The Gorgon (1964)

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

J. Llewellyn Devine (story)
John Gilling (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 February 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

A Monster With the Power to Turn Living Screaming Flesh Into Stone!

Plot:

In early-twentieth-century middle-Europe, villagers are literally becoming petrified. Although the authorities...

Plot Keywords:

Stone | Turned To Stone | Legend | Medusa | Death Of Fiancé

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Prof. Karl Meister
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Namaroff
Richard Pasco	...	Paul Heitz
Barbara Shelley	...	Carla Hoffman
Michael Goodliffe	...	Professor Jules Heitz
Patrick Troughton	...	Inspector Kanof
Joseph O'Conor	...	Coroner
Prudence Hyman	...	The Gorgon
Jack Watson	...	Ratoff
Redmond Phillips	...	Hans, the valet
Jeremy Longhurst	...	Bruno Heitz
Toni Gilpin	...	Sascha Cass
Joyce Hemson	...	Martha, the mad woman
Alister Williamson	...	Janus Cass
Michael Peake	...	Constable

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 | Finland:K-16 | Spain:T | USA:Unrated | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

Prudence Hyman was nearly decapitated for real. She was supposed to duck when Lee swung the sword but forgot to do so at the critical moment. The assistant director pushed her aside just in time. The scene was then redone with a dummy.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the climactic scene in the castle, during the fight between Namarof and Heitz, Namarof tries to secure his balance by holding on to an iron candlestick which bends, revealing itself to be made out of rubber.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Perfect Scary Movie (2005) (TV)

Not A Great Hammer Horror . A Bit Of A Failure Really

I can see what the producers were trying . They were trying to make a film that had a brooding atmosphere that terrified the audience rather than having a film which scared the audience via gore . Hammer Studios would perfect this type of atmospheric film with THE REPTILE in 1966 . Here unfortunately they fail

A man walks into a dark courtyard . He hears something , he turns and sees ... and sees ... and sees something so terrible that he can't even find the instinct to scream . Must be a very scary monster right ? Well it would be if your idea of a scary monster is a woman wearing a wig that has snakes in it but I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who'd find this the least bit scary . In fact I think most people would burst out laughing if they were attacked by this mythical monster . The premise of the film is good enough but whenever the title creature appears the film suddenly takes a dive and you find yourself asking why on earth didn't the director and make up artistes put more of an effort into the Gorgon itself ?

There is another problem and that is who is the Gorgon ? For much of the running time the audience are supposed to be on tenter hooks wondering whose body the Gorgon takes in human form . Unfortunately it's obvious from the start who it is which means the big shock revelation isn't really any kind of revelation never mind a shock big or otherwise . It's also obvious who is THE REPTILE but in that film I was still entertained probably because THE REPTILE succeeded in creating a brooding atmosphere , one that is lacking in this film and because of this THE GORGON should be classed as a failure