The Book of Stone (1969)

Synopsis

The movie The Book of Stone (1969) is a Mexican supernatural horror film, written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada. The film is set in a bourgeois family that lives in an afforested property they have recently bought¹.

Julia, a newly appointed governess, finds herself in charge of a young girl named Sylvia. Despite her father Eugenio’s emotional distance and the recent addition of a stepmother, Mariana, Sylvia’s life is far from ordinary. She claims to have a playmate named Hugo, who Julia initially assumes to be a neighborhood boy. However, Eugenio reveals that Hugo is merely a stone statue in their garden, leading Julia to question Sylvia’s mental health.

Despite the initial cold reception, Sylvia gradually warms up to Julia, who treats her with kindness and understanding. One day, Sylvia leads Julia to an abandoned church, where a frightening encounter with a strangely marked lizard nearly causes Julia to fall from the roof. During this incident, Sylvia speaks to Hugo, expressing her reluctance to accompany him.

Back at the house, Sylvia’s godfather Carlos visits, bringing along his new dog, Yago. However, a frightening incident involving Yago leads to tension in the household. The following day, Julia discovers her necklace, which she had lost in the lake, in her room. This, along with other strange occurrences, leads Julia to question the reality of Hugo’s existence.

As the movie The Book of Stone (1969) unfolds, Julia learns more about Sylvia’s peculiar behavior and the mysterious figure of Hugo. She witnesses strange events, such as Mariana experiencing unexplained pains and the sudden death of Yago. Despite these unsettling incidents, Julia remains determined to understand Sylvia and the enigmatic presence of Hugo. The narrative explores themes of mystery, the supernatural, and the blurred lines between reality and imagination.

Cast

Marga López as Julia Septién
Joaquín Cordero as Eugenio Ruvalcaba
Norma Lazareno as Mariana
Aldo Monti as Carlos
Lucy Buj as Silvia
Rafael Llamas as Profesor Esquivias
Ada Carrasco as Paulina
Lilia Castillo as Herminia
Manuel Dondé as Bruno
Jorge Mateos as Dr. Molina
Miguel Gómez Checa as Teniente de policía
Eduardo MacGregor as Fabián
Jorge Pablo Carrillo as Hugo

Trivia

The movie The Book of Stone (1969) was remade in 2009¹.

Film Studies

The films of director Carlos Enrique Taboada, most notably Hasta el viento tiene miedo (Even the Wind is Frightened) (1968), El libro de piedra (The Book of Stone) (1969), and Más negro que la noche (Blacker than Night) (1975), primarily focus on spectral hauntings that affect the inhabitants of old mansions and boarding schools, settings that barely speak of a local or distinctive national approach to the Gothic.

“Later Mexican vampire horror films, such as El vampiro [The Vampire] (1957), El ataúd del vampiro [The Vampire’s Coffin] (1958), El vampiro sangriento [The Bloody Vampire] (1962), La invasión de los vampiros [The Invasion of the Vampires] (1963), and El imperio de Drácula [Dracula’s Empire] (1966) demonstrate a tendency to emulate the successful horror film productions of the Universal and Hammer Studios, once again importing characters, monsters, settings, and situations into a more local environment. For instance, instead of ruined castles, in Mexican Gothic, vampires reside in old, colonial haciendas— the architectural remnants of the oligarchy that once held most of the rural population under their power. Likewise, the films of director Carlos Enrique Taboada, most notably Hasta el viento tiene miedo [Even the Wind is Frightened] (1968), El libro de piedra [The Book of Stone] (1969), and Más negro que la noche [Blacker than Night] (1975), primarily focus on spectral hauntings that affect the inhabitants of old mansions and boarding schools, settings that barely speak of a local or distinctive national approach to the Gothic. As such, Gothic horror in Mexican cinema has primarily been interested in adopting and adapting a narrative form whose key formal elements may provide an effective reproduction of the horror genre that is suited to a particular locale.

Even though some of these horror films do explore the inevitable tension of past and present in relation to history, what they also do is import a source of horror more suited to address anxieties that may arise in our country’s modern discourse on identity. “
[5] “Media, Shadows, and Spiritual Bindings,” ÓU Lazo’s – Latin American Gothic in Literature and Culture

Reviews

“This ghost tale is well-regarded by many in its home country and it’s easy to see why. The performances are good, it’s faintly eerie at times, paces itself out about right by revealing layers of the interesting story a little bit at a time, makes good use of the lush outdoor surroundings and a few of the supernatural scenes, with visions of the little boy’s ghost seen several times reflected in mirrors, are well-done. It’s a good film, no doubt, but overall it lacks the artistry and depth that makes something like the similar and aforementioned The Innocents an *excellent* film. ” – [3]

“While a Mexican film, this feels like a Gothic along the lines of The Turn of the Screw or The Innocents. This film is considered one of the classics of Mexican horror cinema and for good reason. It has a thick atmosphere fraught with tension that it delivers on.” – [4]