Mill of the Stone Women

source: Mill of the Stone Women

Not original or entertaining in the least. From the very first minutes it's clear that you get another version of any Wax Museum films which have been pouring out of different film studios since the early 20s: beautiful girls are boiled in wax and displayed as models in a horror section of a museum (in this case a mill-museum). The action takes place sometime around the last turn of the century. The mill looks nice, otherwise there aren't so much interesting locations - nor interesting (or beautiful) actors to that matter. It just drags along, and once you've figured the plot out, you also know, that it ends with an inescapable fire, that destroys the mill and lets the good young couple escape in the nick of time. It's really much more interesting now that I tell it, than it is on the screen. Somehow, in spite of an occasional Hammeresque look, this film doesn't sparkle in the least. If you're interested in the subject, there are much, much better films, most of them containing the word "Wax" in the title.

A young artist named Hans is hired to do a study of a famous local landmark,a windmill that contains stone statues of notorious female monsters of the past.One day he meets a mysterious,dangerously beautiful woman at the mill.Before long,he is drawn into her clutches.Giorgio Feronni's gloriously colorful horror film "Mill of the Stone Woman" is obviously influenced by Georges Franju's horror classic "Eyes Without a Face" and Mario Bava's "I Vampiri".Admittedly the first half of the film is pretty slow and rather confusing, however there is enough eerie moments to satisfy fans of early 60's Italian Gothic horror.The location sets are truly atmospheric,for example the crumbling mill of the film's title is a decrepit place,filled haphazardly with ominous statuary and ancient religious icons.So if you are a fan of Italian horror you can't miss this gorgeously photographed gem.9 out of 10.

This is one of the films that is very atmospheric, stylish, and inventive in the European 60's fashion. The story is somewhat of a cross between Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Rappacini's Daughter" and the film House of Wax. An art professor is keeping a secret about his invalid, beautiful, seductive daughter Elfi away from Hans von Arnam, a man sent to write a piece on the centennial of the professor's mill and its famous statues of women that move around on a carousel-like machine. The statues are of famous women through history as well as having local historical murderesses and victims displayed. Living with the professor and Elfi is a strange doctor. Amidst this strange four-sided triangle, women are disappearing. The story is'nt too hard to figure out and much is given away early on. What it does do quite nicely is create a slowly-paced mood that leads to an interesting if not wholly imaginative denouement. The style infused throughout the picture is a credit to Italian director Giorgio Ferroni. The use of colors, the settings, the haunting carousel music, the "waxworks" themselves all help create the oppressive almost hallucinogenic mood. The acting is pretty good overall with Wolfgang Preiss as the complex doctor and especially Robert Boehme as Professor Gregorious Wahl standing out. Scilla Gabel as Elfi is just gorgeous as is Liana Orfei as one of the girls that gets missing. The production looks very German in manner and style - another compliment to the director. There are several scenes which stand out: the first time we see the carousel moving, nay, almost cranking itself away past those that have come to gawk at it, the drug-induced dream sequence Hans goes through, and the ending - a real barn-burner! Mill of the Stone Women isn't a fast-paced horror film but if you like movies like Black Sunday or Bava's work in general - Ferroni seems to have some similar directorial flair.

I bought the DVD (produced by mondo macabro) based upon the reviews posted here. Big, huge, gigantic, mammoth mistake. I don't know if the disc cut is a very different print than what these folks are talking about, but let me just say this - I fell asleep 3 times trying to watch this movie. After finally getting through this mess, I knew I had to post this review. It is extremely slow-moving, not at all creepy, and rather disjointed in parts. Quite disappointing with characters as empty as the wooden windmill in which they "act." I do entertain the possibility that the DVD producer chopped this film horribly and sells something unlike what the other reviewers have seen and are talking about. If you still want to see this movie DO NOT buy the Mondo Macabro DVD of it. Find a different print and I wish you better luck.

