The Gorgon

The Gorgon
Directed by: Terrence Fisher
UK, 1964
Horror/Mystery/Fantasy, 83min

I can’t really understand genre fans that don’t like Hammer films! How can you not like Hammer films? For years I’ve been fucking annoyed that watchers of genre cinema all seem to be so polarized, they either only want the gore, the violence, the nihilistic carnage, or even worse, the ones that draw a line with The Exorcist, Jaws and Alien and determine that everything beneath them is automatically unwatchable trash.

Well obviously these people are not really fans of genre cinema. Let's just say that they like a few quick scares, and keep Hollywood in business. Fans of genre cinema take it all in, and leave no rock unturned in their search for the next thrill. The audience above are joined by the fact that they completely ignore the fluff… whilst supposedly claiming to like genre cinema. Well, the fluff is really what makes it all worthwhile. It’s the stuff that keeps the really good from the really bad. It's within the realm of the fluff where the important movies really are found. Such as the Hammer films. Looking at them historically the Hammer movies where the first gore films. Yeah, screw Hershell Gordon Lewis, screw the Japanese Chanbara flicks, Terrence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein 1957 is the first splatter flicks. When Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein shoots Christopher Lee’s creature in the head with a shotgun and Lee holds his hand up to his face as the blood pours out of the concealed hole in his head, it was deliberate. When Lee’s eyes turn red and the blood seeps from the side of his mouth in The Horror of Dracula 1958, Fisher with makeup artists Phil Leakey and Sydney Pearson knew exactly what they where doing and knew that they where pushing the limits of things… and they created a complete new horror ingredient that people had never seen before, which in it’s own turn made Hammer Studios the minor success story that it was to become.

Terrence Fisher also helmed 1964’s The Gorgon based on a script by screenwriter/director John Gilling – who would later also direct some of the better later movies for Hammer, such as The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile both 1966, and ended up directing the Paul Naschy penned La cruz del Diablo (Cross of the Devil) for Naschy in 1975.

Let’s set up The Gorgon – Something is luring in the dark of Castle Borski just outside of Vandorf. Seven unexplained murders in five years have Inspector Kanof [Second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton] a frustrated man. When young woman, Sacha Cass [Toni Gilpin], goes missing and shortly after, her bohemian boyfriend, Bruno Heitz [Jeremy Longhurst], is found hung from a tree. It all looks like a closed case, and the town Judge rules it all as a murder followed by suicide. Nobody but Bruno’s father Professor Heitz objects and points out that Cass body was actually turned to stone… the town of Vandorf obviously want’s to keep something a secret, and he will not leave until he’s unveiled the mystery and cleared his son’s name. Doctor Namaroff [Peter Cushing] and his assistant Carla Hoffman [Barbara Shelley] run the village mental institute and all seems fine, until Professor Heitz second son, Paul [Richard Pasco] arrives with the same ambition to solve the curse of Vandorf. Carla and Paul take a liking to each other, and plan to take off as soon as Paul has figured out what goes on at Castle Borski, which obviously set’s up an interesting little triangle drama between Paul, Carla and Doctor Namaroff. Towards the final act, Paul’s mentor, Professor Karl Meister [Christopher Lee] also comes to the small village and together with Paul they aim to put an end to the rumors that, Magaera [Prudence Hyman, in one of her few onscreen credited parts in a Hammer flick] – one of two lesser know sisters to the legendary Medusa - resides in the woods of Vandorf.

It’s obvious that Gilling has a passion for detective stories – he wrote several crime/detective screenplays, and directed loads of super detective shows, like The Saint, The Champions and Department S. This is seen in the way he constructs the script to The Gorgon, as the movie primarily is a horror movie with an investigation plot. Gradually the audience know what is going on – the gorgon, and the subplots – and with a Hitchcock-ian structure, Gilling and Fisher lead us down a path that is more detective story than horror.

Red herrings are laid out for us to stumble on such as the Martha [Joyce Hemson] character who we blatantly are lead to believe is the Gorgon, and there’s very driven dialogue to make us pose further questions such as when Carla with panic in her voice says to Dr. Namaroff that “She has come back!” Everyone seems to have something to hide, facts they dare not proclaim, truths not yet spoken, which obviously propels the narrative forth.

