MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN
Fatal Petrifaction
RELEASED OUT NOW! 1960 | 15 | Blu-ray
Director Giorgio Ferroni
Cast Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel,
Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel
Outside of the Emu-verse the strangest work of fiction set in a windmill, this unjustly overlooked horror is up with there with the very best work by Italian director Giorgio Ferroni’s compatriots.
The titular mill contains a century-old carousel featuring statues of historical women: Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Salome and so on. When student Hans (Pierre Brice) stays for study purposes, he falls for the owner’s mysteriously cloistered daughter Elfi (Scilla Gabel), and uncovers a dark secret. If you’ve seen A Bucket Of Blood you can probably guess it.
All cobwebs, giant cogs and statuary clutter, it’s a film whose off-kilter compositions echo German Expressionism, and whose febrile atmosphere and quease-inducing transfusion horror make it a cousin of The Fall Of The House Of Usher and Eyes Without A Face. Only a toytown model windmill lets the side down. Ravishingly painterly, and gloriously morbid.
Extras This two-disc set includes four versions: Italian, English export, French and US. Dubbing aside, the variations aren’t that radical.
There’s meticulous commentary by eagle-eyed critic Tim Lucas, whose superpower is naming other movies that seemingly every prop has appeared in! A mercifully accessible visual essay (24 minutes) runs down influences such as Mystery Of The Wax Museum and the “consumptive sublime” tradition in art. There are archival interviews with actress Liana Orfei/a film historian (27 minutes) and actor Wolfgang Preiss (16 minutes). Plus: alternate titles; trailers; extensive galleries; a double-sided poster; six art cards; booklet.
The credits claim the film is based on a story from Pieter van Weigen’s Flemish Tales, but no such author or book exists.