Lizard In A Woman's Skin is an interesting, and highly enjoyable alternative to the gialli of Dario Argento. Although this movie and Argento's seem to belong to the same genre, Lucio Fulci shows here a different style and approach to storytelling. In fact one could say this is less of a horror movie and more of a mystery. Whereas Argento doesn't tend to deviate from the slasher formula - omniscient, omnipresent killer bumps victims one by one until he's stopped - Fulci goes for something more complex.
Carol (Florinda Balkan) has a dream about killing her promiscuous neighbor; but then she actually shows up dead, murdered in the exact same way Carol dreamed it. What is happening? Did she really dream it? Is she insane? Is she being framed? Fulci's misdirection is one of the best features of this movie. Usually in mystery movies the least likely suspect is the killer, but here there are at least three strong suspects, and Fulci manipulates the viewer into thinking that one or another is the killer at different times of the movie. And not until the end is the truth revealed.
Watching this movie, I kept getting echos of older movies: George Cuckoor's Gaslight, Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound in that a dream has to be dismantled and analyzed to find the truth. Not to say it's derivative, since it's quite fresh in the way it's done; but at least it draws from a more interesting source than other gialli.
There are some problems of editing and writing, the dialogue can be a bit simplistic, the characters underdeveloped. The movie has some weaknesses. But in comparison with other gialli, it's quite good. And boasts as good as cinematography as any in a Dario Argento movie and some very tense situations. There's a chase scene that starts in an underground chamber and ends in a rooftop that should leave any viewer on the edge of the seat.
I'm very glad to have seen this movie and can't wait to watch more movies by Lucio Fulci.
Carol (Florinda Balkan) has a dream about killing her promiscuous neighbor; but then she actually shows up dead, murdered in the exact same way Carol dreamed it. What is happening? Did she really dream it? Is she insane? Is she being framed? Fulci's misdirection is one of the best features of this movie. Usually in mystery movies the least likely suspect is the killer, but here there are at least three strong suspects, and Fulci manipulates the viewer into thinking that one or another is the killer at different times of the movie. And not until the end is the truth revealed.
Watching this movie, I kept getting echos of older movies: George Cuckoor's Gaslight, Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound in that a dream has to be dismantled and analyzed to find the truth. Not to say it's derivative, since it's quite fresh in the way it's done; but at least it draws from a more interesting source than other gialli.
There are some problems of editing and writing, the dialogue can be a bit simplistic, the characters underdeveloped. The movie has some weaknesses. But in comparison with other gialli, it's quite good. And boasts as good as cinematography as any in a Dario Argento movie and some very tense situations. There's a chase scene that starts in an underground chamber and ends in a rooftop that should leave any viewer on the edge of the seat.
I'm very glad to have seen this movie and can't wait to watch more movies by Lucio Fulci.