The Book of Stone
Release date: 1969-07-18
Votes: 82
Genres: Horror, Thriller
Julia, a governess, comes to work for a bourgeois family that lives in a forested property they have recently bought. Julia is to take care of a little girl named Silvia, whose unusual demeanor may find its roots in the family garden.
Reviews
tmdb17996075
Pursuing the massive success and of "Hasta el viento tiene miedo", horror director Carlos Enrique Taboada achieves an equally engaging horror story with 'El Libro de Piedra'. In this case, Taboada works with Marga Lopez and Norma Lazareno again, but playing completely different roles. Mrs. Lopez is not a strict school headmistress and she becomes a sweet and delicate governess. On the other hand, Norma Lazareno is not a naughty student anymore and she becomes a reluctant stepmother, who hopelessly tries to win her stepdaughter affection. Offering a sinister story that deals with a troubled little girl, this film contains a nice amount of beautiful shots and landscapes, that in some cases, surpases the dialogs and the characters. In 'El Libro de Piedra', a sweet governess named Julia Septién, is hired by a wealthy man to take care of his young daughter, named Silvia. As soon as the governess arrives to the mansion, she finds out that Silvia is mentally troubled. However, Julia demonstrates her courage and willingness to help the child, and she decides to stay to take care of her. Mrs. Septién manages to win Silvia's affection and the bond between the two of them grows stronger each day. However, the relationship between Silvia and her stepmother, Mariana, becomes extremely hostile and Mrs. Septién, hopelessly tries to fix this. Silvia, on the other hand, finds her affection on a statue of a boy named 'Hugo', as she calls him. It first, Julia seems amused by the idea of the imaginary friend, but as the days go by, she realizes that there is nothing amusing whatsoever. Silvia's obsession with Hugo becomes disturbing to everyone and Julia starts to fear that the child might be involved in black magic and the hostility between her and her family, is not exactly a good sign. Coping with a few unnoticeable editing mistakes, this Gothic horror masterpiece, manages to be entertaining the whole time. I like to think of it as a dark Gothic drama, with some mellow winks here and there and a final scene that erases all the mellowness with a sudden slap. Most Gothic lovers are going to appreciate "El libro de piedra" for the beauty and yet simplicity of the imagery and the situations. The interface between Mrs. Septién, the governess and little Silvia, is perhaps one of the most appealing characteristics of this film, in which a little girl is basically measured as a monster by everyone. A girl who is feared by everyone at a tender age and yet, there's someone who manages to reach her heart, creating a loving bond and realizing that little Silvia is a sweet girl deep down, no matter how hard it is to see that. "El libro de piedra" causes ambiguous reactions, because in the end, it is not very clear whether if Silvia is pure evil or if she is merely a saddened and helpless soul who ends up devoting herself to a dark supernatural strength in order to find some company
Movie Recommendation
Even the Wind Is Afraid1968-05-30A group of college students, led by Claudia, decide to investigate a local tower that has figured prominently in disturbing reoccurring dreams Claudia has been having. They are suspended from school for their antics, but Claudia learns from one of the female staff members that the person in the dream is a student who killed herself years before and that the headmistress has seen her ghost.More...
The Place Without Limits1978-04-28Family honor, greed, machismo, homophobia, and dreams collide in a small Mexican town.More...
Poison for the Fairies1986-10-02In 1965 Mexico City, Flavia, a wealthy yet lonely schoolgirl, befriends Veronica, a young orphan girl who has a fascination with witchcraft. Veronica convinces Flavia that she is a real witch and forces her to be her assistant. The children's games gradually become more serious and Veronica demands more from Flavia.More...
Little Red Riding Hood1959-05-05The classic story of the Red Riding Hood spiced up by a couple of funny characters like the dog Duke, companion to the girl in her adventures, and the stinky Skunk, henchman to the Wolf.More...
The Silenced2015-06-18A sickly girl Ju-ran transfers to a new sanitorium boarding school to regain health. But she discovers that students are disappearing and notices abnormal changes happening to her body. She suspects the school for what's happening and tries to discover what secret is hidden.More...
