Dagon

A San Francisco police detective is called to investigate the discovery of a dead body washed up on the dock. It is unclear if this is the victim of a crime, so the incident must be investigated. The search for an identity leads the Detective among World War I veterans, where his own forgotten past gradually begins to resonate. The detective manages to track down the dead man's abode where the suspect is hiding. The detective finds the dead man's diaries. The diaries reveal a forgotten past not only of the dead man, but also of the Detective. He was a company commander in World War I, where the dead man served with his brother. Because of the Detective's ambition, many soldiers died needlessly, including the dead man's brother. A crowd of dead soldiers whose deaths he caused suddenly enter the room. There is a reckoning with conscience. The Detective no longer belongs in the world of the living, his place is in the trenches alongside the comrades he once sacrificed.

Director’s statement
At the beginning was the short story Dagon by Howard Phillips Lovecraft, which interested me as a creator in several aspects. It was a first novel by the now famous writer, which in a few pages foreshadowed his entire future work. It is particularly famous for the fear of the unknown, the fear of something beyond human comprehension. Lovecraft, as a keen observer of his contemporary world, was inspired by this phenomenon when he began to write about abstract horrors beyond the grasp of the human senses. This "undercurrent" led me to a synthesis – a kind of intersection of Lovecraft and Remarque. A tale of war where the mysterious demonic supernatural serves as a metaphor for the unspeakable hardships of war. But the peaceful microcosm of the Detective's surroundings is challenged by himself, because he, as a witness to war, can never be like the others. He is an invisible victim of war, even though he survived. He becomes a monster even though he is also a victim.