2009 SGM Month of Halloween Horror Movie for October 12

Dagon (2001)

Phobia: Ichthyophobia (Fear of fish)

Quote: “I think that these things were supposed to depict men—at least, a certain sort of men; though the creatures were shewn disporting like fishes in the waters of some marine grotto, or paying homage at some monolithic shrine which appeared to be under the waves as well. Of their faces and forms I dare not speak in detail; for the mere remembrance makes me grow faint. Grotesque beyond the imagination of a Poe or a Bulwer, they were damnably human in general outline despite webbed hands and feet, shockingly wide and flabby lips, glassy, bulging eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall. Curiously enough, they seemed to have been chiselled badly out of proportion with their scenic background; for one of the creatures was shewn in the act of killing a whale represented as but little larger than himself. I remarked, as I say, their grotesqueness and strange size; but in a moment decided that they were merely the imaginary gods of some primitive fishing or seafaring tribe; some tribe whose last descendant had perished eras before the first ancestor of the Piltdown or Neanderthal Man was born.” – A description of Dagon’s followers from H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dagon.”

Synopsis: Based on a short story by HP Lovecraft, the undisputed master of macabre... Paul and his girlfriend Barbara are celebrating the success of their new company on a yacht off the coast of Spain. When a sudden storm smashes their boat on a reef, Barbara and Paul swim to the nearest town for help. The decrepit fishing village of Imboca at first seems to be deserted, but unblinking eyes peer out from boarded-up houses. The strange inhabitants offer little help to the stranded couple. By nightfall, Barbara is missing and Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town... but a town of what?

Fear creeps in at 00:41:43: As if the horrifying townspeople of Imboca - with their greenish, sickly skin, their staring unblinking gazes, or their bizarre way of gulping breaths of air - weren't enough to give one pause, it's when the only "normal" (by comparison) resident, Exequiel, gives the twisted history of Imboca that the true gravity of the fate of the townspeople - more importantly, what they are turning into - is revealed.

See also: Piranha; Humanoids from the Deep; Creature of the Black Lagoon