Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

What a beautiful movie!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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.

Writer goes to visit a sculptor to write a piece about him and a carousel where he lives. the sculptor's home is called the Mill of Stone women because of all of the grotesque figures that are inside. The writer becomes acquainted with the sculptors daughter, who is sick with an incurable illness, he also becomes enmeshed in the disappearances of many local girls. Moody, eerie horror film that I've seen too many times over the years. I've ended up with I don't know how many copies of the film, and every time I do I make some effort to see it because I have it, and every time I'm surprised that its better then I remember it. Beautifully shot in a muted color scheme this is a film with a real sense of place and time, not to mention one of dread. There is something funeral-like in the way it all looks. To be certain the plot is clichéd and there is more than a good chance you'll know where its going, but it really doesn't matter since everything that makes up the film comes together to tell a good story that will keep you watching even though you know whats going to happen. One of the better Euro-horror films of the period its a film that anyone like Gothic stories should see. Forget the lurid title, and just see the film. Between 6 and 7 out of 10.

"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!

(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.