H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon Blu-Ray Review (Vestron Video Collector's Series #16)
By Paul Rudoff on Jul. 27, 2018 at 2:29 PM in Home Video, Horror

H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon arrives on Blu-ray as the 16th entry in Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series, "a line of classic genre films newly remastered and with a wealth of supplementary features." I have reviewed several other titles in the series.

Lionsgate just released two titles in their Vestron Video Collector's Series: Beyond Re-Animator and Dagon. Both of these films share many things in common. For one, they're both part of Brian Yuzna's deal with Spanish movie studio Filmmax, that saw a whole series of "Fantastic Films" horror movies in the mid-2000s. Brian is a producer on both, and the director of Beyond Re-Animator. Both have a connection to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, even if the connection is tenuous at best for Beyond Re-Animator. These two films also mark the first time that Lionsgate has included movies from the DVD era of the 2000s, instead of the VHS era of the 1980s and 1990s, in the Vestron series.

Dagon (2001) is a modern-day retelling of the H.P. Lovecraft stories "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" and "Dagon" by director Stuart Gordon, who previously made the Lovecraftian Re-Animator. Dagon tells the story of Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden) and his girlfriend Barbara (Raquel Merono), who are on a boating excursion off the coast of the Spanish village of Imboca. A storm suddenly appears, washing the boat onto some rocks, leaving our pair to make their way to shore to get some help. They are quickly separated, and that's never a good thing in a horror movie.

The story focuses on Paul's attempt to, initially, find some help for their friends on the boat, and then to find Barbara in the nearly abandoned town. A weird-looking priest directs him to the local hotel, where he finds an even weirder concierge. While in his dirty, dingy room - not fit for anyone to inhabit - he hears the townfolk converging outside in a rather menacing manner. They soon make their way up to his room, leaving Paul to jump out of a window in order to escape their grasp. He doesn't know why they're after him. He just knows that it's not for good reasons.

From here, the film becomes a relentless chase, as Paul does his best to keep evading the villagers. Eventually, he makes his way into the leader's mansion, where he finds the beautiful Princess Uxia Cambarro (Macarena Gomez) lying in bed. She is the "mermaid" he kept having dreams about, and while she pleads with him to stay after they briefly make out, he departs again in an attempt to avoid the creepy townfolk. To say any more from here would spoil the story.

The movie is suitably creepy and atmospheric, which is what I enjoyed most about the it. The nudity from Merono and Gomez was certainly enjoyable, too :-) There isn't much in the way of gore, except for a particularly explicit "face removal" scene later on. Paul's only help throughout the film is a non-creepy villager named Ezequiel, played by Spanish film legend Francisco Rabal, who passed away before the film's release. The film is nicely dedicated to him before the end credits roll.

The bulk of what I know about H.P. Lovecraft was learned from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Collect Call of Cathulhu", so I went into this film without any preconceived notions of what the story should be. As such, I don't know how faithful it is to the source materials, but from what I've just read, it's fairly faithful.

At a runtime of 1:38:12, Dagon is presented in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio with a beautiful transfer that is crisp and clear with no issues that I noticed. On the audio side, there's an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, which is loud and clear. The film includes English SDH and Spanish subtitles. The first print run includes a slipsleeve featuring the beautiful new cover art by Justin Osbourn of Slasher Design. For some reason, Lionsgate failed to mention the artist's name in the press release or on the packaging, or even to make a big deal of the fact that the release features newly commissioned artwork. I'm pleased that they had new artwork done as all of the old DVD cover art (seen in the still gallery) sucks beyond belief!

A small selection of new special features were created for this release, as well as porting over everything from the old DVD release.
- Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Screenwriter Dennis Paoli
- Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Star Ezra Godden
- Gods & Monsters (22:26) - An interview of director Stuart Gordon conducted by filmmaker Mick Garris.
- Shadows Over Imboca (19:53) - An interview with producer Brian Yuzna.
- Fish Stories (18:00) - An interview with Lovecraft biographer S.T. Joshi.
- Archival Interviews (21:32) - Recorded on the first day of filming, includes director Stuart Gordon, producer Julio Fernandez (English subtitled), Raquel Merono (English subtitled), Ezra Godden, and Francisco Rabal (English subtitled); following the interviews is four minutes of B-Roll (on-set footage).
- Vintage EPK Featurette (27:17) - Actually archival interviews done in late 2001 to promote the film featuring director Stuart Gordon, Ezra Godden, Macarena Gomez, and Raquel Merono.
- Conceptual Art Gallery (9:01) - Various pieces of artwork by Richard Raaphorst.
- Storyboard Gallery (9:13) - Covers the scenes named Paul's Dream, S.O.S., and Car Escape.
- Still Gallery (5:20) - Photos and movie posters & DVD cover art.
- Theatrical Trailer (1:19) - Obviously cropped into widescreen.

While Dagon is far from perfect, I found it throughly enjoyable from start to finish. A rollercoaster ride of a movie that kept me hooked (pun intended) from start to finish. Lionsgate did a fantastic job with this Blu-ray release, and it's worth the purchase (or upgrade if you own the DVD) if you like atmospheric, creepy films.
Final Verdict: Highly Recommended.

As of right now (updated 7/24/2018), the Vestron Video Collector's Series includes the following Blu-ray releases, all of which contain new bonus materials just like the one I reviewed.
01. Chopping Mall (September 27, 2016)
02. Blood Diner (September 27, 2016)
03. Waxwork 1 & 2 (October 18, 2016) - Double Feature
04. Return of the Living Dead 3 (November 22, 2016)
05. C.H.U.D. II: Bud The CHUD (November 22, 2016)
06. The Lair of the White Worm (January 31, 2017)
07. Parents (January 31, 2017)
08. The Gate (Febuary 28, 2017)
09. Wishmaster Collection (March 28, 2017) - Quadruple Feature
10. The Unholy (June 27, 2017)
11. The Warlock Collection (July 25, 2017) - Triple Feature
12. Slaughter High (October 31, 2017)
13. Gothic (January 30, 2018)
14. Class of 1999 (January 30, 2018)
15. Beyond Re-Animator (July 24, 2018)
16. H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon (July 24, 2018)
02. Blood Diner (September 27, 2016)
03. Waxwork 1 & 2 (October 18, 2016) - Double Feature
04. Return of the Living Dead 3 (November 22, 2016)
05. C.H.U.D. II: Bud The CHUD (November 22, 2016)
06. The Lair of the White Worm (January 31, 2017)
07. Parents (January 31, 2017)
08. The Gate (Febuary 28, 2017)
09. Wishmaster Collection (March 28, 2017) - Quadruple Feature
10. The Unholy (June 27, 2017)
11. The Warlock Collection (July 25, 2017) - Triple Feature
12. Slaughter High (October 31, 2017)
13. Gothic (January 30, 2018)
14. Class of 1999 (January 30, 2018)
15. Beyond Re-Animator (July 24, 2018)
16. H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon (July 24, 2018)
All images come from the the Internet Movie Database. The Blu-ray has been provided by Lionsgate for review on this site.
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