A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

8/10

An acid trip by a much maligned director

chaosrampant5 January 2008

Even though Lucio Fulci's name is usually uttered in the same breath as those of Mario Bava and Dario Argento in "who's the best Italian horror director?" discussions, he's just as likely to be dismissed as an incompetent hack that couldn't direct traffic. "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin", like the rest of his gialli efforts from the 70's is solid proof of the opposite. Unlike other genre efforts that leave the viewer baffled with ludicrous plot twists and impossible endings, "Lizard...", convoluted as it may be, ranks among the most solid crime mysteries the Italian scene produced.

Of course that doesn't mean the final 20 minutes aren't bound to give you a headache as the plot unfolds its myriad twists and turns. Every character is a suspect. In turns Carrol, her husband, two hippies, Carrol's step daughter and her father. Yet all the loose ends are tied very neatly in the end. Beautifully staged gore, great cinematography and hot European babes shedding their clothes are other genre staples and "Lizard.." doesn't dissappoint, even though it's gore-lite. It certainly doesn't live up to Fulci's rep (a rep not entirely representative of his vast work, spanning many different genres from westerns to crime action and comedies), but I have no problem when the overall quality is so good. Coupled with a languid jazzy score by the maestro, Ennio Morricone, solid performances, intriguing set pieces and delirious dream sequences, Fulci here weaves a beautiful tappestry that will leave no fan of bizarre Italo-horror disappointed. And if anything, it just goes to prove that Fulci was a great director, even if his post New York Ripper catalogue may suggest the opposite.

Apart from the final 20 minutes, where the labyrinthine plot unfolds through remarkable detective work, the first sequence is great. It's Carrol's dream. She's pushing her way through a narrow (train?) corridor full of people, in slo mo, with an anguished look on her face. Suddenly the corridor is full of naked people (also known as hippies). Then she's falling into the void with darkness surrounding her. She lands on a lavish velvet bed, dressed in a grey fur, and makes out with the gorgeous Annita Strindberg. I haven't been thrown off so much by an opening scene since Martino's "The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh" (another great sleazy psychedelic opening). The rest of the dream scenes, including the murder, are all dizzying and off-beat.

Overall, this is a must see for giallo fans, Fulci fans that want to discover his other side and all the nay sayers. If possible, try and find the uncut Italian version. It might be full-screen but you get 5 minutes of additional gore and nudity.

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7/10

Fever-Dream-Like Fulci Giallo

Witchfinder-General-66627 May 2009

The 'godfather of gore' Lucio Fulci is certainly most famous for his gory Zombie flicks, such as "Zombi 2" (1979), "City of the Living Dead" (1980), or "The Beyond" (1980). Great films, of course, but, as far as I am concerned, his less widely known 70s Gialli are at least as memorable. Especially his 1972 masterpiece "Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino" aka. "Don't Torture a Duckling", easily Fulci's greatest film, ranges among the greatest Italian Horror films ever made, and outshines all his Zombie flicks in a heartbeat. This earlier Giallo-outing by Fulci, "Una Lucertola Con La Pelle Di Donna" aka. "Lizard In A Woman's Skin" (1971) is doubtlessly also a very intense, beautiful and creepy Giallo that impresses with a wonderfully uncanny, fever-dream-like atmosphere and a wonderful Florinda Bolkan in the lead. Yet I do not fully share the enthusiasm of some of my fellow Giallo-lovers, many of whom even seem to regard this as Fulci's best. While "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is doubtlessly highly atmospheric and furthermore has an ingeniously convoluted plot, it does have its lengths, and, even in regards of atmosphere, it cannot possibly compete with "Don't Torture a Duckling", in my opinion.

