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Dagon (film)
Encyclopedia
Dagon is a 2001 horror film
directed by Stuart Gordon
and written by Dennis Paoli. Despite the title, the plot is actually based on H. P. Lovecraft's
novella
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
(1932) rather than on his earlier short story
"Dagon
" (1919).
tourists, Barbara and Paul, seek help in a small town called Imboca on the coast of Galicia in Spain
after their boat becomes shipwreck
ed and Howard and Vicki, their friends, are trapped. However, the inhabitants turn out to be far from friendly, and, as they discover, not even human, apart from a drunken tramp
named Ezequiel. This latter (played by veteran Spanish actor Francisco Rabal
in what would be his last role), tells Paul how the denizens of the town have overthrown Christianity
in favour of the fish god Dagon
, who has brought them wealth from the sea in the form of fish and gold. Since that time, they have mutated into fish-like forms and are obedient to the beautiful, mermaid
-like Uxía. Eerily, she has appeared to Paul in his dreams
even before they met, and she saves him from being murdered by the locals.
While running for his life, Paul is captured and reunited with Barbara, Ezequiel, and Vicki, who survived the shipwreck. Howard was killed by the locals. Vicki kills herself after learning that she is pregnant with Dagon's offspring. The townsfolk capture the remaining three. Ezequiel has his face flayed and Paul is about to be next until Uxía orders his release, telling him Barbara's sacrifice to Dagon will produce a child that will be immortal. After Paul kills Ezequiel's murderers, he makes his way to the church and finds a secret passage that leads to the catacombs. As Paul make his way through, Barbara's skin is slowly slashed by Uxía, who offers her as a sacrifice to Dagon. Uxía watches while the whole town lowers Barbara down to her doom in a pit. Paul arrives, killing some of the chanting inhabitants, and reaches Barbara, but tentacles rise out of the pit, wrapping around Barbara and dragging her down.
Paul is then attacked by the Imbocans; however, Uxía saves him again, revealing that everyone in Imboca had different mothers, but the same father: Dagon. Uxía reveals she and Paul, despite being siblings, are to be together for eternity. Seeing no way out, Paul sets himself on fire in despair, but Uxía drags him into the water, where he develops gills. The ending shows the both of them swimming toward a huge hole made of stones covered with gold symbols; a destination Paul had seen in his dreams.
The ending dialogue reads, "We shall dive down through black abysses, and in that lair of the Deep Ones, we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever." This is the final line of Lovecraft's famous short story The Shadow over Innsmouth, where the main character accepts his Deep One heritage and anticipates his eventual homecoming in his grandmother's city of Y'ha-nthlei.
This name is still faithful to the novel as it is a literal translation to Spanish of the original name.
back in the 1980s, but he and Stuart Gordon never managed to get the movie off the ground. In early 2000, Brian Yuzna
founded the Fantastic Factory
division of Filmax and called them back to finally shoot the movie. The original draft was more faithful to Lovecraft's short story, being based in New England
. The movie was shot at Combarro, a small fishing village near Pontevedra
in Galicia. The film is dedicated to actor Francisco Rabal
immediately before the credits.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Stuart Gordon
Stuart Gordon
After the University of Wisconsin demanded future theatrical productions by Screw Theater be overseen by a University Professor, Gordon cut his University ties to form Broom Street Theater. Its first production, the new translation of the risque Lysistrata, premiered in May 1969. Gordon is...
and written by Dennis Paoli. Despite the title, the plot is actually based on H. P. Lovecraft's
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. Written in November-December 1931, the story was first published in April 1936; this was the only fiction of Lovecraft's published during his lifetime that did not appear in a periodical....
(1932) rather than on his earlier short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
"Dagon
Dagon (short story)
"Dagon" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in July 1917, one of the first stories he wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of The Vagrant .-Inspiration:...
" (1919).
Plot
Two young AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tourists, Barbara and Paul, seek help in a small town called Imboca on the coast of Galicia in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
after their boat becomes shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
ed and Howard and Vicki, their friends, are trapped. However, the inhabitants turn out to be far from friendly, and, as they discover, not even human, apart from a drunken tramp
Tramp
A tramp is a long term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking or hiking all year round. In British English meanwhile a tramp simply refers to a homeless person, usually not a travelling one....
named Ezequiel. This latter (played by veteran Spanish actor Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
in what would be his last role), tells Paul how the denizens of the town have overthrown Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
in favour of the fish god Dagon
Dagon
Dagon was originally an Assyro-Babylonian fertility god who evolved into a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly of grain and fish and/or fishing...
, who has brought them wealth from the sea in the form of fish and gold. Since that time, they have mutated into fish-like forms and are obedient to the beautiful, mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
-like Uxía. Eerily, she has appeared to Paul in his dreams
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
even before they met, and she saves him from being murdered by the locals.