The Two-Headed Spy1958-11-17Wartime thriller with film noir elements based on a true story as written in A.P. Scotland's autobiography "The London Cage". The plot has greatly exaggerated the actual events of A.P. Scotland's experiences, including the addition of a fictional love interest.More...
A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On2022-09-01In today’s Tirana, Agim and Gëzim, two inseparable deaf-mute identical twin brothers in their forties, live under the same roof. Ana, Gëzim’s girlfriend, a young high-spirited woman in her thirties, visits them quite often. One evening, Agim is driving back home with Gëzim, when his sight gets blurred and a fatal accident nearly occurs. At the ophthalmologist, a few days later, the two brothers discover that due to a genetic and rare disease, they will separately, but progressively and irreversibly go blind. Slowly immersing into an unbearable silenced darkness, not being able to see the world and each other anymore, only Ana by their side, the two brothers have to make a strong decision around a cup of coffee with new shoes on.More...
The Possession of Michael King2014-08-14The film tells the story of documentary filmmaker Michael King (Shane Johnson), who doesn’t believe in God or the Devil. Following the sudden death of his wife, Michael decides to make his next film about the search for the existence of the supernatural, making himself the center of the experiment – allowing demonologists, necromancers, and various practitioners of the occult to try the deepest and darkest spells and rituals they can find on him – in the hopes that when they fail, he’ll once and for all have proof that religion, spiritualism, and the paranormal are nothing more than myth. But something does happen. An evil and horrifying force has taken over Michael King. And it will not let him go.More...
A Fantastic Woman2017-04-06Marina's life is thrown into turmoil following the death of her partner. Mourning the loss of the man she loved, she finds herself under intense scrutiny from those with no regard for her privacy.More...
Instructions Not Included2013-07-20Valentin is Acapulco's resident playboy, until a former fling leaves a baby on his doorstep and him heading with her out of Mexico.More...
The Hot Chick2002-12-13Not only is Jessica Spencer the most popular girl in school -- she is also the meanest. But things change for the attractive teen when a freak accident involving a cursed pair of earrings and a chance encounter at a gas station causes her to switch bodies with Clive, a sleazy crook. Jessica, in the form of the repulsive Clive, struggles to adjust to this radical alteration and sets out to get her own body back before the upcoming prom.More...
Army of Darkness1992-10-31Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.More...
Friday the 13th1980-05-09Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.More...
Suspiria1977-02-01An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.More...
The Evil Dead1981-09-10In 1979, a group of college students find a Sumerian Book of the Dead in an old wilderness cabin they've rented for a weekend getaway.More...
Beauty and the Beast2017-03-16A live-action adaptation of Disney's version of the classic tale of a cursed prince and a beautiful young woman who helps him break the spell.More...
The Shining1980-05-23Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.More...
The Hateful Eight2015-12-25Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception.More...
Pretty Woman1990-03-23While on a business trip in Los Angeles, Edward Lewis, a millionaire entrepreneur who makes a living buying and breaking up companies, picks up a prostitute, Vivian, while asking for directions; after, Edward hires Vivian to stay with him for the weekend to accompany him to a few social events, and the two get closer only to discover there are significant hurdles to overcome as they try to bridge the gap between their very different worlds.More...
Pulp Fiction1994-09-10A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.More...
Similar Movies
Rinkaku
2012-10-06Once again animator Keita Kurosaka was enlisted to create a hand drawn music video, that in many regards is much less shocking and grotesque than the previous collaboration, the infamous "Agitated Screams of Maggots".Paradise Now
2005-09-07Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.My Neighbor Wants Me ...
