THE GORGON (1965) ** ½
Medusa’s sister is roaming through the woods at night and turning her victims into stone with a mere glance. Peter Cushing is a doctor who works in a nut house and looks after his assistant (Barbara Shelley from Cat Girl), who acts more like a patient than nurse. When her boyfriend (Richard Pasco) almost gets killed by the monster, he calls upon his professor (Christopher Lee) to help him destroy the creature. They soon learn that when the moon is full, Carla turns into the snake-haired monster.
The plot is semi-interesting as it’s sort of a female-centric twist on the werewolf legend with less hair and more scales. Terence Fisher directs the film with his usual flair. He gives the castles, forests, and courtyards an appropriate sense of atmosphere and stages the monster sequences well enough.
After a cool opening scene, the movie bogs down and becomes a bit plodding. While the gorgon attacks have a kick, they are sad to say, few and far between. The rest of the film is rather pedestrian and lacks the thrills of the best Hammer pictures. The finale is quite rousing, but it feels like it took a long time coming.
Although top-billed, Lee doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time and doesn’t share any scenes with Cushing until the film is almost over. That’s somewhat forgivable though because both men give strong performances. Lee is particularly fun as the blustery professor. It all adds up to an uneven outing for the two legends of horror cinema, but it does just enough things right that I think indiscriminate Hammer fans will be pleased.
The next Horror-Ween movie will be: Ouija: Origin of Evil!