Another classic Italian Gothic which has an unusual and effective setting (an old windmill) to distinguish it from all the others of the period. MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN is a slow-burning but often effective creep-fest which makes fine use of the almost expressionistic sets of the interior of the windmill, filled with odd angles and bits of female dummies and skulls littered all over, making for a highly distinctive visual look. Filmed in Holland, the brief shots of the flat countryside which surrounds the windmill help to give it an authentic look and a chilly atmosphere, and Ferroni makes excellent use of colour to create a morbidly-beautiful looking movie. On top of this, a fine and creepy score just adds to the tension. The plot itself, when it comes down to it, is nothing particularly new. The idea of a doctor forced to kill young women to sustain the life of his ill daughter was very popular in the period this was made, and variations on the theme can be seen in many other horror films like Freda's THE VAMPIRES, ATOM AGE VAMPIRE, THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF, and even the French classic EYES WITHOUT A FACE. Mixed in with this plot (which incidentally only comes to the fore in the final third of the movie, the beginning is just atmosphere-building and mysteries with no real answers) are some genuinely macabre HOUSE OF WAX-style shenanigans, involving the bodies of the dead being turned to stone and displayed on the carousel, the creaky contraption which is the film's focus point and a highly effective image of horror. Cast-wise, the film benefits from the presence of the creepy actor Robert Boehme as the professor. Boehme puts in a restrained and ultimately sympathetic performance here but he's still pretty chilling. Also effective is the German Wolfgang Priess (he of the '60s Mabuse films) as a sinister doctor living in the windmill; he doesn't have much to do until the end, in which his part in the horror and his explanations for his actions finally come out, but his role helps bolster the movie and he has some interesting exchanges with Boehme (usually the roles of the two men are combined into one in these sort of films). The actresses don't really have much to work with, especially Dany Carrel whose sole presence is to provide a female victim for the finale, and Scilla Gabel's role as the diseased daughter is seriously underdeveloped. Ultimately the film's biggest failing in the cast is Pierre Brice's turn as the hero, Hans von Arnam; Brice is wooden and uninteresting and seemingly unable to carry a lead by himself. MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN really does pick up for the predictably fiery conclusion, which has some great action, but director Giorgio Ferroni really needs to learn a thing or two about pacing as the first hour of this film is a long haul and lacking in incident. Compare this to a similarly-themed film like Freda's THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF DR. HICHCOCK, which expertly racks up the tension and suspense for the first hour, and its clear that MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN needs more of that suspense and build-up. The atmosphere is perfect, yes, but something is missing. Don't get me wrong, however; this is still a perfectly watchable (if only a little flawed) Gothic horror film with spot-on visuals and sets, and worth tracking down for fans of horror from the period.

Mill of the Stone Women otherwise known as Drops of Blood is a creepy little horror that looks fantastic for a movie barely out of the 50's. It tells the story of a young man who is set to work on a macabre waxwork laden carousel. He becomes bewitched by the mysterious daughter of the owner, but nothing is quite as it seems. Italian made the film looks incredibly ahead of its time. Sure the acting is offensively overdone, the score is forgettable and the external sfx of the windmill are laughable but the concept itself and delivery is really quite impressive. Italy dominated horror throughout the 60's and 70's, this early title is a demonstration of why. Yes it's flawed (Badly in places) but it's an interesting little title regardless with a brilliant dark finale. The Good: Looks great Solid ideas The Bad: Gratuitous overacting Could have been constructed a tad better Things I Learnt From This Movie: She totally got a head of herself! Waxworks were a common subject matter in the 50-60's, we need a revival!

(some spoilers follow) All right, I'll admit it - I just can't resist reviewing something called "Mill of the Stone Women"! Sadly, the film sort of fails to deliver on the promise of that title. But it's still pretty interesting. If you're a big enough horror fan to have heard of this movie, you'll probably like it. It's a slow-paced Gothic piece, in the same tradition as the British Hammer movies. It even has the standard cast of characters for a Gothic horror - a sinister doctor, a corrupt professor, an earnest young man, a sexy mystery woman, and a wholesomely pretty nice woman. This kind of stuff is so familiar to me at this point that it feels like a comfy old security blanket. The best part of the film is the first half, when the goings-on at the mill are still cryptic and unexplained. The second half gets a little predictable and lurid, and there are a few too many scenes of women getting strapped to tables and menaced with needles. Dare I say this kind of stuff is sexist? Erotic, sure, but also sexist. And, in a very strange and somewhat disappointing twist, the villains pretty much defeat themselves! Despite my reservations, this is still a decent film, thanks to some atmospheric sets and unusual ideas. As I said, if you're enough of a horror buff to have heard about it, you should definitely check it out.

I was frightened by this film as a child and still retain wonderful nightmare- like memories. The stone women turn around attached to the machinery of an old windmill. At the climax the mill catches fire and they continue to turn around- but now on fire. I haven't seen it since, and I suspect that it wouldn't live up to the memory.

"Winnetou" (actor Pierre Brice) is a loser here, Hans von Arnim, which comes in a mill-house where lives a woman, Elfie Wahl, who is not normal(she is a little bit crazy and she suffers from leukemia) and who is suddenly in love with him. He does not love her but instead spending time with the one he loves, Liselotte Kornheim (actress Dany Carrel), he loses his time with the crazy one. Wolfgang Preiss(the famous Dr. Mabuse in those other German films from the 60's), he is a little crazy himself, also a doctor here, Dr. Loren Bohl. He appears together with the craziest of them all, the father of Elfie, Prof. Gregorius Wahl(the actor Herbert A.E. Böhme). Otherwise, paint instead of blood, creaking doors that open all alone, in one word, a huge bullshit. You'll eagerly be waiting for The End.