Dagon - Stuart Gordon

[ravenus]

DAGON - Stuart Gordon

If Stuart Gordon is known for one thing, it is his screen adaptations of the works of one of horror literature's most revered deities H.P. Lovecraft. Having so far seen his adaptations of Re-animator, Dreams in the Witch House, From Beyond and now Dagon/The Shadow over Innsmouth (TSOI), I can say it's a reputation that's richly deserved because Gordon is able to consistently convey the overwhelmingly wierd essence of Lovecraft's work without slavishly mounting the original prose.

TSOI is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories and I had very high expectations for an adaptation of this one. In the original story, the protagonist goes to the remote New England coastal town of Innsmouth and finds that there's something literally 'fishy' about its inhabitants. The narrative deals with his frantic attempt to escape from the town and the horrible secrets that he uncovers in the course. In a brilliant move, Gordon shifts the narrative to a contemporary period and sets the action in an isolated Spanish coastal village where the geeky protagonist (played by Ezra Gooden who was later the lead in ' Dreams in the Witch-House') and his girlfriend land after they get shipwrecked in a storm.

Amidst the close packed stone houses, the narrow winding pathways and a perpetual blanket of rain, Gordon develops an atmosphere of intense tension and loneliness. We keep pace with our hero as he loses track of his girlfriend and finds his own life in peril from the decidely abnormal residents. The only other complete human on the village is an aged drunk. Our hero is subjected to episode after episode of bizarre and often gruesome happenings, and a final revelation that will completely alter his knowledge of who he is.

Kudos goes to writers Gordon and Dennis Paoli for generating a script that constantly hurtles from one strange incident to another. They are intelligent enough to understand where it's necessary to diverge from Lovecraft's vision without deprecating it in any way. Also to be marvelled at is the spectacular make-up and FX sequences that sucessfully belie their lesser budgets - the brief sight of the Lovecraftian creature at the end of the movie is worth the anticipation raised.

This film is a must see for all horror fans and especially those who are admirers of HP Lovecraft. Ia, ia, Cthulhu ftaghn!

 

[j d worthington]

Blast it, and here I was toddling off to bed....!

When I first saw this film, I wasn't particularly impressed, I have to admit. It was okay, I felt, but not that great. But I found myself going back to it in my mind again and again, and when I went back and watched it, I began to pick up subtleties and nuances I'd just completely overlooked before. I wrote something about this film to Nesacat a while back that is a good indication: Watch Godden's eyes. In the beginning of the film, he blinks, often quite a lot (especially under stress, it's a nervous twitch). But at one critical juncture ... it stops. And it's done in such a way that it doesn't draw attention to itself, but it plays a very important role in indicating what's going on.

I've become intensely fond of this film; while, as Ravenus says, not slavishly following the story, and updating things considerably, they were extremely respectful of the original material, and tried to capture in their own way the layers of textual interplay one finds in that story, which is one of Lovecraft's most finely structured; I didn't care for the story on first reading, either, making the mistake so many readers make (okay, so I was only 12) of thinking he'd put the climax in the middle rather than realizing that the true climax comes in the final lines of the story, and because of the kind of change we're seeing, it becomes all the more horrifying -- and this is a concept they kept in the film, though done in a completely different fashion.

And I must applaud several of the performances, including Francisco Rabal, who plays Ezekiel, the old drunk, in his final performance (he died before the film was released); and the very effective Macarena Gomez who, I think, has something of that on-screen presence of the young Barbara Steele; and, again, she puts some very subtle touches into her characterization that one may miss the first time around. This is a film that bears going back to, as it really does grow with each viewing. I hope it does well enough to get a true "director's cut" (as they seem to finally be doing with From Beyond; and from what I hear is going to be in that, it's going to completely change the film for the better); this film deserves it.

Yes, Gordon goes places HPL would have had a fit -- the nudity and sexuality certainly wouldn't have pleased the old gent; nonetheless there is a love and respect for Lovecraft in Gordon's films that shines through to anyone who'll take the time to really watch carefully. He has enough to appeal to a larger audience that demands gore and sex, but in with it he serves up the caviare and champagne for those with more discerning tastes. It's a difficult tightrope to walk, but my respect for Gordon (and Paoli, who has done a marvelous job on the screenplay for both this and Re-animator), grows by leaps and bounds.

My advice: if you haven't seen it, watch it. Set it aside for a while; then go into it again "with new eyes"; I do not think you'll be disappointed....

(Sorry, Ravenus; didn't mean to steal your thunder -- if that's what I've done; I have just come to have such a love for this film, perhaps all the more so for not being too impressed the first time around.)

 

[ravenus]

@jd:
Always a great pleasure to discuss these things with people of similar tastes

Btw what did you mean by Director's cut? Any signs that Gordon was forced to curtail his vision of this tale?

 

[j d worthington]

I have run across the odd comment on that now and again, indicating that he did have to make some choices to get an "R" rating Stateside; whether that's accurate or not, I don't know. But nearly every film worth beans seems to have had to have something lopped to please the ratings people over here, or for length, etc., something one doesn't have to worry about when doing their "ideal" version for DVD.

As for From Beyond, he'd feared all the lopped footage had been lost but, with one exception that he's hoping they'll still find, they were able to recover everything he'd wanted in the film but wasn't allowed to do back then. The descriptions I've heard make this one much richer in tone -- still darker than Re-animator, but much more sensible and with better character development/motivation, etc., not to mention some pretty "out there" scenes that just gave the censors fits back then. Last I heard, this one should be out by either late summer or fall of this year. If Dreams in the Witch House does well, and sales of Dagon remain respectable, we may yet see such with both of these, as well.

 

[ravenus]

Yes, about From Beyond, I've heard. Basically he had to bend over a great deal to obtain the R-rating (although what's suggested in the film is still pretty strong - the scene where Coombs' character's pineal projection gets bitten off still makes me queasy), and now all the footage has been restored. I'm already captivated by the version that I have seen and the prospect of a remastered edition with full director's approval has me salivating in anticipation.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, about From Beyond, I've heard. I'm already captivated by the version that I have seen and the prospect of a remastered edition with full director's approval has me salivating in anticipation.

You know, sometimes I worry about you....

 

[BAYLOR]

Ive seen this film a few times, It never gets old. It keeps well within the framework of Lovecraft's stories. One of my My favorite scenes is the the giant gold entrance way to the deeps. and when you add the music . Very creepy stuff.