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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Dagon: Sect of the Sea" or "The Lost Island" opr "H.P. Lovecraft's Dagon")

 

Directed by Stuart Gordon
Spain 2001

 

A boating accident off the coast of Spain sends Paul and his girlfriend to the dilapidated village of Imboca looking for help. As night falls people start disappearing and things not quite human begin to appear. Paul finds himself pursued by the entire town. Whilst running for his life Paul uncovers Imobca's dark secret...the freakish half-human creatures that populate the town. They pray to Dagon monstrous God of the sea. All outsiders are sacrificed the men flayed alive and the women offered as unwilling brides to bear Dagon's unholy offspring.

***

The nightmares of Paul Marsh (Ezra Godden), a successful businessman, are haunted by a mermaid that neither he nor his beautiful girlfriend, Barbara (Raquel Merono), can figure out. While on a boating vacation off the Spanish shore, a sudden storm sends their sailboat crashing into the rocks, causing Paul and Barbara to paddle to the nearby fishing village for help. But the village is inhabited by a race of people who are half-human/half-fish, and the time has come for them to sacrifice humans to their monstrous leader, Dagon. Not only that, but Paul's nightmares become horrifying reality when he encounters beautiful and passionate Uxia (Macarena Gomez), the mermaid of his visions, and boy does she have a surprise for him besides the double tentacles under her skirt. ~ Buzz McClain. 

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: October 12th, 2001 (Sitges Film Festival)

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Umbrella - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

  

also available, on Blu-ray, from Lionsgate:

  

Distribution Umbrella - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:37:51.949      
Video

1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rays

Disc Size: 42,009,512,555 bytes

Feature: 31,837,799,616 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.75 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1509 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Umbrella

 

1.78:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rays

Disc Size: 42,009,512,555 bytes

Feature: 31,837,799,616 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.75 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• B-Roll/ Making of (4:16)

Interviews
 • Macarena Gomez (12:50)
 • Stuart Gordon (17:26)
 • Raquel Mareon (14:17)
 • Ezra Godden (20:15)
Interviews from the Set
 • Stuart Gordon (3:31)
 • Ezra Godden (2:35))

• Trailer (2:58) Teaser (2:04) / TV Spots (1:32)


 Blu-ray Release Date: August, 2018
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 13

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Umbrella have brought Stuart Gordon's extravagantly special effect-infused Dagon to 1080P. There appears to be three cuts of the film and this is the USA one - the longest. IMDb says it was shot in 35mm but it certainly looks like HD to me - anyway, the aspect ratio of the Blu-ray is 1.78:1. It can be both waxy in spots and incredibly crisp. It looks quite strong in-motion on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. There are plenty of fast-edit cuts to mask the creature appearances. Perhaps we will compare to the more expensive Lionsgate Blu-ray one day. 

Umbrella provide a DTS-HD Master 5,1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language - with some Spanish. The boat crash in the opening prefaces modest effects but the audio seems to match the visuals well enough with some sneaky separations here and there. Umbrella add optional English subtitles (for Spanish and English) on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

Extras have some filler with less than 5-minutes of B-Roll/ Making of..., there are some honest, casual, interviews with the cast and director - a few more from on-set, and a trailer, teaser plus three TV spots.

Dagon is a decently focused horror. I tend to like Stuart Gordon's unapologetic, visually extravagant genre films (Stuck, Castle Freak, The Pit and the Pendulum, Re-Animator, From Beyond). I always get a sense of cheesy 50's horror homage when I see his work. What I liked about Dagon was the suspense - I loved the 'demonic island' premise evoking Who Can Kill a Child?. It is imperfect but you always feel Gordon is getting the most out of his cast and budget. The Umbrella, Region FREE, Blu-ray has value to watch the film - many will get a kick out of this mystery-cum-horror-cum-fantasy. Recommended to those keen on the director's work or a basically-produced, occasionally shocking, horror.

Gary Tooze

 

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Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

  

also available, on Blu-ray, from Lionsgate:

  

Distribution Umbrella - Region FREE - Blu-ray




 

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