Tormented by bizarre lesbian dreams about her seductive neighbor (Anita Strindberg), the respectable lawyer's wife Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) regularly visits a psychotherapist. One day, Carol tells the psychotherapist about a dream in which she murders the neighbor. Shortly thereafter, the neighbor is actually murdered, in the exact same manner that Carol has dreamt of... "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is a Giallo that delivers in almost all regards. It has a convoluted plot and certainly isn't easy to predict. The cinematography is great, and the generally creepy, dream-like atmosphere is intensified by another ingenious score composed by maestro Ennio Morricone (the orchestra is conducted by another maestro, Bruno Nicolai). The film has a great ensemble-cast, especially Florinda Bolkan is brilliant in the lead. Bolkan is very beautiful and a great actress, and her performance here is just great. Anita Strindberg is mysterious and seductive in her role. The rest of the cast includes prolific characters such as Jean Sorel (as Carol's husband), Leo Genn (as her father), and Alberto De Mendoza (as one of the investigating police inspectors). Even though there are only few killings for Giallo-standards, the film has some very gory scenes and genuine shock-sequences. The film is very suspenseful, but, as mentioned above, it is partly a bit confused and has its lengths in-between. All in all, this is a very good film, but I personally wouldn't call it Fulci's best. That title doubtlessly goes to the masterpiece "Don't Torture A Duckling", but the two films can hardly be compared due to the very different theme, style and setting. If there is one film I would compare "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" with, it is probably Sergio Martino's underrated "Tutti I Colori Del Buio" (aka. "All Colors of the Dark", 1972), due to the psychedelic atmosphere and the confused female protagonist (though I personally preferred Martino's film). "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" provides a wonderful 70s feeling, with hippie-characters, orgies etc. Overall, "Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is highly recommended to all Giallo-lovers, particularly those who appreciate a psychedelic atmosphere. My rating: 7.5/10

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8/10

Trippy Italian giallo.

HumanoidOfFlesh30 April 2008

A troubled rich woman Carol Hammond played by Florinda Bolkan is suffering from a series of bizarre sexual dreams where she indulges in lesbian activities with her neighbor Julia Durer(Anita Strindberg).Unfortunately one morning after another perverse sex dream culminating in a gory knifing of Julia,Carol is shocked to find that Julia was murdered in her apartment the stormy night before.When all evidence points to Carol being the culprit she must not only investigate the crime but determine what is dream and what is reality."Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is perhaps the most bizarre and puzzling Fulci's giallo.The cinematography by Luigi Kuvellier is splendid with some gorgeous visuals and the dream scenes are appropriately psychedelic.The eviscerated dogs sequence still shocks unprepared viewers drawn into the murder mystery aspect of the film.8 out of 10.

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Delirious murder mystery filled with bat attacks, drug trips and disemboweled barking dogs.

unoness11 December 1998

This rarely seen Fulci offering brings to mind many comparisons with Dario Argento's earlier works.

A woman (Monti) dreams in slow motion of murdering her somewhat libertine neighbor and relates it all back to her therapist; some time later, her neighbor indeed turns up dead, and the details all match those in the dream. The police are called in, many red herrings are thrown in, and as the false resolutions arise, the police procedural turns into an unbelievably convoluted and confusing spiral. Two hippies, whacked out of their minds on LSD, witness the murder but make unreliable witnesses due to their state at the time. The line between reality and hallucination becomes increasingly blurred throughout the whole film, as the mentally unbalanced Monti tries to reconcile her shifts in perception.

The strength of the movie lies in the visuals, however; Fulci's wild camera work helps reinforce the sense of illusion throughout.

Ennio Morricone's score complements the picture's strange mood perfectly.

Fulci found himself in court over an unusually ugly scene of vivisected dogs (during a hallucination); his SFX man Carlo Rambaldi had to bring in the animatronic models of the dogs to get him off the hook.

At times it's a bit slow, but at other times Lizard in a Woman's Skin is a very wild ride indeed.

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7/10

Not quite as good as Don't Torture a Duckling

bensonmum226 February 2005

Warning: Spoilers

A mentally unbalanced woman tells her therapist about a recent dream involving her neighbor. In the dream, Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) violently murders her neighbor. A few days later, the neighbors body is found. Suspicion immediately falls on Carol - her fingerprints are on the knife, her scarf is on the body, and her fur coat is on the floor. Was it a dream or did Carol really commit murder?

