Mill of the Stone Women is a gothic chiller that blends the mad scientist movie with the deranged artist sub-genre (most notably, Mystery of the Wax Museum and House of Wax), leaving no cliché unturned (as soon as I saw the scale model of this film's titular structure, I knew it was going to go up in flames at the end. Sure enough...). Pierre Brice plays journalist Hans von Arnim, who travels to the town of Veeze to write an article about sculptor Professor Wahl (Herbert A. E. Böhme) and his automated carousel of wax mannequins, located in and powered by a windmill.
Wahl's daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) falls for the handsome writer, but when Pierre tells her that he doesn't love her back (he intends to marry the lovely Liselotte, played by the gorgeous Dany Carrel), the emotional strain causes the young woman to keel over, seemingly dead; however, when Pierre tries to tell Wahl what has happened, the professor thinks that the journalist has gone crazy... Elfie makes an appearance, very much alive.
It transpires that Elfie has a malady that causes her blood to go bad, necessitating regular blood transfusions from unwilling donors, attractive young women who Wahl subsequently turns into figures for his carousel. Previous transfusions have only offered a temporary solution, but Wahl's assistant Dr. Bohlem (Wolfgang Preiss) has finally found a permanent cure: a special serum mixed with a particularly rare blood type, that of Lisalotte. By the time Hans realises that he isn't delusional, his girlfriend is strapped to a gurney and being prepped for transfusion...
The first half of the film is fairly uneventful and the pacing is slow, but things get much better as the film approaches the inevitable fiery climax, Pierre and his pal Ralf racing to the rescue of Liselottee. While the guys try to find a way into Wahl's lab, the mad professor makes the mistake of killing his assistant Dr. Bohlem, accidentally breaking the only vial of life-giving serum in the process. His daughter doomed, Wahl sets the windmill on fire. Pierre and Ralf rescue Lisalotte as the figures on the carousel disintegrate, revealing the corpses under the wax.
Director Giorgio Ferroni clearly understands the requirements of the genre, the sight of the moving mannequins melting being about as gothic as it gets, the scene made all the macabre by the carnival-style music that accompanies the carousel.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.
Wahl's daughter Elfie (Scilla Gabel) falls for the handsome writer, but when Pierre tells her that he doesn't love her back (he intends to marry the lovely Liselotte, played by the gorgeous Dany Carrel), the emotional strain causes the young woman to keel over, seemingly dead; however, when Pierre tries to tell Wahl what has happened, the professor thinks that the journalist has gone crazy... Elfie makes an appearance, very much alive.
It transpires that Elfie has a malady that causes her blood to go bad, necessitating regular blood transfusions from unwilling donors, attractive young women who Wahl subsequently turns into figures for his carousel. Previous transfusions have only offered a temporary solution, but Wahl's assistant Dr. Bohlem (Wolfgang Preiss) has finally found a permanent cure: a special serum mixed with a particularly rare blood type, that of Lisalotte. By the time Hans realises that he isn't delusional, his girlfriend is strapped to a gurney and being prepped for transfusion...
The first half of the film is fairly uneventful and the pacing is slow, but things get much better as the film approaches the inevitable fiery climax, Pierre and his pal Ralf racing to the rescue of Liselottee. While the guys try to find a way into Wahl's lab, the mad professor makes the mistake of killing his assistant Dr. Bohlem, accidentally breaking the only vial of life-giving serum in the process. His daughter doomed, Wahl sets the windmill on fire. Pierre and Ralf rescue Lisalotte as the figures on the carousel disintegrate, revealing the corpses under the wax.
Director Giorgio Ferroni clearly understands the requirements of the genre, the sight of the moving mannequins melting being about as gothic as it gets, the scene made all the macabre by the carnival-style music that accompanies the carousel.
6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.