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“Doctor, you’ll perform an autopsy!” “On a body that’s turned to stone?” Wait a minute! Isn’t that a Joe Walsh song? Join this episode’s Grue Crew – Whitney Collazo, Joseph Perry, and Jeff Mohr – as they struggle to avert their eyes from the horrors of The Gorgon (1964).
Decades of Horror: The Classic Era
Episode 61 – The Gorgon (1964)
In the early twentieth century, a Gorgon takes human form and terrorizes a small European village by turning its citizens to stone.
IMDb
- Director: Terence Fisher
- Writers: John Gilling (screenplay by), J. Llewellyn Devine (based on an original story by)
- Featured Cast:
- Christopher Lee as Professor Karl Meister
- Peter Cushing as Dr. Namaroff
- Richard Pasco as Paul Heitz
- Barbara Shelley as Carla Hoffman/Megaera
- Michael Goodliffe as Professor Jules Heitz
- Patrick Troughton as Inspector Kanof
- Joseph O’Conor as The Coroner
- Prudence Hyman as The Gorgon
Although The Gorgon is infamous for its startlingly bad version of a Medusa-like head full of snakes, the Grue-Crew found plenty to like. The film scores first with Terence Fisher as director and again with a Hammer hat-trick in its three stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Shelley. Whitney points out how ineffective Peter Cushing’s character is at controlling and manipulating the women in his life and how forceful and strong Barbara Shelley is as the lead female character. Joseph loves the almost swashbuckling fight between Peter Cushing’s and Richard Pasco’s characters. Jeff agrees and identifies the strength of the opening scenes as what drew him into The Gorgon.
Your Grue-Crew think this might have been a top-notch Hammer Film if not for the poor snake effects on the title character’s head. As is, The Gorgon, though maybe not a must-see film, is most definitely a film you should see.
If you’re a Hammer Horror fan, you might want to check out our episodes on The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Nightmare (1964). The Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Grue Crew plan to release a new episode every other week. The next episode in our very flexible schedule will be Batman: The Movie (1966)! Yes, you read that right!
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To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!”
