House of the Gorgon

Set in the 19th Century a young woman, her mother and best friend travel to central Europe for her marriage to a town doctor, however two evil sisters of Medusa the Gorgon are living with the young man (!) The opening credits proclaim "A Gothic Fairytale", the colour palate uses a lot of purple, blue and green, contrasted with much black, this gives the film a dreamlike look but I didn't like it, if anything it only highlighted the obvious low budget. This is a fan film made by and starring one Joshua Kennedy, unfortunately his acting is painfully wooden, and he's not the only one. The attraction for the movie is that it reunites Hammer glamour in the form of Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick and Veronica Carlson, these three lovely ladies look like they were having fun making House but sadly I had very little fun watching it. There are other very obvious nods to Hammer and classic horror, for example a law firm called Cushing, Lee and Price is referred to, rated 12 in the UK it is also very tame. As a Hammer fan myself I admire Kennedy for putting this together, it just isn't very good.

Ok, considering it's low budget I'll give this some breaks. The acting at times is pretty hammy but the three ladies from yesteryear seem to be loving it. The three ladies are obviously Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick and Veronica Carlson, major starlets of the Hammer horror films of the seventies.

Is it me or has Karlstadt moved to Spain, certainly has a southern European twang to proceedings. The heroine Isobel is played by Caroline Munro's daughter and they do all seem to be having a blast making this movie. Nice also to see Christopher Neame as the priest as he also starred in a Hammer film. Decent film but not enough scares for me.

I saw this not too long ago as part of a live stream watch party. They said it was a tribute movie to Hammer Horror movies, which I have always enjoyed. This was god awful. First of all, Caroline Munro and Martine Beswick should be embarrassed to be part of this and allowed themselves to be photographed so terribly. Veronica Carlson I felt incredibly bad for, having to deliver lines worse than Hammer's bad days (and presented in such an unflattering way as well - these three icons really should be shocked and embarrassed. I was embarrassed for them.) I know this is a low budget film, but so were the Hammer movies and I've seen a lot of other low budget horror streaming recently, but this was terrible - "lets just put a green light somewhere because then people wont think its my living room" just awful and an insult to all the technicians of the Hammer movies. Lastly, apparently the filmmaker himself decided to cast himself as the male lead role (I'm sorry, Christopher Neame does not count as a main character, he's a halfhearted cameo at best), and this guy Joshua proves his inadequacy not only as as a filmmaker in general, but as an actor around these older professionals. The other amateur actors on display here only degrade themselves further. According to the live stream this film won an award (huh???) and he has made other Hammer tribute movies -- I shudder to imagine. Stick with the original and authentic horrors, and stay away from this. Dreadful.

Oh dear! That's the only thing I can really say about fan movie HOUSE OF THE GORGON (2019), written/directed by and starring massive Hammer fan Joshua Kennedy. It's an American indie production made as a throwback to the Hammer films of old, that begins with a trio of women travelling by carriage to a remote region of Karlstadt where they find a mysterious house and its strange occupants. The title is a clue to the Greek-influence menace in this film.

Sadly, it's appalling in every respect,but then it would be given that it was shot in five days. Copying scenes from Hammer films on a tiny budget doesn't really do it for me. Caroline Munro hams it up shamelessly, Martine Beswick gives the most fun performance - like she's in a panto - while Veronica Carlson is stuck with a dull role. Oh, and AD 1972's Christopher Neame also appears as a priest, but perhaps he should have stayed at home. I think the poster artwork is the best part of this film.

Not exactly good - it's low budget particularly betrayed by it's tinny sound - this loving pastiche filmed in glorious Gooeyscope and wonderfully saturated colours of Hammer Horrors and Corman Poes with a smattering of 'Night of the Living Dead' is still fun to watch.

Caroline Munro and Martine Beswicke (as she now spells it) show they've still got what it takes as two evil five thousand year old sisters of the night (the former wearing Verdon Fell's glasses and expressing his aversion to the light). Former Hammer leading lady number three Veronica Carlson as the heroine's tippling mother meanwhile both looks and sounds exactly like Jennifer Saunders as Edina in 'Absolutely Fabulous'.