#20 - Dagon (2001)
This is another Lovecraft adaptation directed by Stuart Gordon, based mostly on "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". A young couple and some friends are on vacation, relaxing on a boat off the coast of Spain, when a storm causes them to crash into some rocks near a small fishing town. When they go into town for help, they find it decrepit and seemingly abandoned, but quickly discover that the locals are strange and worship the god Dagon. From there, bad things start to happen.
I'm usually a huge fan of Gordon's films, but I didn't think that this one was particularly great. It features his usual gross-out gore and dark humor, but never reaches the heights of insanity like his classics Re-Animator or From Beyond. Part of the problem is the lousy CG effects. His older films featured some really incredible practical effects, but this film did not have a huge budget and this is most plainly obvious anytime there is a computer effect on screen. Luckily, not every effect is CG, and there is still some great practical gore, but the bad effects really cheapen the look of the film.
One thing I did really like was the fact that none of the Spanish dialogue was subtitled, leaving someone who doesn't speak it (like myself) mostly in the dark. Since the main character doesn't speak it either, it really added to the sense of strangeness and isolation. Overall, though, I was a little disappointed. There are some fun moments here, but the climax was pretty tame compared to what I would typically expect from Gordon. For Lovecraft and/or Stuart Gordon fans only.
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