The Gorgons, in Greek mythology, were commonly women with live snakes in their hair and who could turn a man to stone just by looking at him! The same is true today, except for the snakes part. Medusa is the best known of the Gorgons, but in 1964's Hammer Films classic The Gorgon, Megaera is the titular fiend – even though there was a Fury, and not Gorgon, by that name in mythology.
The film takes place at the turn of the 20th century in small town in an unnamed European country. A young man has been found hanged, his pregnant lover turned to stone. The coroner declares the young man to be the murderer of the woman. The man's father investigates and stumbles across Megaera in an abandoned castle during a full moon. He, too, is turned to stone and perishes, but not before leaving a note for his other son, who investigates even further.
The great Peter Cushing plays the coroner, Dr. Namaroff (backward it reads F for a man – how's that for trivia?). Namaroff insists there's no Gorgon, that everyone's death is quite explainable, and so on. He has a lovely assistant, as was the style back in the day, Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelley), who's sympathetic toward son #2, Paul (Richard Pasco). It seems that everyone in the village knows of the legend of Megaera, and Paul ascertains that she's seen only during a full moon.
After a couple of encounters with Megaera, Paul finds assistance from his own supervisor, a Prof. Karl Meister (Christopher Lee). As you might expect, Lee commands the screen and gives the movie a huge jolt of adrenaline when he finally shows up. Lee and Cushing appeared in many, many horror movies together, but they don't appear in the same scene face to face until the movie's about 80% over. Still, this would have been real junk had they not lent their talents.
The big quibble is with the Gorgon herself. Heavy makeup was applied to the actress, and the first several times we see the Gorgon, she does look mighty scary (often in shadows), but when the denouement arrives, her Gorgon head looks terrible, like a dummy made out of plexiglass and bitterness. The Gorgon has everything except a Gorgon, really.
The film takes place at the turn of the 20th century in small town in an unnamed European country. A young man has been found hanged, his pregnant lover turned to stone. The coroner declares the young man to be the murderer of the woman. The man's father investigates and stumbles across Megaera in an abandoned castle during a full moon. He, too, is turned to stone and perishes, but not before leaving a note for his other son, who investigates even further.
The great Peter Cushing plays the coroner, Dr. Namaroff (backward it reads F for a man – how's that for trivia?). Namaroff insists there's no Gorgon, that everyone's death is quite explainable, and so on. He has a lovely assistant, as was the style back in the day, Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelley), who's sympathetic toward son #2, Paul (Richard Pasco). It seems that everyone in the village knows of the legend of Megaera, and Paul ascertains that she's seen only during a full moon.
After a couple of encounters with Megaera, Paul finds assistance from his own supervisor, a Prof. Karl Meister (Christopher Lee). As you might expect, Lee commands the screen and gives the movie a huge jolt of adrenaline when he finally shows up. Lee and Cushing appeared in many, many horror movies together, but they don't appear in the same scene face to face until the movie's about 80% over. Still, this would have been real junk had they not lent their talents.
The big quibble is with the Gorgon herself. Heavy makeup was applied to the actress, and the first several times we see the Gorgon, she does look mighty scary (often in shadows), but when the denouement arrives, her Gorgon head looks terrible, like a dummy made out of plexiglass and bitterness. The Gorgon has everything except a Gorgon, really.