Blood Moon Rising Magazine Issue #51

Gorgo

By AL J. Vermette

Many countries have a giant monster to call their very own. The U.S. have
King Kong and Japan lays claim to Godzilla.. even though the two have
crossed paths and countries between us and the Japanese more than once.
The Greeks, like Japan, have a whole zoo of creatures they have created
such as The Cyclops, The Hydra, The Kraken and The Centaur. So many
monsters that I don't have time to list them all. Creatures from around the
world from old fables, novels and films have all preyed upon their host
country's population. With Godzilla and King Kong being the two most world
wide known for their city rampaging and damage, making other lands still try
to make their movies with their own giant monster being out of the same mold
as the Japanese or American monsters. Once such place was England with
a little movie from 1961 and their answer to Kong and Godzilla.... was
"Gorgo."

The British take on the Giant Monster craze of the 50's and 60's was their
own giant un-stoppable lizard called Gorgo. As the story went, Gorgo was a
giant sea beast discovered off the coast of a small island. The creature is
captured and taken back to London to be put on display in a circus. End of
story right....the monster is found and placed behind bars never to harm
anyone again.....well think again. As it is.....Momma Gorgo is none to happy
with Baby being in the hands of humans and seeks to bring her offspring
home to the sea. At ten times the size of Baby, Momma goes on a city wide
rampage no less devastating than any Japanese monster has even done.
Soon the city of London is in flames as the great beast takes back her child
and the two head off into the ocean together. A happy ending...well at least
for the two creatures anyway. As in almost any monster movie and like any
monster film of the 50's, 60's and even the 70's, at the end of any movie the
monster no mater how big and powerful always falls at the hands of man.
But here...like I said the creatures walks off into the sea... safe, happy and
unharmed. Something hardly ever seen in any monster movie of that time.

It sort of reminds me of the ending of the movie "Jeepers Creepers" when
the creature flies off and wins at the end the movie. (We need more movies
to end like this I say)

Like the Japanese did with all their monsters, the British monster Gorgo
would be played by a man in a rubber suit who would walk through a scaled
down London stage set and reek havoc upon its people. Actor Mick Dillon
played both Mother and Baby Gorgo in the film and as Mother he destroyed
the city of London like was nothing more than just little play things in her
way. To make the attack on London seem more real, the beasts rampage
was shot in slow motion as to show a better sense of scale. Men in rubber
monster costumes was just one of the ways film makers would bring a
creature to life in the days long before today's CGI generation. The actor
would work within the hot rubber suit for sometimes hours at a time. In most
Godzilla films and other Japanese movies, the monster actor would also have
to fight another creature within the heat of the costume and do their own
stunts as well. The other way to bring a creature to the screen was to shoot
the beast in Stop Motion as was with King Kong by Stop Motion creator Willis
O'Brien. Later, master effects wizard Ray Harryhausen would pick up where
O'Brien left off and bring to the screen such wonderful creatures such as
Medusa "Clash of The Titans," along with The Cyclops and Dragon from
"The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" among many, many other creatures.

Although there was only one "Gorgo" movie featuring the great beast from
the sea depths, Mother and son would go on in comic books and other such
venues. In the 1960's a comic book emerged retelling the Gorgo story along
with another British monster and King Kong knock off, Konga. The comic
also featured a new Frankenstein story and one other that I can't remember
as I had this comic long, long ago in my childhood. A Gorgo novel also came
out at the time of the movie in 1961 by author Carson Bingham along with a
comic three issue mini-series called "Gorgo's Revenge." The movie was also
featured on the comedy series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" in 1998 as
well.

In the mid 1990's a Gorgo like creature stared in the movie "Gargantuan"
with a baby monster being found...two in fact and Big Momma coming in for
the save. Here again as with the movie that this creature feature took its
cues from mother and child end the film happy, together and swim off into
the depths of the ocean. Here Mother is nothing less than a monsterous
behemoth cut from the same mold as Gorgo. She is big, mean, unstoppable
and wanting nothing more then her offspring.

Although this great beast had only one movie and no follow ups, it still
remains one of the best loved and enjoyed Monster Movies of all time. With
books, comics and being noted on TV shows movies only shows that Mother
Gorgo and Baby still have staying power even after 50 years. There
may...just may be a remake in the works for Gorgo but time will tell. If so, we
fans of the classic 1961 film can only hope that it too will be just as good and
she be as big as ever. Though I'm sure she will be all CGI.

Creature Feature

Gorgo