The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2020

Note: Mill Creek has released 'The Gorgon' as part of a twenty film Hammer Horror collection and shares a disc with both The Old Dark House and Cash on Demand. The film was previously released in a two pack with The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (also included in this collection). This disc features slightly modified video and a new lossless soundtrack.

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 

There appears to be little change between this version and that which Mill Creek put to market in 2016. Direct comparisons reveal a slightly altered color temperature on this new release, looking like tones are deeper and contrast adjusted upward, if only ever so little. The master appears to be the same. Please click here for a full review, but do keep in mind the slightly different color timing. This one does look better and this is one of the finest looking films in the set.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek has upgraded the audio for The Gorgon from the previous issue's Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack to, here, a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 encode. The tracks share in common a severe front-center imaged cramping, both failing to break free of a small stage area and refusing to allow even music to spread to the stage's further reaches. Still, this track sounds a little fuller, better defined, though certainly still somewhat sloppy at the core, lagging far behind tracks of superior engineering and more modern sound design. While the center-imaged limits hold back major effects like music and support elements, such as driving rain and booming thunder in chapter five, dialogue is at least clear and lifelike in that same center position. This is an upgrade, albeit a modest one.

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The previous Mill Creek issue of The Gorgon was featureless, but this new release includes an audio commentary track with Writer/Director Joshua Kennedy (House of the Gorgon).

The Gorgon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Gorgon is what Hammer is all about, or at least the type of film for which the studio is best known. The 1080p picture quality is a step above the previous release thanks to slightly improved contrast. Audio is a bit better, too, in the lossless encode. A commentary track is also included which was not on the previous release. Recommended.