Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Dagon Blu-ray Movie Review

Lovecraftian, you say?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 20, 2018

Howard Phillips Lovecraft has become such an iconic name in the horror genre that his surname has become an adjective, but even some diehard horror fans can have problems trying to adequately describe what “Lovecraftian” actually means. The frequently pretty amusing if not always completely accurate and/or edifying Wikipedia has an article on “Lovecraftian horror” which contains one of my all time favorite tidbits in its list of what constitutes an offering being "Lovecraftian", to wit:

Preoccupation with viscerate texture. The horror features of Lovecraft's stories tend to involve protean semi-gelatinous substances, such as slime, as opposed to standard horror elements such as blood, bones, or corpses.

There is a somewhat slimy aspect to Dagon, a 2001 film that (according to some of the supplements on this release) attempts to combine elements from both very early and very late Lovecraft stories (more about that in a moment), but which might be thought of in a way as a Lovecraftian gloss on The Shape of Water, maybe with just a hint of Jaws mixed in for good measure. Those seemingly disparate aspects show up in the film’s opening sequence, which turns out to be a dream (and/or nightmare) that Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) has about diving deep, deep below to discover a kind of nasty mermaid who has a bit of an overbite (that’s a joke, for those who may not have seen the film). Paul understandably wakes with a start from such a vision, and it’s revealed that he is on a boating excursion with his girlfriend Barbara (Raquel Meroño) and two other friends, Howard (Brendan Price) and Vicki (Birgit Bofarull). The bulk of the film actually departs from the boat the quartet is initially on, after a freak storm scuttles the craft, and Paul and Barbara depart to a nearby island to try to seek help. Suffice it to say help is the last thing they find on a weirdly abandoned, almost feudal looking, burg built on a rocky outcropping.

The island section of Dagon is long on mood but unfortunately short on both narrative momentum as well as performance expertise. Almost immediately, and for reasons which aren’t very well developed, Paul and Barbara become separated, and predictably that ends up leaving Paul more or less stranded. While the island initially appears to have no inhabitants (something that actually ups the “creep” factor considerably), it of course turns out that there are “folks” around, though they may not be making the next Lonely Planet in terms of any hospitality they may offer.

The film tends to get increasingly preposterous as it develops its theme (Lovecraftian or otherwise) of a sort of mysterious cult that has arisen in this isolated locale, but here the kind of inept characterizations tend to undercut any sense of anxiety. Director Stuart Gordon has an almost Fellini-esque eye for bizarre faces, but some of the actors just can’t quite muster the requisite menace to make things truly scary.

As is discussed in some of the supplements and alluded to above, while some experts insist that Dagon is basically an adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth, a fairly late entry in Lovecraft’s oeuvre, Gordon and screenwriter Dennis Paoli state that there are at least some elements culled from Lovecraft’s much earlier piece Dagon, and in fact reading even a summary of the story does reveal some aspects from that earlier work that have made it into the film. Whatever some Lovecraft aficionados may see as the inspiration for this tale, Dagon does manage to work up a fairly visceral mood a lot of the time, even if some narrative elements are perhaps unavoidably muddled due to the very commingling of elements from two disparate Lovecraft works.

Dagon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dagon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Film's Vestron Video imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. There's no information about the provenance of this master and/or transfer in anything Lionsgate provided to me, but to my eyes this is one of the less pleasing Vestron Video releases the imprint has put out. The most noticeable deficit here is a near absence of grain, though as some of the screenshots uploaded with this review show, fine detail does poke through despite the fairly obvious "scrubbing". But there are a number of other kind of odd anomalies that accrue from time to time, including near posterizing on completely unexpected things like faces, and other signs of perhaps inartful compression like banding. The palette seems rather "alien" looking at times, too, with jaundiced flesh tones, but I have to admit I never saw Dagon in a theatrical exhibition and so cannot comment on how "accurate" this appearance may or may not be. Even putting the filtering aspect aside, this is often a fairly soft looking transfer, at least some of which is due to relentless rain and other stormy and/or misty weather that the film employs to rather mysterious effect. Fans of the film are encouraged to carefully parse the screenshots included with this review to see how they feel about things, but my bottom line is, while probably acceptable to diehard fans, this presentation of Dagon could use some considerable improvement.

Dagon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dagon's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track tends to spring to life in some of the outdoor material, where that aforementioned stormy ambience provides passing opportunities for surround channel engagement courtesy of fairly lifelike ambient environmental effects. The score by Carles Cases also occasionally spreads into the surround channels as well. Dialogue is cleanly rendered and there are no signs of age related wear and tear.

Dagon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Screenwriter Dennis Paoli


• Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Star Ezra Godden


• Gods & Monsters (1080p; 22:26) is an interview of director Stuart Gordon conducted by filmmaker Mick Garris.


• Shadows Over Imboca (1080p; 19:53) is an interview with producer Brian Yuzna.


• Fish Stories (1080p; 18:00) is an interview with S.T. Joshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft.


• Vintage EPK Featurette (1080p; 27:17)


• Archival Interviews (1080p; 21:32) include Stuart Gordon, Ezra Godden and other cast and crew.


• Conceptual Art Gallery (1080p; 9:01) features the work of artist Richard Raaphorst.


• Storyboard Gallery (1080p; 9:13)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 5:20)


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:19)

Dagon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another cult horror release that has both pluses and minuses and may split fans' reactions. The video could certainly look more organic and filmlike, but audio is fine (if not overwhelmingly immersive), and the supplementary package is extremely well done. Fans of Lovecraft and/or this particular film are encouraged to look over the screenshots to see if the video presentation is a deal killer for them. The film itself is actually rather interesting, even if it's not completely successful. It has a palpable mood that is positively, well, Lovecraftian.