I cannot begin to express how long I've been waiting for this movie to be released. The street date was pushed back several times over the course of about two years. And, this my be the reason I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. My expectations were ridiculously high. It would have been difficult for any movie to live up to the lofty expectations I had placed on A Lizard in a Woman's Skin.

Several things in the movie really worked for me. Chief among them is the ending. The last 20 or so minutes of the movie are a mystery lovers dream. Every single character comes under suspicion of having committed the murder. And there are plenty of suspects - Carol, her husband, her daughter, her father, the hippie, and anyone else who has more than 5 minutes of screen time. It wouldn't have surprised me had the police detective arrested himself. Just when you believe you've got it all figured out, the spotlight shifts to someone else. It's not until the very last moments of the movie that everything becomes clear.

Some things, however, did not work for me. The first third of the movie is incredibly slow. Other than the murder, nothing much happens. The time is spent on developing the idea that Carol is crazy. It's not very thrilling.

The new Region 1 DVD comes with two different versions of the movie. The cleaned-up widescreen transfer is actually the cut American version known as Schizoid. The second disc has the uncut version, only it's not as good of a print and it's foolscreen. The difference between the two versions appears to be about 5 or so minutes of added gore and nudity. So, beware before you buy.

While I enjoyed the movie, I didn't find it nearly as enjoyable as Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling. But, it's going to take more than this viewing to make me a real fan. My expectations got in the way this time.

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10/10

Premium early 70's giallo

Red-Barracuda15 December 2008

Yet another early 70's giallo with one of those cryptic zoophilic titles. A Lizard in a Woman's Skin is a very fine example of this most Italian of exploitation sub-genres and is possibly the best film that Lucio Fulci ever made.

This is an atypical giallo in that it only has one on screen murder to speak of. However, this murder is, to say the least, a memorable affair. It takes place as part of a very trippy and psychedelic dream sequence that features a train populated entirely by naked people, a malevolent giant swan, and grotesque Francis Bacon style dead people in chairs with leaking guts. In the centre of the dream is a lesbian liaison between Florinda Bolkan and Anita Strindberg (who has never looked better than here). The lovers embrace on a king-size bed draped in sheets of a deep red colour. When suddenly Bolkan drives a knife into Strindberg's chest. Her death throws are caught in orgiastic operatic slow motion. This is all accompanied by a creepy Ennio Morricone soundtrack. To put it mildly, this is magnificent stuff. Aside from this opening murder there is a scene later in the film that is not recommended for dog lovers (although seeing that this is an Italian movie I feel I should point out that these aren't real dogs folks, thank God).

Lizard – along with Don't Torture a Duckling - proves that given the right resources, Fulci was more than capable of producing stylish, suspenseful and highly polished films. Like a considerable number of gialli from the early 70's, Lizard benefits from the great pool of talent that was evidently working in the Italian film industry at the time; there seems to have been an abundance of great cinematographers, composers, set designers and wardrobe people, alongside some great directors and appealing actors (not too sure about the writers though!). This film displays a great deal of the aforementioned positives. There is great camera-work, including nice use of split-screen. Excellent photography of the interior shots of Alexandra Palace, that only serves to heighten the suspense of this sequence. The scene where Florinda Bolkan is trapped in a room full of bats by the killer and attempts escape via high window is replicated a few years later in Suspiria – I suspect Dario Argento has seen this movie. We have a standout score from Ennio Morricone. The main theme is a beautiful piece of orchestral music with a laid-back groove featuring breathy vocal accompaniment by the incomparable Edda Del'Orso. If anything, this main theme is criminally underused in the movie, although the rest of the soundtrack is great too, featuring, as it does, some wild psychedelic work outs too – Mondo Morricone! The interior décor and fashions are suitably, and agreeably, examples of early 70's Italian style that we know and love. Acting-wise Florinda Bolkan turns in a great central performance and she is ably supported by an ensemble that is a whose-who of Italian genre cinema of the time.

