MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
This film has been one I had been curious about for decades. I finally sprang for a copy from Sinister Cinema. It is a French- Italian production though it takes place near Amsterdam. A writer comes to a small town to write an article on what the locals call "the Mill of the Stone Women." It is no longer a functioning mill. The inside has been turned into a clockwork display with moving stone statues of women in sadistically macabre poses. The writer becomes entranced with the owner's beautiful but fatally ill daughter. The story is slow-paced but atmospheric. Many of the visual images are striking and make good use of images of stone statuary. The acting is not engaging and is further hampered by poor dubbing. The twisted interior of the mill recalls the expressionism of early German and American horror films. MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN, Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY, and Roger Corman's HOUSE OF USHER are stylistically similar though all were made in 1960. The setting is unusual but the plot when one finds out what is going on is one very commonly used in 1960s horror films from Europe. There are some decent touches, but not enough to put this film on anybody's must see list. I rate it a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@avaya.com
Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper
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