While running for his life, Paul is captured and reunited with Barbara, Ezequiel, and Vicki, who survived the shipwreck. Howard was killed by the locals. Vicki kills herself after learning that she is pregnant with Dagon's offspring. The townsfolk capture the remaining three. Ezequiel has his face flayed and Paul is about to be next until Uxía orders his release, telling him Barbara's sacrifice to Dagon will produce a child that will be immortal. After Paul kills Ezequiel's murderers, he makes his way to the church and finds a secret passage that leads to the catacombs. As Paul make his way through, Barbara's skin is slowly slashed by Uxía, who offers her as a sacrifice to Dagon. Uxía watches while the whole town lowers Barbara down to her doom in a pit. Paul arrives, killing some of the chanting inhabitants, and reaches Barbara, but tentacles rise out of the pit, wrapping around Barbara and dragging her down.
Paul is then attacked by the Imbocans; however, Uxía saves him again, revealing that everyone in Imboca had different mothers, but the same father: Dagon. Uxía reveals she and Paul, despite being siblings, are to be together for eternity. Seeing no way out, Paul sets himself on fire in despair, but Uxía drags him into the water, where he develops gills. The ending shows the both of them swimming toward a huge hole made of stones covered with gold symbols; a destination Paul had seen in his dreams.
The ending dialogue reads, "We shall dive down through black abysses, and in that lair of the Deep Ones, we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever." This is the final line of Lovecraft's famous short story The Shadow over Innsmouth, where the main character accepts his Deep One heritage and anticipates his eventual homecoming in his grandmother's city of Y'ha-nthlei.
Cast
- Ezra Godden as Paul Marsh
- Francisco RabalFrancisco RabalFrancisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
as Ezequiel - Raquel Meroño as Barbara
- Macarena GómezMacarena GómezMacarena Gómez Traseira is a Spanish actress, known for her role of Lola in the current television series La que se avecina, aired on Telecinco...
as Uxía Cambarro - Brendan PriceBrendan Price-Selected filmography:* The Amorous Milkman * The Sleep of Death * Savage Grace -Television appearances:* Man at the Top* The Sweeney* Doctor Who * Space: 1999...
as Howard - Birgit Bofarull as Vicki
- Uxía Blanco as Ezequiel's Mother
- Ferran Lahoz as Priest
- Joan Minguell as Xavier Cambarro
- Alfredo Villa as Captain Orpheus Cambarro
- José Lifante as Desk Clerk
- Javier Sandoval as Ezequiel's Father
- Victor Barreira as Young Ezequiel
- Fernando Gil as Catholic Priest
- Jorge Luis Pérez as Boy
Novel equivalences
The following is a list of characters and elements from the film and their corresponding counterpart in the original novel:- Paul Marsh - Robert Olmstead
- Ezequiel - Zadok Allen
- Captain Orpheus Cambarro - Obed Marsh
- Javier Cambarro - Barnabas Marsh
- Imboca - InnsmouthInnsmouthInnsmouth is a fictional town in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, part of the Lovecraft Country setting of the Cthulhu Mythos.Lovecraft first used the name "Innsmouth" in his 1920 short story "Celephaïs" , where it refers to a fictional town in New England...
- Hotel del Mar - Gilman House
- Esotérica Orden de Dagón - Esoteric Order of DagonEsoteric Order of DagonThe Esoteric Order of Dagon is a fictional cult in the Cthulhu mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.-Esoteric Order of Dagon in the mythos:Esoteric Order of Dagon was the primary religion in Innsmouth after Captain Obed Marsh returned from the South Seas with the dark religion circa 1838...
This name is still faithful to the novel as it is a literal translation to Spanish of the original name.
Details
Dennis Paoli wrote the screenplayScreenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
back in the 1980s, but he and Stuart Gordon never managed to get the movie off the ground. In early 2000, Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna
Brian Yuzna is a director, writer and producer of films.- Life :Yuzna grew up in Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Panama before moving to the United States in the 1960s.- Career :...
founded the Fantastic Factory
Fantastic Factory
- History :It was created by Julio Fernández and Brian Yuzna. Yuzna's goal for Fantastic Factory is produce "modestly budgeted genre films for the international market using genre talent from all around the world and to develop local talent." - Films produced under the Fantastic Factory label...
division of Filmax and called them back to finally shoot the movie. The original draft was more faithful to Lovecraft's short story, being based in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. The movie was shot at Combarro, a small fishing village near Pontevedra
Pontevedra
Pontevedra is a city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the comarca and province of Pontevedra, in Galicia . It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city...
in Galicia. The film is dedicated to actor Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal
Francisco Rabal , perhaps better known as Paco Rabal, was a Spanish actor born in Águilas, a small town in the province of Murcia, Spain....
immediately before the credits.