A horror fantasy of the early 60's from British Hammer Productions, "the Gorgon" relies on the Company's top director and cast. One of the three Greek mythological Gorgons spirit overtakes the body of a woman in a small town in England in the early 20th century and petrified victims start to appear whenever there's a full moon.
Director Terence Fisher shows his undeniable skill for creating appropriate and sordid atmospheres in his horror films with a touch of Gothic in this one. The story -a complete fantasy- is also well handled by Fisher and sustains interest without major bumps all along.
Peter Cushing, Cristopher Lee and Barbara Shelley render their usual fine acting in roles with no secrets for them; there's also a good performance by the less known Patrick Troughton ("The Scars of Dracula", "The Omen") as the Chief of Police.
What somehow demerits the picture is its special effects and not because they are particularly bad, but because by the early 60's it was really difficult to make a convincing make up of a head with living snakes instead of hair (this would be an easy task for today's computers). Nonetheless and if you consider the time "The Gorgon" was released the special effects don't really hurt the film.
Clearly not in the same level of the best horror movies that Hammer gave us in the late 50's and early 60's (such little classics as "The Mummy", "Horror of Dracula" or "The Curse of Frankenstein"), "The Gorgon" stands as a most original product surely enjoyable for fans of the genre.
Director Terence Fisher shows his undeniable skill for creating appropriate and sordid atmospheres in his horror films with a touch of Gothic in this one. The story -a complete fantasy- is also well handled by Fisher and sustains interest without major bumps all along.
Peter Cushing, Cristopher Lee and Barbara Shelley render their usual fine acting in roles with no secrets for them; there's also a good performance by the less known Patrick Troughton ("The Scars of Dracula", "The Omen") as the Chief of Police.
What somehow demerits the picture is its special effects and not because they are particularly bad, but because by the early 60's it was really difficult to make a convincing make up of a head with living snakes instead of hair (this would be an easy task for today's computers). Nonetheless and if you consider the time "The Gorgon" was released the special effects don't really hurt the film.
Clearly not in the same level of the best horror movies that Hammer gave us in the late 50's and early 60's (such little classics as "The Mummy", "Horror of Dracula" or "The Curse of Frankenstein"), "The Gorgon" stands as a most original product surely enjoyable for fans of the genre.