Rating: 3/5
| Hooptober 8.0 | 23/34 | Hammer films 1/2 |
Overshadowing the village of Vandor stands the Castle Borski. From the turn of the century, a monster from an ancient age of history came to live here. No living thing survived, and the spectre of death hovered in waiting for her next victim.
Bruno, an artist, makes sketches for a painting. His model is his girlfriend, Sascha, whom he promises to marry once he has money set aside. She says they cannot wait that long — she is pregnant with his baby. Bruno goes to her father.
Sascha chases after him into the night. Something happens, and her face breaks out in sores.
The following day, Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing) prepares for an autopsy. It is Sascha. She is the seventh unsolved murder in five years. The police hope it is not a serial killer, but they have no leads. They suspect Bruno, who is missing.
Don't use long words, inspector! They don't suit you.
While wheeling in Sascha’s body, her hand breaks. Dr. Namaroff unveils the body to reveal that it has turned to stone.
The police scour the woods, looking for Bruno. They find him hanging, his face torn to ribbons. The trial suspects that Bruno killed Sascha, then himself. Professor Heitz, Bruno’s father, knows about the other murders and can see through the scapegoating of his son.
Heitz meets Namaroff to discuss Megaera, one of the three gorgons whose eyes can turn someone into stone. Mythology heads will probably be confused, as Megaera is a fury, not a gorgon. Later, they will name Medusa and Tisiphone as the other gorgons, where Medusa is the only “actual” gorgon.
Namaroff encourages Heitz to leave. It feels like the entire village is protecting a secret. Heitz calls upon Professor Jules Heitz, his son, to aid him in her search for the truth.
At night, Heitz hears a song drawing him out — again, furies, not gorgons. I like how the score blends with the song, curving its mystery and foreboding. It draws him to Castle Borski, where a figure in green with snake-like hair appears before him. His face breaks into sores, and his skin turns white as he slowly turns to stone or gorgonized.
And so on.
The movie has the classic Hammer tone of British moderation. It doesn’t have the total sense of dread that some of the Poe adaptations had, but it all comes together successfully. It’s a cozy horror movie, which I always enjoy.
I love the castle set — full of cobwebs and ornate architecture.
Terence Fisher hasn’t disappointed me yet! I read his essay, “Horror Is My Business,” which he wrote the same year as this movie, and it’s fun to read about his process and the constraints that come from a Hammer budget and British censors.