2019-03-09The Tenant continuously fails to escape his deadly apartment within a 5 minute time limit as his blood-thirsty neighbor threatens him from behind the front doorEnd Trip
2018-06-09On a calm night in an average city a hardworking URYDE driver, Brandon, picks up just another fare, Judd. Using interactions that blur the lines between the technological world and the physical one, Judd explains a messy breakup. Brandon offers an empathetic ear and a sympathetic heart to his new friend to help him pick up the pieces. Aggregated profiles, algorithms, links, likes and comments bring people closer. But how close is too close?Predator 2
1990-11-21A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.Saw
2004-10-01Two men wake up to find themselves shackled in a grimy, abandoned bathroom. As they struggle to comprehend their predicament, they discover a disturbing tape left behind by the sadistic mastermind known as Jigsaw. With a chilling voice and cryptic instructions, Jigsaw informs them that they must partake in a gruesome game in order to secure their freedom.The Name of the Rose
1986-09-2414th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.Saw III
2006-10-26Jigsaw has disappeared. Along with his new apprentice Amanda, the puppet-master behind the cruel, intricate games that have terrified a community and baffled police has once again eluded capture and vanished. While city detective scrambles to locate him, Doctor Lynn Denlon and Jeff Reinhart are unaware that they are about to become the latest pawns on his vicious chessboard.Saw II
2005-10-28The chilling and relentless Jigsaw killer returns to terrorize the city once again. When a gruesome murder victim emerges with unmistakable traces of Jigsaw's sinister methods, Detective Eric Matthews is thrust into a high-stakes investigation. To his surprise, apprehending Jigsaw seems almost too easy, but what he doesn't realize is that being caught is merely another piece of Jigsaw's intricate puzzle.Cube
1998-07-11A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a maze-like prison. It soon becomes clear that each of them possesses the peculiar skills necessary to escape, if they don't wind up dead first.The Woman Hunter
1972-09-19A wealthy woman, vacationing in Acapulco with her stuffy husband, stumbles upon evidence that she is being stalked by an international jewel thief and murderer.Death Forest: Forbidd...
2014-12-20On their way home from a camping trip, a group of friends become stuck in an eerie forest when their car breaks down. There, they meet a mysterious stranger who warns of monsters lurking in the forest - will they make it out alive? Based on the popular computer game of the same name.The Ghost Photo Club
2015-05-30High school student Kayu (Makoto Okunaka) joins the Ghost Photo Club. The club investigates and researches ghost photographs. She tries to find the truth behind ghost pictures with members Kaname (Yosuke Ito) and Riri (Yuuka Ueno). They are not aware of a murderous ghost approaching. (Description taken from AsianWiki)Godzilla
1998-05-20French nuclear tests irradiate an iguana into a giant monster that viciously attacks freighter ships in the Pacific Ocean. A team of experts, including Niko Tatopoulos, conclude that the oversized reptile is the culprit. Before long, the giant lizard is loose in Manhattan as the US military races to destroy the monster before it reproduces and it's spawn takes over the world.Mission: Impossible I...
2000-05-24With computer genius Luther Stickell at his side and a beautiful thief on his mind, agent Ethan Hunt races across Australia and Spain to stop a former IMF agent from unleashing a genetically engineered biological weapon called Chimera. This mission, should Hunt choose to accept it, plunges him into the center of an international crisis of terrifying magnitude.Synonymous With
2021-04-12A student's increasingly intimate line of questioning causes his interview with a local horror host to take a vulnerable turn.Once Upon a Time in M...
2003-09-11A corrupt CIA agent Sands hires hitman El Mariachi to assassinate a Mexican general hired by a drug kingpin attempting a coup d'état of the President of Mexico.Clean, Shaven
1995-04-14Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her adoptive family. He attempts to function in a world that, for him, is filled with strange voices, electrical noise, disconcerting images, and jarringly sudden emotional shifts. During his quest, he runs afoul of the law and an ongoing murder investigation.Suicide Forest Villag...
2021-02-05One day a mysterious box arrived and a curse began to spread all over. The source of the box is 'Jukai Village'. The village is hidden in Jukai Forest, a suicide spot that once you enter it, you can never come out.Hannibal Rising
2007-02-06The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill.