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 | (Reviewed by DOMD) - Right from the written word of H.P. Lovecraft and
from the vision of the man who brought us the immortal splatter film,
Re-Animator (also inspired by Mr. Lovecraft), Dagon is one of the better
recent horror films since the year 2000 buy a killer premise right to the
end, though trips a few times along the way. The premise is this: A group of
4 is on a sailboat that gets caught in a storm that sends them to a deserted
island town...or at least it looks deserted. Wandering into the town, they
slowly discover that the people who once lived here have become "zombie-like"
though they aren't zombies in the conventional sense. They are worshippers
of a sea creature named "Dagon," and they become pale, and they
grow some of the most fierce looking teeth you'll ever see in a film. Paul
(Ezra Godden) shares a secret that even he isn't aware of with this Dagon,
that he doesn't even realize until the very end when confronted about it. I
won't tell what it is because it caught me off gaurd.
The acting in the film is subpar, but not terrible. While watching the
actors talk, most of them seem to have trouble with English, but considering
a pretty much all European cast....I find that pretty forgiving. I'd be a
hypocryte if I bashed the movie based on that and still praise Lamberto
Bava's Demons. Clear your judgement on acting out of the way and you should
enjoy yourself. Besides, if you sat through Re-Animator's hokey acting, than
you should sit through this.
The makeup in this film is very creative. I already mentioned the teeth, but
there are creatures in the film that are lost between "sea-demon"
and "human" that just look incredible. It seems the make up artist
has had some serious influence not only by H.R. Giger, but a fan of comic
book artists such as Joe Maduriera (look at his video game designs for
Exarch and compare with this movie). They are exagerated, but not over the
top, very keen to details, bulbous limbs, and fearful. There is one problem
though, most of the FX aren't lit very well, so it leaves some of the
creatures to look like wet plastic. The cinematic scope of the film was very
limited. To me, it shows that director Stewart Gordon couldn't get the
appropriate budget to work with this material, so he works with what he's
got, and pulls it off nicely for the most part. I wish that the
cinematography was not only darker, but more picturesque or clever.
Visually, most shots of the film are boring and uncreative. Almost every
shot is a medium shot and there are very few establishment shots for sense
of place, and next to zip close ups for tension. I blame the cinematographer
for this one, because in Gordon's past films, he was able to show off more
"comic" style framing and paneling. To sum up the overall look of
the film, it looks like a made-for-SciFi-Channel flick. Especially some of
the CG work in the film (yes, CGI haters, there is some CGI) that resembles
some FX in Xena. Luckily there isn't much of it to spoil your viewing
pleasure. In fact, most of the CGI involves the storm itself.
May I step aside a moment and mention the beautiful Macerena Gomez? All you
fans getting riled up over "babes" such as Monica Keena and Eliza
Dushku for your horror babes should check out Gomez. From the first shot of
her (in the opening of the film, and as a mermaid no less) I was locked. Big
brown eyes that look up to you, asking dearfully for comfort and love, and
dark hair that is waiting to wrap you up into her warmth. Normally I don't
even go off on a tangent about a beautiful actress in a film, but here I
have to mention her. She has so much radiance to her it's hypnotic.
Now, Dagon is a clever premised film, written well and directed with fun precision
by Gordon. The acting is "iffy" and "wooden" in areas
due to either dubbing or struggling for english, but not bad enough to
really hurt the movie. The effects for the creatures are lavish and even
creepy, every once in a while spoiled by too much lighting, and the CGI in
some scenes are a hokey. If you're sick of watching these teen oriented
horror films filled with teenage characters that know everything (when in
reality, they think they do but actually don't), then go to the video store
and pick up this, or May, 28 Days Later, or try to find Bubba Ho-Tep at a
theatre near you. It shouldn't disappoint. Rating: B+ |
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