Obviously the horror comes through the loan of a legendary icon, the Gorgon, Medusa or Mageara as she’s called here, and the heavy gothic vibe that seeps though the movie. Hammer movies are at their best when they ooze of EuroGoth created through the wonderful set design of Bernard Robinson, those great matte painting landscapes, and James Bernard’s magnificent scores – of which The Gorgon holds one of the darkest he composed for Hammer.

The motif of death is very dominant in The Gorgon and despite using a legendary tale we all know by heart – stare in her eyes, turn to stone – they put a spin on it, where characters don’t turn to stone in the flash of an eye as in the old Harryhausen flicks, but more of a sadistic torment as they slowly turn into stone statues. One character even writes a letter home, telling of the pain and despair he feels in that very moment. That’s kind of heavy, even for a Hammer movie. Also they bring a familiar spin to the story when it becomes apparent that the second night of the full moon is when the attacks occur, something we all know from Werewolf folklore.

Building tension and then gradually releasing it is what Hammer movies are all about. God knows they made their fair share of movies that did nothing but build only to present a semi-shocking reveal at the end. This is also true with The Gordon. The initial attack if you will shows us the exact path that Sasha Cass takes, the religious nook by the roadside, the full moon, and the looming structure of Castle Borski. These elements all become referents later on as Professor Heitz walks the same path, it’s not rocket science and we know he’s walking right into danger. Returning imagery, locations and motifs are all important tools for building anticipation as the next time we see them we are aware of the threat they pose.

Characters are kind of stiff and restrained throughout The Gorgon. There’s no real arcs with evolving characters here, and there’s nor really anyone to feel for to start with. Secrets are kept, science argues against fantasy and every one – especially Dr. Namaroff act as skeptics when it all comes around. So there’s a use of something called the contrast frame at work here, where even the men of science deny to acknowledge the Gorgon – which the audience by the way, knows exists – it becomes logic that we tend to empathize with Paul and Carla. They are after all the only characters to stand up for there beliefs, and even though we as an audience are miles ahead of them both, we tend to favor them.

Although one must not forget the many subplots that are irking their way in, of which the Paul – Carla one is the strongest. There’s also the whole protection racket that comes with Dr. Namaroff. It’s almost eerie the way Cushing sluggishly floats around, stopping here and there for a pose to show us that he’s lost in thought, because despite being the skeptic of the piece, he knows what’s going on… Or at least, has an idea, which is why he becomes a human shield for Carla. He won’t let anyone near her, and does his best to protect her. But he’s so overprotective of Carla that it becomes painfully obvious why she falls for Paul, as he offers her the freedom she looks for. Away from corridors of Dr. Namaroff’s institute, away from Vandorf. Ironically it’s merely a metaphorical freedom and her real freedom comes in a completely different form during the final moments of the movie courtesy of scarcely used Christopher Lee’s Prof. Karl Meister.

The Gorgon, is still one of those Hammer movies that sums up all that was great about Hammer horror, the atmosphere, the somewhat stiff stage performances of the cast, lurking death, gothic horror and, for the time period, acceptable special effects. Perhaps not as impressive as his work on The Horror of Dracula, you still have to give Sydney Pearson credit for the Medusa and her head of snakes. It get’s the job done, the turning to stone transformations, although primarily only make up, work and the final decapitation scene is still something of a classic Hammer moment. When it all comes around, the movie may be a tad on the slow side, but then again that’s what draws me into the world of Hammer. The slow meditative approach, the modest scares and the clean cut closure, which almost all Hammer movies end with. There’s never any lingering around for no reason at all in the world of Hammer. Kill the monster, cue the end credits, let’s all get up off the couch, and sod off to bed.

The Curse of Frankenstein

The Curse of Frankenstein
Directed by: Terrence Fisher
UK, 1957
Horror, 82min
Distributed by: Sandrews Metronome/Warner Bros.

