A man, his girlfriend and their two wealthy friends get caught in a storm off the coast of Spain. The man is forced to go to shore to seek help, but stumbles across a town with a legacy both dark and treacherous.
As I've said before, Stuart Gordon is the undisputed master of H. P. Lovecraft adaptations, this one coming from the short story "Dagon" and one other tale (to flesh it out). He captures the imagery perfectly -- the storms, the fear of the water, the importance of an arcane faith (without making it cheesy) and of course the tentacles.
The acting is quite good, especially from the star (who was also the star of "Dreams in the Witch House")... Ezra Godden, I believe his name is (forgive me if I'm wrong). He plays a much nerdier character than in "Dreams", so much so that I might not have even noticed it was the same actor. The other characters are also good. All of them. The bum, the girlfriend, the townsfolk... I have no complaints.
The scenery was very drab, and I mean that in a good way. It was a dirty, isolated town that really portrayed the feeling of helplessness. I read in another review that Gordon moved the story from New England to Spain to capture this feeling, as modern America really has no such place left. Spain seemed natural, and fit the theme perfectly. Besides, an ancient cult does tend to have more of a "European" rather than "American" flavor to it (unlike witches, which are right at home in America).
I really have to protest about the CGI in this film, though. Some scenes use amateur computer graphics, which come across looking cartoonish. This upsets me any time I see it in a film, but even more so with Stuart Gordon. I have seen what he can do with old fashioned makeup and special effects. I've been impressed. Why has he resorted to this technique? While I would say this is the least of the Gordon-Lovecraft films I've seen, it's still a fine job. It's probably the only film you'll ever watch where you find a fish attractive. Well, besides "The Little Mermaid", of course. Ariel's pretty dang sexy.