This is essential stuff for giallo completists. This compares very favourably with the best the genre has to offer. Fulci is most commonly associated with his later zombie splatter flicks but this film alongside it's companion piece Don't Torture a Duckling prove that he was a master of the giallo.

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7/10

Among Fulci's best

movieman_kev18 May 2005

Carol Hammond is having bizarre recurring dreams which she is going to a psychiatrist to find the meaning of. In her subsequent later dreams she finds herself killing her promiscuous nubile neighbor.when the aforementioned neighbor is then found murdered in real life with Carol's penknife found at the scene she becomes a prime suspect. Shriek Show dropped the ball with this one somewhat. With the shorter American "Schizord" version getting a better transfer, while the original Italian version is relegated to the second disc. It doesn't look as good and is in full-screen. It's great to own this at all, but I was somewhat disheartened. That being said, this is one of Fulci's best, if somewhat dated, Giallos It keeps you guessing, and is never boring.

My Grade: B

Anchor Bay 2-DVD set Extras: Disc 1) USA "Schizoid" version; Radio spots; US Trailer; Trailers for "Zombi 2", "City of the Living Dead", "Touch of Death", "House of Clocks", "Sweet House of Horrors", "Demonia", and "Death Trance" Disc 2) 98 minute Italian version, 33 minute "Shedding the Skin" documentary, and Photo Gallery 1 Easter Egg: go to the 'Scene access', Go to chapter 4, then press right, in the lower-left of the screen you'll see a highlighted bat.Press play for 2 deleted scenes.

Eye Candy: Florida Bolken, Anita Strindberg; various extras show boobs and butts

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8/10

The Perfect Alibi

claudio_carvalho4 April 2017

In London, Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) lives in a fancy building with her husband Frank Hammond (Jean Sorel) and her stepdaughter Joan Hammond (Edy Gall). Carol is the beloved daughter of the wealthy and prominent lawyer and politician Edmond Brighton (Leo Genn) and Frank is his partner in his office and has a love affair with Deborah (Silvia Monti). Carol's next door neighbor Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg) is a depraved woman that promotes parties with drugs and orgies. Carol has psychoanalyze sessions with Dr. Kerr (George Rigaud) and is intrigued with a nightmare where she stabs Julia to death three times with a couple watching the murder. When Julia is found dead in her apartment, the efficient Inspector Corvin (Stanley Baker) and his partner Sgt. Brandon (Alberto de Mendoza) are assigned to investigate. All the evidences point out to Carol, but was a dream or reality?

"Una lucertola con la pelle di donna", a.k.a "A Lizard in Woman's Skin", is a great giallo by Lucio Fulci. The story is complex with many twists and there are many suspects that might have killed Julia Durer. The conclusion is exceptional, with Inspector Corvin solving the case. Florinda Bolkan has great performance and is extremely elegant. The graphic dog scene is impressive and was necessary to prove in court that it was the work of the special effects. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Uma Lagartixa num Corpo de Mulher" ("A Gecko in a Woman's Body")

Note: On 09 June 2020 I saw this film again.

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7/10

Good giallo from Fulci

ODDBear5 April 2006

Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin is a very solid giallo but not the best from him. Working with a decent script and some solid actors, Fulci creates a truly bizarre mood with some nifty visuals and makes for quite a unique viewing experience. The hallucinations/dream sequences are well done, creepy and suspenseful and set the tone for an original mystery that unfolds mostly well and peppered with some solid set pieces along the way, two of which involve mutilated dogs and an array of nasty bats.

Fulci is a talented giallo filmmaker, his films Seven Notes in Black (aka The Psychic) and particularly Don't Torture a Duckling show he can effortlessly handle murder mysteries with relatively straight forward narratives and create much suspense without his trademark gore set pieces that characterized his later nonsensical Gothic horror films. In most respects; Lizard is a simple murder mystery laced with dreamlike visuals and is made out to be more complicated than it actually turns out to be. It's well written and constantly keeps the viewer guessing up until the very end. The conclusion not only makes sense but is wholly satisfying and makes the viewer want to return to the film in the near future. Also, it's quite sexy, with regular giallo femme Anita Strindberg showing off her goods.

