When both his brother and his father die mysteriously in the remote village of Vandorf, Paul Heitz is determined to find out what fate befell them. But there is a conspiracy of silence and his only friend is the beautiful Carla, who may also be keeping secrets ...
This is quite a nice idea; Megaera, a Gorgon, pops up in 1910 in Germany and gets up to the old turning-people-to-stone shenanigans. Combine that with an amnesia patient case and the reliable we-don't-like-strangers-in-our-village rustic schtick and you have a neat little horror mystery. As often in Hammer films the best aspects are the trappings (great sets by Bernard Robinson, which the camera drifts languidly around) and of course the cast. Shelley is an unusual Hammer femme fatale with her auburn hair and tall figure, but she's excellent in the pivotal role (check her out also in Village Of The Damned and Quatermass And The Pit). Troughton steals his scenes in the Pickelhaube-wearing prefect of police part, Cushing is wonderful as always, and this must be the only Hammer flick where Lee is the only one left alive at the end ! For mythology purists, Medusa did have two sisters (called Euryale and Stheno), but unlike her they were immortal and their gaze did not petrify people. Megaera is one of the Erinyes/Furies (the other two being Alecto and Tisiphone), deities who represent revenge and punishment of sin.
This is quite a nice idea; Megaera, a Gorgon, pops up in 1910 in Germany and gets up to the old turning-people-to-stone shenanigans. Combine that with an amnesia patient case and the reliable we-don't-like-strangers-in-our-village rustic schtick and you have a neat little horror mystery. As often in Hammer films the best aspects are the trappings (great sets by Bernard Robinson, which the camera drifts languidly around) and of course the cast. Shelley is an unusual Hammer femme fatale with her auburn hair and tall figure, but she's excellent in the pivotal role (check her out also in Village Of The Damned and Quatermass And The Pit). Troughton steals his scenes in the Pickelhaube-wearing prefect of police part, Cushing is wonderful as always, and this must be the only Hammer flick where Lee is the only one left alive at the end ! For mythology purists, Medusa did have two sisters (called Euryale and Stheno), but unlike her they were immortal and their gaze did not petrify people. Megaera is one of the Erinyes/Furies (the other two being Alecto and Tisiphone), deities who represent revenge and punishment of sin.