The movie is a hybrid of two stories: Dagon; and The Shadow Over Innsmouth, with a lot more of it deriving from the latter than the former. After a boating accident in which their two companions are stranded, a young entrepreneur, Paul, and his paramour seek help in the decrepit fishing village of Innsboca, on the coast of Spain. It doesn't take long before the two are separated and the woman presumably killed by the town's bizarre, bug-eyed inhabitants, leaving Paul to try to escape with his life. That is what seems to compose the bulk of Dagon. Paul runs, gets trapped, finds a way to escape, and then starts running again. Why he never makes it anywhere isn't made clear, though to be fair, this also makes up a large part of the story this film is based on. But in the story, a strong sense of claustrophobia and hopelessness pervade the narrative. On screen, this is not the case. There is very little music to create suspense, let alone silence. At times, potentially chilling scenes are played for weak comic relief, and when a scene is supposed to be serious, it comes off as silly. It's above B-movie quality, but just barely, with the acting and dialog holding on for dear life. As the movie continues, it starts to deviate more and more from the original story, to the point where it can't decide just what it is paying homage to. Lovecraft? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Gymkata? It could be all of them, and more. Eventually Paul gets captured and we learn the secrets of this cursed little town and the fish-like people living there. This is where the movie comes closest to the original story; unfortunately, the lines in these scenes are delivered in such thick Spanish accents that you will probably miss everything they're saying the first time around. Then everything starts to slide quickly downhill towards a ludicrous ending, which while somewhat in sync with Lovecraft's vision, nonetheless comes off as absurd. And the visual effects, while sparse, are pretty shitty. Without knowing anything about this film beforehand, I can't imagine what kind of impression someone might get; the movie would have to seem really weird. There is a lot here for Lovecraft fans, but I'm not sure if even they would have much appreciation for Dagon. It straddles the line between staying faithful to the books while being accessible to a mainstream audience, and somehow manages to do neither.
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