I’ve been watching Lovecraft inspired movies lately. Just last week, I watched Cthulhu, a retelling of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and thoroughly enjoyed it. This week I’m going to see Dagon, another retelling of “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” but mixed with the short story “Dagon.” It has been a long time since I’ve read “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” and the movie Cthulhu had some interesting plot points that I didn’t remember. So, over the weekend, I reread the story.The story is amazing, likely the best of Lovecraft’s stories. The story begins with a young man on summer break from college. He is traveling the east coast seeking out the architectural wonders of the area as well as trying to uncover some of his family’s obscured genealogical past. His research and adventuring takes him to Newburyport where he hears local rumors about a forgotten town that the railroad purposefully choose to circumvent while laying track. The only way into or out of town is to take a buss, more van than buss really, that arrives and departs twice daily.
Being a curious and adventuring young lad, he makes inquires about Innsmouth and hear some remarkable things, including the extreme labors of the locals to ensure that they remain secluded from the rest of the great state of Main and humanity. The locals only venture out of Innsmouth to sell their catches of fish and crab. Nothing that our young adventurer hears can dissuade him from taking the bus, but being prudent does wait until the next day not wanting to lodge over night such a place.
While in the town of Innsmouth, he notices that the people seem dispossessed and strange. They are grayish in color, have flat-ish heads, thick lips on mouths that seem too wide, large unblinking watery eyes, and some posses deep painful looking striations along the sides of their necks. The people of Innsmouth are grotesque in appearance and of sent, a chocking, pungent aroma of decaying fish.
Nearing the end of what should have been a quick trip to view the Innsmouth architecture, our narrator spots Zadok Allen, a person of great historical interest who might have some insight into what has transpired in this shadowed town. Bribed with a bottle of bootleg whisky, Zadok’s memory of events best forgotten are opened. These memories surround Devil’s Reef, just off the coast. There strange and horrible things transpired (which you will have to read the story to find out).
After Zadok is finished with his tale of mythological horror, it is too late to leave Innsmouth. Our narrator must lodge at the local hotel, a run down place, where he had to manually replace the lock on his door. Not long after he had taken to the bed, still fully dressed, he hears someone working the lock on his door, trying to force their way in. A bizarre room to room chase ensues (which is one of the best parts of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth video game, which is also based on both “Dagon” and “The Shadow over Innsmouth”) that sees him out the window and running for his life.
The best part of the story, besides the section with Zadok, is the very end. Our narrator is inspecting more genealogical information about his family. He discovers that … Sorry, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Read it.
The last thing that I want to mention is that it seems the movie interpretations of “The Shadow over Innsmouth” could do better to stick to ordinal story. There is plenty for any director and script writer to work with. However, both seem intent on telling a different story, the story of our narrator’s grandfather’s disappearance, which receives minimal reference. In my opinion, there is still room for a true-to-the-story movie version of “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” I have high hopes for Dagon this week. I hope it does not disappoint.
Read it here: The Shadow Over Innsmouth
Lovecraft, H. P., “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre. New York: Del Rey, 1982. p. 246 – 295
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