I’ll admit, I did search the web for info on this movie and found a few other reviews and I am surprised to say most other horror film reviewers feel the exact same way about this movie as I do. That is, it is obviously not the greatest movie ever made, but it is definitely the best H.P. Lovecraft movie ever made. And it is also most likely Stuart Gordon’s (Re-Animator, From Beyond) most impressive work to date.

 
 The fact that the movie’s name is “Dagon”, and H.P Lovecraft wrote a six page story by that name, does not mean necessarily that the movie is based on the story Dagon. In fact, the movie more closely follows the narrative “the shadow over Innsmouth” but we all know that movies never can quite capture a book perfectly, and this is no exception.
 
What the movie does capture nearly perfectly however is the mental torment and psychological anguish expressed in Lovecraft’s work, and that to a degree that IMO, has never been adequately captured on film previously.

Also Known As:
Dagon (Spain) (short title)
Dagon - La secta del mar (Spain)
Dagon: Sect of the Sea
H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon (USA) (complete title)
The Lost Island (Philippines: English title)

Story:

A stereo-typical college nerd and his way-too hot girlfriend have some yacht trouble touring off the coast of Spain (or Portugal?) and try to get help for the in-laws, still trapped on a sinking Yacht. It becomes evident in short order that things in the small fishing village are not quite right, from everything being covered with mold, to people not quite being able to hide their webbed fingers, and eventually it turns up that some of them have tentacles and other such non-human appendages.

It turns out that the inhabitants of the village have made a deal with Dagon, the sea god, to improve the fishing. The result is that the villagers are now part fish and of course like all deals with sea gods there are certain sacrifices to be made, sacrifices that shipwrecked college nerds and their girlfriends are just perfect for…

Really to me the weirdest thing about this movie is the fact that the guy still wants anything to do with the girl after she throws his laptop overboard because she’s not getting enough attention. I sure wouldn’t mind sacrificing someone who did that to me to the fish Gods, even if they did look real good naked.

From the "Director's Notes"...

H.P. Lovecraft hated fish. There are stories that when invited to a dinner party, he would turn on his heel and immediately leave if he discovered that a fish course would be served. His disgust of these undersea creatures became an inspiration for many of his best stories, and he incorporated these ideas into what has been called his "Cthulhu Mythos."

Here, Lovecraft created the idea that long before mankind ruled the Earth, it was a battleground between two warring races...the Old Ones who lived on the land and the Deep ones whose domain was under the sea...

All of Lovecraft's stories were carefully researched, so it should be no surprise that Dagon actually existed. Mentioned several times in the Bible, Dagon is the god of the Philistines and is half human and half fish. (The Hebrew word "dag" means fish.) The Philistines offered human sacrifices (often their first born sons) to this dark god. Vestiges of Dagon-worship exist to this day, including the fish symbol of the early Christians and the eating of fish on Fridays.

Where this film shines:

This movie brings to the table:

• A lot of wonderful nudity, and doesn’t shy away from blood and gore when its needed to tell the story. Nobody was shooting for a PG rating here.
• The set of the old fishing village and the fungus covered hotel were just absolutely perfect.
• There are no big name Hollywood actors here, so there are no well known faces to distract from the story. Well, unless you watch a lot of Spanish television, in which case it’s hard not to notice Macarena Gomez.

 
“Dagon” to me, is a perfect example of a movie made on a moderate budget that knows its limitations and is not trying to be anything its not. Even thought this movie obviously had a smaller budget than say, Waterworld, it’s still evident that no small amount of effort went into it’s making, for example it’s raining in over 75% of the footage.

Shortcomings:

Since I had read some things about this movie before watching it, I know that it was filmed in Spain by Spanish producers, and featured a mostly Spanish cast – so I was surprised to find that the dialogue was in English.

I was almost immediately put off by the quality of the dialogue, which at least in the opening scene was very poorly written, full of clichés and things people never actually say to each other.  It was so bad in fact that I actually turned it off and started watching something else after about 10 minutes. If it were not for my great respect for Stuart Gordon and H.P. Lovecraft I would not have resumed viewing the movie the following day, and as it turns out I am glad that I did. Either the film’s other good qualities soon allowed me to forget the bad dialogue, or else the dialogue improved. (come to think of it there isn’t much dialogue in the second two-thirds of the movie)

Conclusion:

As I mentioned before, this movie captures Lovecraft’s style of horror very well, which generally puts the reader behind the eyes of a quiet, mild mannered person whose sanity is strained by his being forced to bear witness, against his will to nature being horribly perverted. The author seems to equate exceptions to what he has been taught are the laws of nature with the ultimate unspeakable horror, yet he craves it at the same time, knowing the truth he seeks will not fit within the narrow confines of his understanding of the world.