Line #16 Film/Dagon


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9	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dagon_5cceca755ff7a.png]]
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11	''Dagon'' is a 2001 horror movie directed by Creator/StuartGordon loosely based on the Franchise/CthulhuMythos short story ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' by Creator/HPLovecraft. The film moves the action from New England to the coast of Spain, in the town of "Imboca" (which means the same as "Innsmouth"). ''Dagon'' is a highly atmospheric horror film steeped in mist and eerie themes. Despite being a modern update, many of the themes remain the same. Even if much overlooked, ''Dagon'' is worth a watch for many horror and Lovecraft fans.
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13	A young stock market tycoon, Paul, has been plagued by strange dreams of a green-eyed mermaid. His girlfriend, Barbara, feels it is most likely an indication of excessive stress and tries to convince Paul to go on vacation with her and their older friends, Howard and Viki, to the sunny shores of Spain. Paul, however, is reluctant to go citing work, though his girlfriend won't take no for an answer and the four of them set sail in a yacht for Italy.
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15	Everything goes fine at first. However, a sudden storm near a small fishing village named Imboca dashes the yacht against the rocks. A large rock has pierced the cabin below deck and Viki's leg is trapped between the rocks and the yacht. Luckily, the yacht is otherwise stable and in no risk of sinking. Howard stays behind to care for his injured wife while Paul and Barbara go ashore to look for help....
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17	No relation to [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls Mehrunes Dagon]].
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20	!!Provides examples of:
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22	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: An odd case because it ends with more or less the same thing happening: [[spoiler: the protagonist joining the Deep Ones in their UnderwaterCity.]] The difference is that in the movie, he doesn't choose it.
23	* AdaptationalVillainy: The people of Innsmouth were AmbiguouslyEvil at worst, and all the Deep One-on-human pairings are presented as consensual. Here, the Imboca people are AlwaysChaoticEvil monsters who flay people alive and [[ChildByRape propagate themselves exclusively by rape]] in ObviouslyEvil HumanSacrifice rituals.
24	* AnArmAndALeg: When Paul and Barbara are reunited with Viki, they find her in a state of complete shock because the cultists cut off one of her legs.
25	* BarrierBustingBlow: A tense scene gives us dueling ones from Paul and the Deep Ones, each trying to break down a door to either escape or catch the other.
26	* BigBad: Uxia is directly responsible for the terrible things befalling the main characters in the present, as the {{High Priest}}ess of the Cult of Dagon.
27	* BilingualBonus: English and Spanish are present here.
28	* BloodierAndGorier: Than Lovecraft, who was an advocate of NothingIsScarier.
29	* BMovie: Its creators willingly admit this and state they engaged in sex, horror, and camp willingly in the style of Stuart Gordon.
30	* BodyHorror: Those fish people...not all of them were born that way.
31	* BrotherSisterIncest: What [[spoiler:Uxia]] intends for [[spoiler:her half-brother, Paul.]]
32	* {{Bowdlerise}}: A version was aired on American TV with some changes for that audience.
33	** Nakedness was covered or otherwise edited out.[[note]]So... no uncovered female breasts.[[/note]]
34	** Most of Ezequiel's [[spoiler:skinning scene]] was cut.[[note]]...So to speak.[[/note]]
35	** When Dagon comes out of the water and takes [[spoiler:Bárbara, her arms aren't left behind, in spite of her wrists being shackled.]] No justification is given.
36	* ChildByRape: You're going to submit to Dagon whether you want to or not.
37	* CosmicHorrorStory: By association with the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
38	* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Surprisingly frequent. A couple include [[spoiler: being skinned alive to make ceremonial masks and suicide by pocket knife Hara-kiri style]].
39	* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: All the Dagon cultists in the village are various types of FishPeople. Uxia's father has a face that resembles an octopus.
40	* CuteMonsterGirl: Uxia turns out to be a Cute Monster Girl Deep One by way of OurMermaidsAreDifferent... for [[UncannyValleyGirl certain definitions of "cute"]].
41	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Considering the setting of Ezequiel's flashback (the 1930s, assuming he is roughly the same age as his actor), the sacking of Imboca's church, the smashing of sacred statues and icons by a mob, and the murder of the priest are almost certainly meant to parallel the very real desecrations and anti-clerical massacres that took place during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar.
42	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: TheBadGuyWins. Our hero goes from RoaringRampageOfRevenge to DrivenToSuicide to AndThenJohnWasAZombie in the course of two minutes.]]
43	%%* DrivenToSuicide: But even that doesn't work out.
44	* EldritchAbomination: Dagon itself is only seen for a split-second near the end, but it lives up to its Lovecraftian nature.
45	* EldritchOceanAbyss: The movie ends with the protagonist [[spoiler:growing gills and traveling into an underwater abyss to meet the EldritchAbomination that spawned him and his sister.]]
46	%%* ExtremelyDustyHome: As a citywide phenomenon.
47	* {{Fanservice}}: Uxia is quite attractive ([[spoiler:until you get to the fact that her legs are tentacles]]), and spends a fair amount of time underdressed, or just plain undressed.
