Am I Missing Something?

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

A series of strange deaths plagues the forest beyond the German village of Vandorf: a siren's song in the night draws visitors closer to an ancient, dilapidated castle, where the who's-its residing there causes such great fear that its victims literally turn to stone. Not-bad Hammer horror has a solid production with rich color and a good cast, but the romantic complications between mysterious, possessive doctor Peter Cushing and assistant Barbara Shelley verge on soap opera. Christopher Lee also turns up as a university professor, but it's a colorless role used for story exposition (he fills us in, like a narrator). The visual effects attributed to the title creature were lambasted by the film's own cast and crew, but she doesn't look so bad, if you're not too demanding. ** from ****

I'm no Hammer Films maven by any means, so of the few I've seen I've generally been taken aback by the film makers' rather generous use of bold, bright colors. 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein" is a case in point. When I began watching this picture it seemed that perhaps I had been generalizing this idea too much, but then all of a sudden, right in the middle of Dr. Namaroff's lab was this big, bright red couch! What was that all about?Well here's a tale of the Gorgon, a mysterious and deadly creature, the sight of which can turn the unsuspecting viewer to stone. With seven such deaths in the village of Vandorf over the past five years, it was rather intriguing to me why the villagers weren't the least bit curious to figure out what might have been going on. When the judge declared the deaths of Bruno Heitz and his fiancée a murder and suicide, the factual evidence that her body turned to stone never even came up! It's too bad the film's most likable character turned out to be the person possessed by the spirit of Maguera the Gorgon. Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelley) was a genuinely sympathetic individual who didn't seem to have any idea that moon filled nights turned her into a monster. One would suspect that this would lead to a rocky relationship with the newly arrived brother Paul Heitz (Richard Pasco), who's idea of romance would soon be met with stony silence. By the time this movie was approaching it's finale, I found I couldn't help it with all manner of puns from intruding on my mind, so much so that a horrifying ending had to be taken for granite. Imagine my satisfaction when the Gorgon's final roll of the dice turned up snake eyes.

The Gorgon may not be a personal favourite from Hammer, but it is still a film well worth watching, and along with Curse of the Werewolf it's among Hammer's most under-appreciated.Admittedly, the story is absurd and occasionally could have been more eventful. The ending felt rushed and abrupt. And while the Gorgon was scary at first, by the end she did look rather cheaply made-up and more goofy and menacing. The snakes agreed did look fake, and the true identity of the Gorgon was made a bit too obviously too early.On the other hand, the Gorgon aside, The Gorgon is quite well-done visually, with splendidly Gothic sets, sumptuous period detail, shadowy and bold lighting and beautiful and atmospheric photography. Fisher, the most frequent of Hammer's directors and for me their best, directs with a fine sense of atmosphere and dread, some parts are incredibly suspenseful, while not forgetting to make things fun too. Hammer regular James Bernard provides a music score that's jaunty but also booming with hauntingly thrilling effect, a highly effective score that fits with the mood like a glove.The script is poetic and thought-provoking, with a number of funny and menacing lines from Meister that don't feel out of place (Meister's line about using long words and his answer to Heitz's 'I've been ill' did get a good laugh). It also didn't feel too talky, like some Hammer films can do, and the suspense level is never dropped too much. As silly and absurd the story can be, it very rarely harms the atmosphere which is tense and unnerving and didn't feel too predictable. While the characters are not the most well-developed, they are ones that are not too hard to care for.It is because of the great performances from a talented cast that play a large part of as to why that is. Peter Cushing's dignity and restraint was very much appreciated and Christopher Lee performs with terrific gusto, and relishes his dialogue. Richard Pasco has fun too, Prudence Hyman horrifies as the Gorgon and Barbara Shelley has got to be Hammer's best ever femme fatale. Patrick Troughton, more than just a cameo this time, is great as well.All in all, The Gorgon is not flawless but it's a good film with a lot of merits, and has to be one of Hammer's most under-appreciated. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This may not be one of their best offerings, but it's still solid and enjoyable genre storytelling done in the typically colourful, atmospheric Hammer style. Of course, any film of this sort that stars both Sir Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing is automatically worthy of some interest. It's also fun to see any film featuring the Gorgon character from Greek mythology. As directed by Hammer stalwart Terence Fisher, this doesn't really work as a mystery but all of the expected trappings do make this easy enough to watch. Perhaps the greatest asset to the tale is the overwhelming sense of tragedy to all of it.The setting is the European village of Vandorf in the early 20th century. The Gorgon Megaera has supposedly taken up residence in a nearby castle, and people periodically turn up dead, turned to stone as we are told was the fate of any person who looked a Gorgon in the face. Headstrong Paul Heitz (Richard Pasco) learns of the bad ends that befell his brother and father, and determines to solve the mystery; he is eventually joined by his colleague Professor Karl Meister (Lee). They believe that the cagey Dr. Namaroff (Cushing) holds the key to all of it.It's a treat to see the usually heroic Cushing play a much more dubious character than usual, and to see the often villainous Sir Christopher in a good guy part. They don't share any screen time until 71 minutes into the film, but the resulting scene is riveting as they square off. The other performances are all excellent: Pasco as Paul, who falls in love with Carla (Barbara Shelly), the gorgeous assistant to Namaroff, Michael Goodliffe as Pauls' father, Patrick Troughton as the officious Inspector Kanof, and Jack Watson as thuggish orderly Ratoff. Prudence Hyman dons the makeup as the monstrous form of the Gorgon, whose visage may come as a disappointment to some viewers.Technically well made overall, with a great score by frequent Hammer composer James Bernard, "The Gorgon" does have protagonists worth rooting for, and a fairly formidable monster.Seven out of 10.