1964 A Hammer Production
An ancient monster named Megaera (Prudence Hyman) is terrorizing the 
village of Vandorf and turning its citizens into stone. Will the truth of her identity be found out in time by Paul(Richard Paco) and Professor Meister(Christopher Lee) before anybody else falls victim to her vicious gaze?
This, in my opinion, falls into the list of the better horror films made by Hammer, with the only weak point being the fact that it is very obvious who Megaera is almost right from the start of the film. I’m not going to say who it is in this review as to not spoil the fun, but you should have no issues in guessing. The production is top notch, the score is unsettling and the screenplay itself is well written. Add the great direction of Terence Fisher to the mix and you have a very well done film.
The screenplay of The Gorgon, which is by John Gilling, is quite good with the only issue being that of how easy it is to identify Megaera. However, I really can’t see how he could have worked around that since he would have had to include a lot more female characters in order to keep it such a secret from the audience. Those characters wouldn’t have been as fleshed out or believable so don’t hold any of the aforementioned against him. There are
some things that I am quite curious about, such as how did Megaera get to the Germanic village of Vandorf, but that won’t bother you at all once you become enveloped into the story. Bloofer Lady is of the curious sort if you haven’t figured that out already. The ending is pretty tragic and not very happy, which I actually enjoy. Not every horror film should end on an up note, and this ending in particular wraps everything up pretty tightly; you don’t feel cheated in any way once you get to it. Gilling also wrote the screenplays for the Hammer films The Mummy’s Shroud and The Pirates Of Blood River among others.
Terence Fisher does a really brilliant job directing this, as he does with every Hammer film. Fisher uses almost no super tight shots in this entire film. Rather than use a lot of dramatic angles and shots he lets the drama of the story tell itself. One of the only tight shots in this movie is when Megaera stares into a certain character’s face; it makes the scene that much more horrific. If he would have used more shots like that I don’t feel that the 
movie would be as dramatic as it is. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when Professor Heitz (Michael Goodliffe) goes into the darkened and abandoned Castle Borski in search of a mysterious voice that he hears. The camera follows his journey though piles of dead leaves and shadows at a distance allowing us to take in what he does and feel the dread and atmosphere of the place that much better. I really feel that Fisher was one of the best horror directors to ever live. and is finally getting the recognition that he so deserved while he was still alive. He also directed Hammer’s Horror Of Dracula, The Mummy and The Curse Of Frankenstein among many others. In my opinion he sure as hell directed films more skillfully than a lot of the hacks who call themselves horror film directors these days.
The acting in this is very top notch. Peter Cushing is excellent as always as Dr. Namaroff; he puts his all into his role as a man who is trying to guard the identity of Megeara. Lee is very blustery as Professor Meister and I really enjoy seeing him in this because he uses his physical presence to intimidate the other characters into giving him what he wants. I mean the guy is tall, wouldn’t you let him have his way? Carla is played by Barbara Shelley in a
very innocent way, which is how she should be portrayed. If Carla was seductive or menacing then the character wouldn’t have worked at all. I love the fact that there are two different actresses actually playing Megeara. I think this idea works way better than if they put a ton of make-up on one actress to try to make her appear horrific. There are no sex kittens in this particular Hammer film so look elsewhere for the cleavage shots because you won’t find any here.
Bloofer lady really likes The Gorgon and thinks that you should seek it out and watch it. Not only is a great Hammer film it’s an example of the fact than an effective horror film does not need buckets of blood to work.
Bloofer Lady
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