Punch-3 Review of Dagon

Dagon (2001)

Catholics abandon faith and become Kevin Costner from Waterworld

[4/10 · 31 July 2002]

'Dagon' is a nicely filmed, atmospheric, technically competent production by the guy who gave us 'Re-Animator.' It just isn't a very good movie. Two couples, Howard and Vicki, and Paul and Barbara, recently stinking rich (from what were never told), celebrate on a boat not far from a Spanish fishing village. When a preternatural storm blows the boat onto the rocks, seriously injuring Vicki, Barbara and Paul go ashore in a rubber raft seeking help. They find instead a town of very inhospitable people who are slowly metamorphosing into fish, sort of much nastier versions of Kevin Costner's Mariner from Waterworld. Some have webbed hands, some have gills, some don't talk as much as make guttural sounds strangely reminiscent of the sewer creatures from Lucas Arts', 'Dark Forces' video game, and one, High Priestess, Uxia, the gorgeous Macarena Gomez, has a human torso with octopus legs (bummer). The one thing they all share in common is hatred of outsiders. They like to skin them alive and wear their faces as masks (don't ask, they never really say why). A flashback reveals that they were all once good Catholics who rejected Christianity when their fishing nets started turning up empty in favor of Dagon (rhymes with pagan), a sea-god who gave them fish and lots of gold. Dagon, as we discover, demands worship and occasional sacrifices, preferably young, nubile, naked women, and Barbara certainly fills the bill. After she is taken to be prepped for sacrifice, we're unfortunately left with Paul, whom Ezra Godden plays with all the finesse of a community theater actor. With his horn-rimmed glasses and whiny, Woody Allen persona, why would Barbara be attracted to him? His strongest acting techniques are delivering his lines and mugging for the camera. It's too bad more time couldn't be spent finding a more capable lead - the production clearly had a budget - and patching up some the gaping plot holes and contrivances in the story.