the leading man is my tpye

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Predictable but highly watchable tale of a mad sculptor who is trying to keep his daughter from dying from a horrible disease by giving her a blood transfusion. Donors are in short supply, so the guy has to 'volunteer' women to give their blood, turning the exsanguinated bodies into bizarre wax figures for display to the general public - in a windmill.This weird set up barely functions as it is, what with the sculptor's doctor buddy totally in love with the daughter, and the daughter totally in love with the new guy hired to work in the library. He's in love with a childhood friend, although he does realise this after bedding the crazy guy's daughter, and he declares his love for her right in front of the sick girl. Pretty tactless. His mate, by the way, is concerned that his model friend has mysteriously disappeared - guess where she's currently tied up?Things get slightly less predictable when the hero Hans does a really bad job of giving sick girl the brush off and she seemingly dies, but when he goes to confess to her dad the doctor gives him LSD! He spends a good portion of the film tripping out his head and seemingly talking to people who aren't there. After that, things get back into the 'rescue the girl from the mad doctor plot' but filmed very well, especially the shots of the melting wax 'models' at the end.Was Mario Bava involved? Who knows.

"Black Sunday", "House Of Usher", "Eyes Without A Face", "City Of The Dead",... 1960 sure was one of the greatest years ever for Horror cinema, especially for Gothic Horror. In the same year in which Mario Bava brought us the arguably greatest Gothic Horror film ever (and, in my opinion, one of the greatest films ever made) with his masterpiece "La Maschera Del Demonio" (aka. "Black Sunday") and Roger Corman began the arguably greatest Horror cycle in film history with the brilliant "House Of Usher", director Giorgio Ferroni enriched the world of Horror with this atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful gem called "Il Mulino Delle Donne Di Pietra" aka. "Mill Of The Stone Women", a film with an incredible sense of Gothic beauty and eerie atmosphere that no true Horror fan could possibly afford to miss. A French/Italian Co-production, the film is based on an unknown story by Pieter van Weigen. The creepy, morbid and incredibly fascinating storyline is very similar to that of Georges Franju's masterpiece "Les Yeux Sans Visage" aka. "Eyes Without A Face", which was made in the same year, but the execution is different in style. Morbid stories about mad scientists who target innocent young women in order to restore life, youth or beauty of one specific young woman were a very popular Horror theme in the late 50s and early 60s, and tales of the kind are still among the most fascinating topics the Horror genre has ever brought forth. What also makes this film an absolute must is the eerie atmosphere, the ingenious photography, superb settings and mesmerizing use of color.Journalist Hans (Pierre Brice) comes to the small town of Veeze in order to write a story about the 'Mill Of The Stone Women', a macabre museum in which female statues in morbid situations such as executions are displayed on a mill-wheel. The museum is kept by Professor Wahl (Herbert A.E. Böhme), who keeps his beautiful daughter Elfi (Scilla Gabel) locked in the Windmill. The house is furthermore inhabited by the sinister doctor Bohlem (Wolfgang Preiss)... I don't want to give away too much of the story, but I can assure it gets morbid, haunting and fascinating. The film's visual style and morbid atmosphere often earns it comparisons to Mario Bava's masterpieces. The locations and settings are beautiful and immensely eerie alike and the brilliant camera-work and excellently eerie score contribute a lot to the creepy and unsettling atmosphere. The performances are also very good and the characters are intriguing. I am not a very big fan of Pierre Brice in general (where I live he is mainly known for the incredibly cheesy German Karl May flicks), but he delivers an excellent performance here. The highest praise, however has to go to Herbert A. E. Böhme for his brilliant portrayal of the sinister professor and, especially, to the ravishing Scilla Gabel. Gabel is a stunning beauty and great actress and she delivers a wonderful performance as the mysterious and seductive Elfi Wahl. Wolfgang Preiss is very sinister as the doctor and Dany Carell fits well in her role of the innocent girl. "Mill Of The Stone Women" is an elegant and haunting masterpiece that no lover of Gothic greatness can possibly afford to miss!

I thought this creaked a bit at first but had wrongly assumed this full colour production was made in the 70s and had no idea it was so early. A joint French/Italian production and the two countries offer us a beauty each, although it has to be said that the Italian Scilla Gabel would take a little beating whatever the opposition!Something of a mix of Frankenstein and House of Wax in the end but this is not apparent at first and with all the creepy Dutch landscape and creaky mill we are at first led to think more of vampires.Colourful, surprisingly graphic and all in all a very interesting discovery.

Neatly expressionistic mood piece about a mad scientist/sculptor trying to keep his afflicted daughter from turning to stone by transfusing her with the blood of local babes. The storyline (a favorite of European horror films - THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF and EYES WITHOUT A FACE also had to do with a mad scientist trying to save a deformed daughter at the expense of anyone within reach) has holes thick enough to bowl a woman's severed head through, but the film is great on atmosphere and ambiance. Completed without credit by Mario Bava after director Giorgio Ferroni began it, the Mondo Macabro DVD version includes the uncut French edition (massacred in bad US VHS prints till now). This film was one of two that reportedly started the Eurohorror boom of the '60s and '70s, of which Bava was a primary maestro.