The Gorgon | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Terence Fisher |
Produced by | Anthony Nelson Keys |
Written by | John Gilling |
Starring |
Peter Cushing Christopher Lee Richard Pasco Barbara Shelley Michael Goodliffe |
Music by | James Bernard |
Cinematography | Michael Reed |
Editing by |
Eric Boyd-Perkins James Needs |
Studio | Hammer Film Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date(s) | 1964 |
Running time | 83 min. |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Gorgon is a 1964 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer.
It stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley and Richard Pasco. The film was photographed by Michael Reed, and designed by Bernard Robinson. For the score James Bernard combined a soprano with a little-known electronic instrument called the Novachord. The film marks one of the few occasions when Hammer turned to Greek mythology for inspiration; this time it is the legend of the Gorgon that is respun for the Hammer audiences.
Plot[]
The year is 1910. In the rural German village of Vandorf, seven murders have been committed within the past five years, each victim having been petrified into a stone figure. Rather than investigate it, the local authorities dismiss the murders for fear of a local legend having come true. When a local girl becomes the latest victim and her suicidal lover made the scapegoat, the father of the condemned man decides to investigate and discovers that the cause of the petrifying deaths is a phantom. The very last of the snake-haired Gorgon sisters haunts the local castle and turns victims to stone during the full moon.
Cast[]
- Christopher Lee as Professor Karl Meister
- Peter Cushing as Dr. Namaroff
- Richard Pasco as Paul Heitz
- Barbara Shelley as Carla Hoffman
- Michael Goodliffe as Professor Jules Heitz
- Patrick Troughton as Inspector Kanof
- Joseph O'Conor as Coroner
- Prudence Hyman as The Gorgon
- Jack Watson as Ratoff
- Redmond Phillips as Hans
- Jeremy Longhurst as Bruno Heitz
- Toni Gilpin as Sascha Cass
- Joyce Hemson as Martha
- Alister Williamson as Janus Cass
- Michael Peake as Constable
Production[]
The Gorgon sisters of Greek legend were named Stheno, Eurayle, and Medusa. In the film, they are referred to as Persephone, Megara, and Medusa. One character theorizes the Gorgon on the loose to be Megara.
In other media[]
A novelization of the film was written by John Burke as part of his 1966 book The Hammer Horror Film Omnibus.
The film was adapted into a 10-page comic strip for the September 1977 issue of the magazine House of Hammer (volume 1, # 12, published by Top Sellers Limited). It was drawn by Alberto Cuyas from a script by Scott Goodall.
Home video release[]
In North America, the film was released on September 6, 2005 along with seven other Hammer horror films on the 4-DVD set The Hammer Horror Series (ASIN: B0009X770O), which is part of MCA-Universal's Franchise Collection.
External links[]
- The Gorgon at the Internet Movie Database
- The Gorgon at AllRovi
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