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| Courtesy of Arrow Video |
Arrow Video continues to be at the
forefront of boutique releasing of celebrated as well as obscure horror films
from all around the world and their forthcoming limited edition of Italian
director Giorgio Ferroni’s gothic period horror gem Mill of the Stone Women is
no exception. The first Italian horror
film to be shot in color, predating Black Sabbath and I Vampiri
even, is an ornate riff on Michael Curtiz’s Mystery of the Wax Museum with
the grotesque edge of Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face. Mostly however it is among the most sumptuous
yet gruesome historical period chillers to come out of Italy that isn’t
associated with Bava or Argento.
Hans von Arnam (Pierre Brice) travels
by barge to a remote Flemish island in Holland researching a story about the so-called
Mill of the Stone Women, a windmill housing a carousel of statues of
women in the moment of death sculpted by Professor Gregorius Wahl (Herbert A.E. Böhme). Upon his
arrival he crosses paths with the professor’s beautiful but mercurial and sickly
daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) whom he immediately falls in love with, leading Hans
down a dark path involving a disturbing secret about the Mill of the Stone
Women and its true purpose.
While not nearly as colorful
as Bava or kaleidoscopic as Argento, Mill of the Stone Women nevertheless
being the first of its kind finds footing in the strength of the set pieces,
the impassioned performances and the assured direction of Giorgio Ferroni who inexplicably
never returned to the genre a second time.
Due to a curious distribution plan resulting in four separate release
versions of the film, all of which have been included here, the film has been
seen in varying editions including but not limited to dirtied colorless prints
which worked against the film’s delicious visuals shot beautifully by Pier
Ludovico Pavoni. Though filming within the
gray walls of the mill, the period costumes and lighting pop off the screen in
lush colors that unfold onscreen like a visual feast.
Sonically the film
also gains strength from the original score by Carlo Innocenzi, who steps
outside of the swords-and-sandals epic fare in favor of something more distinctly
macabre in tone, complementing the gothic visuals splendidly. Performance-wise the film plays off of the
triangular dynamic between the young apprentice, the professor and his mysterious
daughter with Pierre Brice bringing in leading man good looks and Scilla Gabel evoking
a Barbara Steele gothic aura with hints of vulnerability and danger. The real showstopper is Herbert A.E. Böhme
who before this was a frequent German film actor before coming to Italy near
the end of his career, bringing an Erich von Stroheim aristocratic evil to Professor
Gregorius Wahl.
In a curious
publicity stunt, the film itself claims the plot is based on a short story by
Pieter van Weigen in a book called Flemish Tales. As it later turned out, neither the book nor
the author ever existed and is a figment of the film. Although later revealed to be a dose of
promotional fiction, the film itself reportedly fared far better outside of its
homeland in box office returns but never achieved the cult status of Bava or
Argento’s iconic horror masterworks despite getting there first.
Thankfully however, Arrow Video’s 2K restored
blu-ray boxed set is fixed to help overturn the film’s legacy from being an
obscure but celebrated gem horror-aficionados know of to a contemporary classic
with just as much right to be called an essential staple of the Italian gothic
horror genre as the ones which followed in its wake. More than just Italy’s answer to House of
Wax, Mill of the Stone Women is a genuinely unnerving Gothic horror
fable whose gorgeously creepy imagery will reverberate in the eyes and ears of
modern moviegoers for years to come.
--Andrew Kotwicki
