When I mention Gorgons, you probably think of Medusa. Well, in The Gorgon, we're dealing with one of Medusa's sisters, Megaera (Prudence Hyman). Yes, I do realize that in mythology Megaera wasn't really a gorgon, but in the movie she is. Anyway, for about five years, she has been terrorizing the small German town of Vandorf. If a resident ventures out on the night of the full moon, there is a very good possibility that Megaera will catch them. One gaze upon her face will turn man or woman into solid stone. Wanting to cover up the murders, the police claim that the latest one is a murder-suicide with a young artist, Bruno Heitz (Jeremy Longhurt) killing his lover. The artist's father, Professor Jules Heitz (Michael Goodliffe), and eventually brother Paul, Heitz (Richard Pasco), and a family friend, Professor Karl Meister (Christopher Lee), head to the town to try and clear up Bruno's name and find the real killer. The only one who knows the truth is Dr. Namaroff (Peter Cushing), but he'll take the secret to the grave if he can.
Scream of Fear is a movie that honestly I am shocked I haven't seen a remake of yet. It is by far my favorite of the four in the collection, and usually I don't like black and white movies. The plot is very well written and executed. Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg) has been estranged from her father for almost 10 years after he and her mom split up. She was paralyzed from the waist down in a riding accident some years before. Now out of the blue, her father writes and asks her to come home so they can reconnect. When she gets there though, she is only greeted by her stepmother Jane (Ann Todd) whom she had never even before met. Her father was supposedly called away on business the night before. From the minute she gets there, Penny starts seeing her father (Fred Johnson), dead, in various places around the house. Trying not to lose her mind, Penny has to figure out what is going on and who she can trust. No one is really who they appear to be.
The story of Jekyll & Hyde always brings up the issue of who are we, really. As Dr. Jekyll (Paul Massie) asks himself that question in The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, we all ask ourselves the same thing. Are we really the people we pretend to be in public? If we bottle up our true selves for too long, what will that side of us do to get out? Paul Massie does a very impressive job of going between the characters of Jekyll & Hyde flawlessly. Instead of being the scary Hyde and inquisitive Dr. Jekyll, Dr. Jekyll looks physically scarier than Hyde. He's got a full beard and mustache and a deep, gruff voice. He hides away from the world thinking only of his work. Edward Hyde, on the other hand, is debonair and charming. He is a very attractive man physically, very soft spoken and always smiling. There is something unnerving about that smile though, especially when he's smiling as he beats a man. Hyde tests man's desire for the baser pleasures in life. Instead of being the killer that we're used to, this Hyde tries to kill man's soul.
Curse of the Mummy's Tomb is the original version of The Mummy. It is amazing how much they chose current day actors to resemble the original ones, especially the female lead Annette (Jeanne Roland). This movie was her debut. The story is slightly different from the more modern one, but it's not in a bad way. The plot is well set up. The mummy is actually Ra instead of Imotep. The actors portraying the ancient Egyptians don't really look Egyptian, but I guess they made do with what was available at the time. Besides they can chop off hands with one whack, so they're pretty cool whatever they are. I did notice that the color and quality is not quite as good on this movie as it is on the others.
In the movie, a group of archeologists discovers the tomb of Ra. The financier decides to take the mummy on tour of the US to make money. They open up the sarcophagus to make sure the mummy really is there before going on tour. Unfortunately on the first showing, when he opens it up, the mummy is gone. Not a few hours later, the people who were present when the coffin was first opened start dying at the hands of the mummy. There is one man who seems to know more than he's telling. Can they find a way to stop the mummy before they are all killed?
As I said before, all of these movies are simply amazing. They were wonderful in their time, and with the new remastering, they look beautiful now too. I highly recommend this collection. You probably haven't seen these movies in years, if at all. You need to see them again, so go buy Icons of Horror 3 today!
