THE GORGON is one of the second-tier Hammer Horror offerings made during the 1960s. It's not one of their classic films but fans of the studio will probably be pleased regardless by the heady Gothic atmosphere which pervades the whole production. It's also the last time that the studio's most famous stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing teamed up with arguably the studio's best director, Terence Fisher, who of course was responsible for their 1950s classics like THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. This one's again set in an unspecified European country, where mysterious deaths have been plaguing the local countryside leaving the victims literally petrified.
There's not much mystery served up in the story here, because what's going on is pretty obvious at the outset. In addition, the pacing is quite slow so there's some twiddling of the thumbs involved. However, watching a good cast going through the motions is always a pleasure, so you can overlook these shortcomings and the dodginess of the heavily dated special effects to boot. Cushing relishes his subdued, almost sad, part, Lee is always great fun as the hero for a change (possibly a warm up for THE DEVIL RIDES OUT), and others like Michael Goodliffe, Richard Pasco, and Patrick Troughton shine.
There's not much mystery served up in the story here, because what's going on is pretty obvious at the outset. In addition, the pacing is quite slow so there's some twiddling of the thumbs involved. However, watching a good cast going through the motions is always a pleasure, so you can overlook these shortcomings and the dodginess of the heavily dated special effects to boot. Cushing relishes his subdued, almost sad, part, Lee is always great fun as the hero for a change (possibly a warm up for THE DEVIL RIDES OUT), and others like Michael Goodliffe, Richard Pasco, and Patrick Troughton shine.