Arrow Blu-ray Film Review

Mill of the Stone Women (1960) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Arrow Video]

A 19th-century professor of fine arts and unlicensed surgeon’s ill daughter receives blood transfusions from kidnapped female victims who posthumously become macabre art.

A sumptuous feast for the eyes, Mill of the Stone Women was a milestone in horror. In many ways it’s a seminal piece of work, but one with predecessors it borrowed from to situate it firmly within the Gothic genre whilst leaving a legacy in many of its own successors. Considering its now legendary stature, it’s been unforgivably neglected since premiering in various edits during the early-1960s. So much so that, despite coming across many mentions of it, this beautifully restored 2K scan (taken from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films) was my first opportunity to view the unadulterated and definitive cut.

I adore the aesthetics of Hammer’s Gothic offerings, Roger Corman’s lusciously lurid Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, and the stylish cinema of Italian horror maestro Mario Bava…