Moving into the Gothic portion of Hammer's work, the Gorgon had the Big Three of Fisher, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing, yet it is often regulated to the c-bin of Hammer's offerings.
Bruno (Jeremy Longhurst) is a an artist currently painting a nude of his girlfriend (Toni Gilpin). She seems distracted, finally confessing that she's carrying his child. Bruno, despite being dirt poor, won't be a cad and marches off that moment to ask her father for his blessing.
This doesn't please her though, as she's convinced her father would murder her beau before he could even ask. Throwing her clothes back on, she rushes after him. She gets lost in the deep woods, however, and finds something else...something that seemingly scares her to death.
We next see Dr. Namaroff (Cushing), sort of a local coroner, asylum owner, and general practitioner busy at work with some test tubes when Inspector Kanof (Patrick Troughton) arrives with the girl's corpse. There's an issue in finding the exact cause of death as the girl's body has turned to solid stone.
The police send out a manhunt (but only during the day) and they find Bruno hanging from a tree. As far as the police are concerned it's an open and shut case. Bruno's father Mr. Heitz (Michael Goodliffe), on the other hand, is not satisfied. He makes his intention to stay in the small hamlet until the truth is discovered, torch wielding mobs be damned.
Venturing out into the woods that night, the older man makes his way to the long abandoned Castle Borski. He finds something there, much like the girl and like her he is scared and nearly dead when he stumbles back to his rented cottage. His skin is also turning gray. Before he dies, he dictates a letter for his other son Paul (Richard Pasco) and tells him what he's discovered as he dies.
Paul's arrival in town mirrors his father's almost exactly, down to the attack by a shadow figure. The difference here is Paul survives. He was in a coma for almost a week, but he lives. He also starts falling for Namaroff's nurse, Carla (Barbara Shelly) Carla confides in Paul who she suspects the true culprit is, namely a Gorgon named Megera.
Yes, someone a Greek immortal monster somehow set up shop in East Prussia. No one finds this odd.
Professor Meister (Lee) soon arrives, looking for his top student Paul. When he finds him, Meister decides to stay and figure out the mystery. With the full moon approaching, can they solve the mystery in time?
Too silly and too dignified; Lee and Cushing act the hell out of their scenes but the overall script isn't worthy of their talents. A Greek monster in what would become Poland? And she only attacks on the Full Moon? We can accept the impossible but not the improbable.
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