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The other night I and my fiancee watched "Dagon" on the SciFi Channel. Directed by Stuart Gordon (who did "Re-Animator"), its based on both the story "Dagon" and on "A Shadow Over Innsmouth."
Now, keep in mind this was clearly edited by tv. I'm sure the violence was more graphic, and the flick has a fair amount of nudity. One actress in particular--Macarena something, Lopez maybe?--is gorgeous in a way that reminds me of Barbara Steele (but with some Fairuza Balk and Jennifer Connelly in the mix ).
Overall, I thought it worked well. Most of the story was built around a chase that just kept going. Okay, that got a tad dull after awhile. Myself, I'd prefer a growing sense of eirie truths you don't want to know. But it worked. Interesting to me that so many filmmakers nurture sexuality in their adaptations of Lovecraft--a fact HP himself would find horrific, I'm sure. Yet give so many of the themes involved--the seduction of dreams, interspecies breeding, etc.--I cannot fault this.
Most impressive was the sense that we were seeing but the tip of some otherworldly iceberg. Explaining everything overmuch is one of my pet peeves (and imo often seriously hurts King's works).
At the same time, I can't say the flick really offers much by way of originality. I never get really involved in the main character (another common problem, imo) because he's just so bland. The Old Man who tells him the truth about this strange town was far more rivetting, for example.
Anybody else see this flick? <i></i>
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