This is kind of a goofy one for Hammer studios because it deals with a monster from Greek mythology coming back from the dead and possessing a woman, oh and then turning people into stone and killing them. No, not Medusa, but her sister Maguera, the lesser known of the three Gorgon sisters(in actual Greek mythology the 3 gorgon sisters were Euryale, Stheno and Medusa, so I'm not sure where they got this name from but it is slightly easier to pronounce. Maybe they borrowed it from that giant Japanese robot in THE MYSTERIANS). As usual Hammer makes everything look great(except those very fake-looking snakes in Maguera's hair) and you get to see Christopher Lee in a rare heroic role. Also since the Gorgon only appears during a full moon it all plays like a weird female version of a werewolf tale which is cool.
I love this movie, simply because the backstory of Maguera is literally all over the place. Is she a Gorgon, a werewolf, a ghost, an insane woman? It's a hodgepodge, and yet it somehow works. Is it Cushing, Lee, Pasco and the lovely Shelley that makes it work?
ReplyDeleteIt definitely helps that everyone in the movie does a great job! But yeah they don't explain much of anything as far as the monster goes.
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