I first saw this back ib the early 1960s as DROPS OF BLOOD in a print that was quite inferior to this DVD version. Was Giorgio Ferroni a good director or was this the one time in his career that all the elements came together at the right time? A good cast, a good story by Flemish writer Pieter van Weigen, great sets and good photography. Ferroni seems to have spebt most of his career churning out Peplum and Spaghetti Westerns but on the strength of MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN I'd like to sample more of his work. An Italian/French co=production (the copy I saw had French dialogue with some scenes inexplicably in English as though it had been put together from two different prints) which has the benefit of some scenes that are seemingly filmed on location in Holland. As a horror film it has less in common with the other Italian shockers being made at the time than it does with the older tradition of Carl Dreyer's classic VAMPYR (although Ferrori's vampirism is of the medical variety), Andre DeToth's HOUSE OF WAX and Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE, a film with which it shares certain plot elements. Ferroni conjures an atmosphere that effortlessly evokes the weirdness and beauty of the Dreyer masterpiece - I particularly liked the macabre funeral entorage at the ferry - and I do not exaggerate when I say that there are moments when he approaches the exquisitely cruel poetry of the Franju film. The cast, headed by Winnetou the Warrior himself, Pierre Brice and Scilla Gabel is fine with the villainy in the very capable hands of Wolfgang Preiss and Herbert Bohme. Impressive. Rating ****