It’s close to midnight, the kids are asleep, the wife has just gone too bed. Perfect time for a relaxing stretch out on the settee with a cup of tea and a top notch Hammer film that I know will within the span of ninety minutes have me happily drifting in and out of sleep as the plot squirms forth on the TV screen. As Wallace and Gromit love their cheese, I love me a Hammer film every now and again. I always have, I always will, as they are an important part of my fascination for the horror genre, and where one of the definitive starting points in my life long passion for low budget movies.

But the 1957 classic The Curse of Frankenstein, a film I’ve been returning to over and over a gain ever now and then since seeing it on the telly as a kid, still fascinates me in many ways, and challenges me to keep awake, as I want to see the movie come full circle. And on the way there will be cold blooded murder, grave-robbery, decapitations, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and James Bernard’s wonderful score.

I’m going to be bold here and suggest that Terrence Fisher's 1957 Hammer Horror The Curse of Frankenstein is where the first gentle streaks of exploitative blood and violence where put on screen. Sure there had been movies what showed scenes of horror gone before, but this is where they first hit the audience in full colour, and only there for speculative effect. It should be pointed out that the Japanese Chanbara shouldn’t be looked at as splatter flicks, as they are a completely different genre. Sure the blood does spray all over the place, but it does so outside of the horror themed area – well not until Nobuo Nakagawa and others like him started putting the Kaidan plays of Kabuki on celluloid at least.

So all that humbug that H.G. Lewis was the godfather of the gore movie, and John McCarty’s eighties document Splatter Movies on the genre, can all be laid to rest. The yanks didn’t create splatter and gore, they simply made the claim that they did. Frequent readers will know that I previously have argued that the slasher genre of the late seventies and early eighties would not have been if not for the low budget Gialli and horror flicks out of Europe and neither do I feel that the gore films of the mid sixties would have arrived if not for pioneering studios like Hammer and their little series of groundbreaking flicks. And while I’m at it, those H.G. Lewis films weren’t especially good back then and they certainly haven’t aged well as their naivety and campiness mean nothing anymore, and really didn’t back then either.

Instead I claim that splatter/gore, call it what ever you will has it’s roots in the late Fifties Hammer films.

There must have been a shitload of surprised faces as Bray studios when fifty three year old Terrence Fisher, and his thirty year old screenwriter Jimmy Sangster realised that their venture into classic horror ground with the spice of Eastmancolour and blood became an unexpected box office hit not only in the UK, but also a global success as far away as the US and Japan. A worldwide phenomenon that would spawn several remakes of the Universal horror’s in a spanking new packaging, and kept the Hammer studios running for almost two decades to come.

You know the story - it’s the classic Frankenstein tale by Mary Shelly with a Hammer spin on it. And here’s the quick fix if you haven’t seen it: After a short bookend opening where a worn out and shattered Baron Frankenstein [Peter Cushing] sit’s in his prison cell awaiting execution, he tells his tale to the priest that has come to save him. The flashback movie begins…

The young Baron Victor Frankenstein and his tutor of many years Paul Krempe [Robert Urquart] perform a series of experiments, and after bringing a dead pup back to life, they see how they can revolutionise the world of medicine… but in two completely different ways. This lays out the fundamental rift between the two men and it’s also the conflict that will separate the two friends indefinitely. Victor goes about building his beast to Krempe’s despair, who demands that he stop this terrible experiment. Finally after a freak lightning storm the monster is awoken! The cameras rushes forth to a harrowing close up of the snarling scarred beast [Christopher Lee] and James Bernard’s score goes all in.

Despite the genius of creating life, Victor is unable to keep the beast captive and it obviously escapes only to kills off a blind man and his son. It’s done off screen but with James Whale’s 1931 classic in reference you know what happens. The beast is recaptured and strung up in the lab once again. Frankenstein has an affair – even if only suggested in a brief snog, the sort of scenes Cushing loathed doing, but being the damned fine actor that he was, he did exactly what the part required from him. What a trooper. – with this maid Justine [Valerie Gaunt, who would return to the screen with Lee, Cushing and Fisher the following year in Dracula 1958 also based on a Sangster script.] and when his cousin Elisabeth [Hazel Court] whom he has been acting as guardian for, arrives at his house with the intent of marrying him, there’s a conflict that Frankie Boy solves by luring Justine into the room housing the monster he’s created. Some splendid editing and suggestive images of the off screen killing where to become Hammer Horror trademarks, and also the cynicism of their main antagonists. When Justine’s screams fades off the soundtrack there is a hard cut into a breakfast scene where Frankenstein coldly asks Elisabeth to pass him the marmalade. It’s a cold-hearted testament to the Barons lack of affection for stuff outside of his research and his dedication to his scientific abomination.

The rift between Krempe and Frankenstein grows throughout the movie, and after the final confrontation, where Frankenstein is forced to kill his creation to save Elisabeth; the game grinds to a halt. Back in the prison cell, the priest is appalled by Victors’ tale, and in a sinister twist Kempe makes a final entrance. Victor begs Krempe to tell the priest of the monster he created, so that Frankenstein can be acquitted from the charge of killing Justine… but Krempe denies knowing anything of any monster, and as he leaves the prison with Elisabeth on his arm, Frankenstein is walked off to the guillotine.

Definitely among one of the finest Hammer Movies, The Curse of Frankenstein is a real gem for many reasons. It’s the first Colour version of Frankenstein, the first time Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee where together in a horror movie, and the first of many fantastic screenplays that Jimmy Sangster would write for Hammer. And last but not least, it's still a damned good movie!

Where American movies had been running with the themes of a world gone wild due to the side effects of Nuclear power with their many giant monster movies - THEM 1954, The Giant Gila Monster 1959 and so on, or guzzling on communist paranoia films – Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956 etc, the chilling dreadfulness of The Curse of Frankenstein was a fresh wave of Gothic Horror. A wave that soon would sweep over the globe and make Hammer studios forever associated with period piece horror.

Also the movie brought with it a fresh vain of dark cynicism previously not found in horror pieces. As in The Curse of Frankenstein, you have a leading character sentenced to death. Sure he’s been breaking the laws by playing god for the last eighty minutes and guzzling down jam sandwiches after killing his mistress, but the “good guy” Krempe turns on him in the last minute and not only sends him off to his death with a lie, but he also steals his wife to be. I still find it as fascinating that Sangster chooses this disturbing twist at the end of the movie, and it’s a frequent returning trait of his, positive characters going against their character in the last moment. But perhaps this is what makes his scripts so interesting, he dared to challenge the norm and character arcs that he built thought out the movie.

Now that claim that this is one of the first movies to use gory violence for speculative effect may seem somewhat odd, as there are not really too many scenes of carnage in the film compared to films in the same niche that followed. But keep in mind that the audience had not seen these sorts of images – Cushing wiping off a fair amount of blood on his apron after decapitating the initial corpse, severed hands, cold and bloody being unwrapped, Christopher Lee’s monster makeup, all pale, bloated and riddled with oozing bloody scars enhanced by a furious push forth zoom the first time he’s exposed, and then there’s that shot gun blast to the head of the monster which at the time must have been astonishing for the audience. Cushing races his hand to his forehead as blood pours between his fingers. Sure with today’s standards there are scarier things on the shows that my kids watch, but back in 1957 this was met with outrage! The censors slapped an “X” on the film, and with that controversial rating, the kids of the time just lapped it up. Hence the success of Hammer, movies that still today has a passionate and affectionate legion of fans that spend time in the company of these fantastic movies.

Fast-forward fifty years and these movies are now released with the PG certificate, and nobody would ever believe that they where groundbreaking pieces of cinema that it indeed where.

Image:

1.85:1 – Anamorphic 16x9

Audio:

English Dialogue, French or German Dub available, and subtitles in every possible language imaginable.

Extras:

Pretty lame edition, it’s only got the Theatrical Trailer and a cast and crew test loop. Hopefully the revitalised Hammer as part of Entertainment mogul Jan de Mol will start re-releaseing their movies with a full deluxe extras and the whole shebang.