After the sudden deaths of both his father and brother, Paul Heitz (Richard Pasco) travels to the rural village of Vandorf for some answers, but instead finds a community living in fear of something so terrible that the authorities prefer to hide the truth from the outside world. When Carla (Barbara Shelley), beautiful assistant to the mysterious and tight-lipped Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing), tells Paul of the local legend of Megaera the Gorgon, the snake-haired monster whose spirit is rumoured to haunt a nearby castle, he suspects that there might be some truth to the story and decides to investigate for himself...
The Gorgon, from Hammer director Terence Fisher, is inspired by the mythology of ancient Greece, and tells of a creature so hideous that to look at it can result in being turned to stone. It might seem fitting, therefore, that Fisher opts to tell his story with all the drama of a Greek tragedy, focusing on doomed romance, heroic suffering, and despair. However, with the emphasis on emotional interplay rather than solid scaresthe result of which is way too much talk instead of actionThe Gorgon ends up being an unexceptional affair despite some splendid cinematography, a couple of genuinely atmospheric scenes, and solid performances from its excellent cast (which also features Chistopher Lee as Paul's mentor, Professor Karl Meister, and Patrick Troughton wearing a very daft helmet).
In addition to the plodding (and rather predictable) script, The Gorgon is also guilty of muddling its mythology (Megaera was in fact the name of a Furie), and delivering one of Hammer's weakest monsters: the titular creaturefairly effective when partially hidden in the shadowsis hardly the stuff of nightmares when revealed in all of it's hideous glory thanks to the use of some particularly awful makeup and the laughable rubber snakes that move awkwardly on its head.
The Gorgon, from Hammer director Terence Fisher, is inspired by the mythology of ancient Greece, and tells of a creature so hideous that to look at it can result in being turned to stone. It might seem fitting, therefore, that Fisher opts to tell his story with all the drama of a Greek tragedy, focusing on doomed romance, heroic suffering, and despair. However, with the emphasis on emotional interplay rather than solid scaresthe result of which is way too much talk instead of actionThe Gorgon ends up being an unexceptional affair despite some splendid cinematography, a couple of genuinely atmospheric scenes, and solid performances from its excellent cast (which also features Chistopher Lee as Paul's mentor, Professor Karl Meister, and Patrick Troughton wearing a very daft helmet).
In addition to the plodding (and rather predictable) script, The Gorgon is also guilty of muddling its mythology (Megaera was in fact the name of a Furie), and delivering one of Hammer's weakest monsters: the titular creaturefairly effective when partially hidden in the shadowsis hardly the stuff of nightmares when revealed in all of it's hideous glory thanks to the use of some particularly awful makeup and the laughable rubber snakes that move awkwardly on its head.