The Book of Stone
Release date: 1969-07-18
Votes: 85
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...
Windstruck2004-06-03Kyung-jin, a police officer who finds herself chasing down a suspected bag-snatcher on her day off. However, the man she catches turns out to be Myungwoo, a passer-by who was himself trying to apprehend the real criminal.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...
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...
Atrocious2010-10-15Quintanilla family was found dead in their country side house. Police reported the existence of 37 hours of recorded evidence. The family traveled to their old farm house, where they investigated about the Legend of the Girl in the Garraf woods. They used to record whatever they did. Atrocious shows the last five days of this family, and the strange situations that they lived in those moments and which remain unexplained.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 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, 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...
The Crucifixion2017-04-27When a priest is jailed for the murder of a nun on whom he was performing an exorcism, an investigative journalist strives to determine whether he in fact murdered a mentally ill person, or if he lost the battle with a demonic presence.More...
Belzebuth2019-01-11While leading a police investigation of a massacre in a public school at the border of Mexico and U.S.A, special Agent Emanuel Ritter links this strange case to the coming and rising of the ancient demon Belzebuth. But in order to stop the trail of upcoming infanticides, Ritter shall have to confront himself before dealing with the forces of good and evil.More...
Who Am I?1998-01-17A group of covert CIA operatives trailing a potential new energy source are double-crossed by corrupt agent Morgan, who causes a helicopter crash in remote South Africa. The sole survivor, suffering severe amnesia, is nursed to recovery by a kindly native tribe who call him "Whoami" after the question he keeps asking. With the help of a mysterious reporter Christine, Whoami pieces together his past and tracks the turncoat agent and his criminal cohorts.More...
Blue Streak1999-09-17Miles Logan is a jewel thief who just hit the big time by stealing a huge diamond. However, after two years in jail, he comes to find out that he hid the diamond in a police building that was being built at the time of the robbery. In an attempt to regain his diamond, he poses as an LAPD detective.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...
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...
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...
The Elephant Man1980-10-09A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.More...
Talk to Me2023-07-26When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.More...
Similar Movies
From Russia with Love...
1963-10-10Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.Saw IV
2007-10-25Despite Jigsaw's death, and in order to save the lives of two of his colleagues, Lieutenant Rigg is forced to take part in a new game, which promises to test him to the limit.Aliens
1986-07-18Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.Paradise Now
2005-09-07Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.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.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.Residue
2017-07-18A private investigator reads a book of sinister origins and unknowingly puts his daughter and himself in a fight for their lives...and their eternal souls.The Wicked One
2017-04-23A group of traveling friends who are hoping for a fun filled weekend getaway, find themselves in the cross hairs of one of the most dangerous and prolific serial killers in history.The Heiress
2019-11-27The Heiress centers on the story of Luna, a mambabarang or a powerful demon sorceress, who will stop at nothing to keep to herself her young niece, Guila.Aria
2021-07-10Millennial couple Jenny and Tom are excited to install a new Aria "smart security system" in their home. But while Jenny adapts to life alongside their new domestic overseer, Tom becomes increasingly paranoid about what may be lurking outside their front door at night.A Hand Beneath the Sn...
2022-10-27Fabian, a fisherman from the beaches of northern Mexico, spends his days working on a boat under the sun, but his life takes a turn when terrible news arrive.World Trade Center
2006-08-09Two police officers struggle to survive when they become trapped beneath the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.Open Your Eyes
1997-12-19Handsome 25-year-old Cesar had it all -- a successful career, expensive cars, a swank bachelor's pad, and an endless string of beautiful and willing women -- until he is thrown into a strange psychological mystery after a car accident scars his face and lands him in prison.Rosebud
1975-03-24In a bold coup a Palestinian terrorist group captures the yacht Rosebud and kidnaps the millionaires five daughters on it. At first they demand film clips to be shown on major European TV stations. Undercover agent Martin is hired to hunt the terrorists down.A Mighty Heart
2007-06-22Based on Mariane Pearl's account of the terrifying and unforgettable story of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's life and death.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1984-11-09Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...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.