The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 9, 2016

Note: Mill Creek has released 'The Gorgon' as part of a two-film collection with The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll. Currently, the two-pack is the only way to own this film on Blu-ray.

A young woman announces that she's pregnant. She's not married to the father, but he claims he's only holding off on proposing until he gets his finances in order. Against her wishes, he whisks away to discuss matters with the girl's father. That night, the girl is turned to stone. The town convicts the young boy in her death, but his father Paul Heitz (Richard Pasco) sets out to prove his son's innocence. It turns out the dastardly murders -- now up to seven -- are being carried out by a gorgon that lurks behind the walls of a local castle.

The Gorgon is hardly award-worthy entertainment, but it delivers an honest, serviceable bit of movie fun. It's appropriately styled, a bit stiff but effective in conveying a crude cinematic terror that meshes well with its noir-ish mystery elements. Performances can be, and frequently, are, hammy and overplayed. Nevertheless, the film finds a certain charm in its conveyance of terror, taking its time for the characters and audience alike to soak in the plot and details and work towards solving the mystery. In a way, it's much more effective than today's jump scare, repetitive, and by-the-slice Horror. This is certainly a Hammer film cut from much the same cloth as many of its contemporaries, but the film demonstrates a superior grasp of the genre's basic tenants that results in a movie that's not as bone-chilling or terrifying as advertised, but that delivers enough crude entertainment value to hold up even today.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Gorgon's 1080p transfer isn't the prettiest ever to grace Blu-ray, but is a rather strong presentation by Mill Creek standards. The picture retains a moderate grain structure and yields a fairly attractive cinematic texturing. Detail is high, but not exquisite. Good, basic clothing, skin, and supportive details -- particularly all of the wood and stone seen in the film -- abound, while close-ups featuring heavy makeup effects are the highlight, showcasing all the crudity and density available. Colors are fine, failing to really explode off the screen but well saturated and expressing shades of red, natural green, and warmer interior hues nicely enough. Black levels are a bit uneven, favoring tremendous depth in one moment, crush in another, and paleness in yet another. Skin tones are fine, taking on a relatively healthy appearance and eschewing any real push to pasty. A few compression artifacts are scattered here and there, but overall, and for a budget release, the results aren't half-bad.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Gorgon is saddled with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that barely gets off the ground. Music tries its best to escape the confines of a front-center stage push, but rarely does it succeed to spread its wings even mere inches. Indeed, imaging pushes right to the middle with no hope of escape. Clarity is mushy and notes are muddled. Highs shriek and there's no substantial bottom end. Sound effects are crude and rain and thunder only pass along the most basic sound details. Dialogue is at least fine, playing with enough clarity to get the movie by.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Gorgon contains no supplemental content.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Gorgon delivers just enough chills, quality production design, and hammy but fun performances to make for a satisfying little watch. Superior to much of today's Horror and adhering to the simpler pleasures the genre has on offer, the film holds up well enough, cheesy and over played as it may be. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray delivers fairly good video and audio that merely scrapes by. Worth a look.