twist of fait accomplis

Dagon, 2001 [ ADD ]
Director: Stuart Gordon
Availability: Medium (available on DVD from Lion's Gate Films)

Stuart Gordon got a good reputation amongst horror fans after he released the 1980s classic Re-animator. Over a decade later, Gordon tackled another H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, Dagon (based on one of Lovecraft's earliest stories). In this modern take on the short story, a rich dot-commer and his girlfriend are sailing off of the Spanish coast with some work associates. Things are going well until a major storm hits and they find themselves off the coast, near a creepy, desolate town. It doesn't take long for the group of four to get trimmed down to two, and then the fun begins as Paul tries to find his kidnapped girlfriend amongst a town full of frightening, possessed monk-like creatures.

It's been a while since I've seen a movie that really felt like it reached out and grabbed my face. Dagon did just that, and then proceeded to rip it clean off. I had the fortune of seeing this on the big screen, and while there were a few moments of humor thrown in, the majority of the film was fast-paced, very tense, and quite eerie. The end is a bit of a downer when they go for some weak CGI effects, but the rest of the film makes up for it. If you enjoy being drawn into a movie and feeling your pulse race, Dagon is the film to do it. A great flick for a rainy October night.

Side note: the posted-a-day-late entry for day 24 is now online.