Dagon - Not bad, but not quite there

‘Dagon’ is one of those films where I watch and yet still can’t really make up my mind about.  I didn’t hate it.  It has its good points, yet overall there didn’t really seem like there was enough story to flesh it out (even to its quite average ninety minute runtime).

It’s about an American couple whose boat gets shipwrecked off a remote Spanish island.  When they get to shore they find the locals are hardly the hospitable types.  It kind of reminded me of ‘The Wicker Man,’ i.e. outsiders who are up against the whole of a town.

My main problem with the film was that very little happens.  Once the couple arrive on the island, they’re quickly separated and we’re left with just the man.  Pretty much the whole of the middle part of the film is him being chased from one dark and creepy location to the next.  He’s all on his own and doesn’t really have anyone to interact with, therefore we don’t really get to know him that well and know that he’s going to make it out of each area, simply because the film would end if he didn’t.  He does meet one local, but the old man talks with such a strong accent I actually had to put the subtitles on to understand him!

Seriously, if you were watching Dagon on DVD, you could skip a few chapters in the middle and you wouldn’t miss anything ‘story-wise,’ just a few creepy scenes here and there.  The atmosphere is one of the plus points.  The story is nicely creepy and the monsters are well done.  It’s just a pity not much happens for the majority of the movie.

The last act is a bit more dramatic and they’ve saved some of the best gore for last, but it’s too little too late to turn what could have elevated an okay film to a really classic one.  Bottom line, it’s okay, but because there’s so little story, I probably wouldn’t watch it again because I can remember everything about it.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights