1964 and with not a toga in sight Hammer plucked The Gorgon from Greek myth and handed her to veteran director
Terence Fisher who had a penchant for the classic monsters - '
Dracula', '
The Curse of Frankenstein', '
The Mummy', '
The Curse of the Werewolf'. In Fisher's vision the creature, named 'Megaera' (actually the name of one of the
Erinyes or Furies), has long haunted the woods and ruined castle of the German town of Vandorf and has been responsible - most recently - for seven deaths over the previous five years that are being hidden behind scapegoats and excuses from the world at large. It takes the father (
Michael Goodliffe) and brother (
Richard Pasco) of one of those scapegoats along with a handy Professor of Folklore (
Christopher Lee) to finally bring the town's curse to an end.
With a stately pace and some great set design and music Fisher's movie - one of his personal favourites - is classic gothic Hammer and with a cast that alongside Lee includes Hammer legends Peter Cushing & Barbara Shelley along with Patrick Troughton (two years away from being cast as The Doctor) and Jack Watson you know you're in for a treat.
Buy it here - UK / US.
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such a fun film. i especially enjoy the dramatic technique whereby a location holds a known danger (in this case the gorgon) and yet the characters always seem to find themselves at that place over and over again in the middle of the night. :)
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