48	* FanDisservice: The afforementioned [[spoiler:tentacle legs. Also, Barbara has a nude scene near the end of the film... after she's been raped by Dagon and CoveredInGunge. Well, we ''hope'' it's gunge. Then she's pulled back in, with her being torn off her shackled arms.]]
49	%%* FishPeople: Some of them have cephalopod traits as well.
50	%%* FlayingAlive: [[spoiler:Ezequiel]] is ultimately subjected to this.
51	* ForeignRemake: Despite being directed, written, and starred in by Americans (who play American characters) and being filmed in English for a wider release, it is a full Spanish production that changes Innsmouth to a fishing village in the Galician coast (or, the [[CulturalTranslation closest thing in Spain]] to LovecraftCountry).
52	%%* GhostCity: Imboca seems this way. At least at first...
53	* GirlOfMyDreams: Paul has recurring dreams of a beautiful mermaid who beckons him to join her. After he and his friends get stuck in a coastal town inhabited by a FishPeople cult, he finds out that the girl in his dreams, Uxia the high priestess, is real. [[spoiler:At the end he's told that they're both the demi-human offspring of a sea god and that he is destined to become his sister's lover.]]
54	* {{Gorn}}: Most notably the scene in which [[spoiler:Ezequiel's face is cut off his head while he's still alive and screaming in agony.]]
55	* GreaterScopeVillain: Dagon, of course, but [[TheDragon Captain Orpheus Cambarro]] counts as well: a disciple of Dagon who came to Imboca, seduced the townsfolk to worship his god, which turned them into the murderous Deep Ones, [[LukeIAmYourFather and is a distant progenitor of both Uxia and Paul.]] He's long gone: either dead or dwelling as a Deep One by the time the film starts, and has no direct hand in Paul's plight, but the story never would have happened without him.
56	* HellHotel: Barbara picked a great place to look for help. As Paul discovers, it comes complete with a DisgustingPublicToilet, smashed windows, and a bed in which someone--or some''thing''--has apparently died recently.
57	%%* HumanSacrifice: [[spoiler: Viki and Barbara. Barbara gets more ceremony, though]].
58	* InsultBackfire: An instance that is at the same time unusually messed up, and funny.
59	-->'''Uxia''': Dagon needs her sacrifice!
60	-->'''Paul''': Fuck Dagon!
61	-->'''Uxia''': Yes, and their child will live forever!
62	%%* KillItWithFire: Paul goes with an old standby at the finale.
63	* LovecraftOnFilm: An adaptation of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'', with some elements of "Literature/{{Dagon}}".
64	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: Said by one of the fish people to [[HumanoidAbomination Paul]]]].
65	%%* Macabre Mediterranean: The movie relocates ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' from LovecraftCountry to Galicia. - Unlaunched trope; restore once properly relaunched.
66	%%* MalevolentMaskedMen: Wearing human faces no less.
67	* ManOnFire: Paul douses several Imbocans in kerosene and lights them on fire [[spoiler:before [[SelfImmolation doing the same to himself]].]]
68	* MarsNeedsWomen: In contrast to the book, where the Deep Ones' sexual interest in human beings was unisex, here, they are exclusively after our women. This adds to the AdaptationalVillainy.
69	* TheMermaidProblem: Averted via tentacles with certain ahem functions.
70	* MonsterProgenitor: Dagon, responsible for, er, directly siring all the assorted FishPeople.
71	* MoodWhiplash: The slow pacing and dramatic mood of the film is interrupted by a flashback to a surprisingly dramatic depiction of the town's corruption by inhuman forces.
72	%%* NightmareFace
73	%%* OminousFog
74	* OnlySaneMan: The old drunk Ezequiel; though he admits to being crazy in his own way as well.
75	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Really, "mermaids" here are just another slight anatomical variation on Fish People.
76	%%* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Paul isn't stingy with that kerosene.
77	%%* ReligionOfEvil: The cult of the fish god, Dagon.
78	* SceneryGorn: The town of Imboca with its flooded houses, caving in roofs, and broken windows everywhere.
79	* ShownTheirWork: The movie is actually almost completely faithful to Lovecraft's themes and stories. The director and producer also did extensive research on comparative religion, which shows in the design work regarding the various implements and decorative items the cult uses. The movie seems to imply "Dagon" is Cthulhu himself instead of a distinct entity, which is one of the actual interpretations of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth''. About the only true inaccuracy is the film being an adaptation of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' as opposed to...well, ''Literature/{{Dagon}}''.
80	* SinisterMinister:
81	** The town's priest disguises himself in a regular Catholic priest's attire, but he's actually part of Dagon's ReligionOfEvil.
82	** Captain Cambarro was this in years past: after turning Imboca to Dagon worship, he became the town's head priest.
83	%%* SinisterScrapingSound: More like thump, shuffle and scrape.
84	* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Paul is half Deep One]].
85	* TownWithADarkSecret: If you've read this far down the page and don't know Imboca is that town, we don't know what to tell you.
86	* UnscaledMerfolk: They're more cephalopod than traditional merfolk or FishPeople.
87	* VerbalTic: "There are two possibilities..." for Paul. Eventually it changes to [[spoiler: "No possibilities," when he tries to kill himself to avoid becoming the lover of his sister Uxia the Dagon high priestess]].
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Context Film / Dagon