The Gorgon (1964)

In Greek mythology a Gorgon was a terrible female creature with snakes for hair and a visage so horrible that to gaze upon it would cause a man (or women) to turn to stone. Medusa of course is the most famous Gorgon, but she had a sister named Megara who according to legend, or at least according to legend in this movie, may have made it as far north as Germany. That it so happens is where this movie is set, rural Germany circa 1910. Over the past five years the village of Vandorf has been the site of a series of bizarre deaths, all occurring during a full moon, in which the deceased is discovered having turned to stone. When his son Bruno is found to have hung himself after his reputed murder of a young women, Professor Jules Heitz (Michael Goodliffe) travels to Vandorf (from Berlin?) in an attempt to clear his child's name. Prof. Heitz finds the populace there highly uncooperative, terrified to even speak the truth about the bizarre goings on.

Against the wishes of the locals, especially the head of the local hospital Dr. Nameroff (Peter Cushing), Prof. Heitz stays on after the inquest to investigate. One night Prof. Heitz encounters the Gorgan, fortunately its petrifying effects are not instant, so he is able to dash off an explanatory letter to his other son Paul (Richard Pasco) before turning to stone. Paul travels to Vandorf, attempts to learn the truth about the deaths of his father and brother, and catches the eye of Dr. Hameroff's fetching young assistant Carla (Barbara Shelley). Paul and Carla fall in love, she begs him to take her and flee the village at once, but he insists on staying on until he has solved the mystery, he even induces his colleague Prof. Meister (Christopher Lee) to come and help with the investigation. And if you don't pick up early on that the attractive red-headed Carla is inextricably linked to the the Gorgon then you've not a very astute movie watcher. The explanation of course is silly, Carla is possessed by the spirit of Megara and on the full moon is transformed into her, only she of course can't remember any of this, and love struck Dr. Nameroff is at the head of a hospital wide conspiracy to keep this truth from her.

This movie has been billed as the first re-teaming of Cushing and Lee since there previous Hammer movie The Mummy, but they are both really secondary characters to Paul, Carla, and Professor Heitz. In fact aside from one brief cameo appearance about half way through the film Lee isn't really part of this movie until the last third, though in the end he is the hero, kinda, as none of our primarily leads remain alive. Not nearly as good as there earlier Hammer efforts, kudus for trying something different though. **