Uxia, who is in bed wearing a purple nightdress. She has the face of the mermaid. Xavier checks on his daughter, Paul is hiding at the door, and she sends him away. Uxia says she’s been waiting for him. She kisses him and then his hand slides down to her tentacled body. It gets more stranger, very misogynist, and violent as Paul finds out what is his destiny in Imboca. An Innsmouth movie still has potential, but this horror film has some of the Lovecraft tone and story.
Three Lighters out of Five!
#Dagon, #StuartGordon, #EzraGodden, #RaquelMerono
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