At only 90 plus minutes the film somehow seems a bit overlong. Some scenes feel rather long winded and overly stretched. Supporting actors are rather lame and the English dub is not very good.

Overall Lizard is an interesting movie which just shows even further that Fulci should have stayed mostly within the thriller genre. Argento he's not but a very good giallo filmmaker nonetheless.

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5/10

Worth watching for the dream sequences, not so much for the giallo

Groverdox20 April 2016

"Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is part giallo whodunit, part striking, hallucinatory nightmare. Only one of these parts in successful.

Those who have had to suffer through some of Fulci's later garbage such as "City of the Living Dead", "Manhattan Baby" or "The Beyond" might be surprised to find that he could actually direct. The dream sequences are filled with startling imagery made all the more striking for their auteurism. Who could forget the dissected canines? Even the giallo parts, the "real" aspect of the movie, feature inventive camera angles that take you by surprise.

But when the movie leaves the dreams behind, as it must, we are left with a not terribly interesting mystery. I didn't much care who did it, and the ending scenes, where we are supposed to be surprised, and kept guessing, by sudden revelations, felt needlessly drawn out and tiresome.

Who did do it? I wasn't paying attention.

The movie has some nudity, and a stabbing during a lesbian liaison. We only see the stabbing, not the bit before.

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10/10

First rate Fulci

The_Void19 March 2005

When people think of Lucio Fulci, it's always his gorier and largely incoherent efforts that spring to mind. Films like Zombie Flesh-Eaters and The Beyond, which are most definitely good films if you like that sort of thing (as I certainly do!); but they don't adequately portray the man's talent. If you want to see the 'great' Fulci films, you need to go back to his Giallo days with films like Don't Torture a Duckling and indeed this film; A Lizard in Woman's Skin. Fulci's first Giallo is a trippy thriller that excellently captures the laid back style of the swinging sixties and blends it magnificently with the thrilling pace that has gone on to epitomise the Italian thriller. The film follows a young woman (Florinda Bolkan) who dreams that she is having orgies with a hippy woman that lives downstairs. Events take a turn for the worse when the young woman dreams that she's killed the hippy, who then turns up dead; brutally murdered in her apartment, in exactly the way that the woman dreamt...

While this film isn't as brutal as some of the later Giallo efforts, Fulci succeeds in creating a foreboding atmosphere and manages to keep his audience on the edge of their seats. The plot line is rather strange, and Fulci makes best use of this through an excellent Ennio Morricone score, which firmly instills the trippy atmosphere in the viewers mind. The Giallo has come to be synonymous with brutal murders and lots of gore but, ironically, Fulci keeps his murders down a minimum and some of them even happen off screen. This is both a good and a bad thing as I, personally, like seeing brutal murders in Giallo's; but on the other hand it allows Fulci to keep the focus firmly on the central murder and he doesn't get sidetracked with lots of blood and gore, which does the film itself lots of favours. The mystery boils down to an excellent ending, in which the film is tied up nicely and we are treated to a great twist and some first rate detective work from the detective on the case. Highly recommended viewing and a must for Giallo fans!

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7/10

Old-Fashioned Mystery Meets Giallo Innovations

Eumenides_06 April 2010

Warning: Spoilers

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.

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4/10

Fulci does giallobadly!

BA_Harrison12 April 2007

I've tried to like cult director Lucio Fulci's films, I really have. I've seen his 80s gore 'classics' (House By The Cemetery, The Beyond, Zombi 2, City of the Living Dead, The New York Ripper), his later splatter films (Cat In The Brain, Touch of Death) and his one brief foray into crime thriller territory (Contraband); none of them have really impressed me. Now I'm giving his giallos a go; they're supposed to be good, aren't they?

Lizard in a Woman's Skin is a trippy hippy early-70s thriller which sees a woman accused of murdering her promiscuous neighbour. In typical giallo fashion, nothing is quite as it seems, until the final scene when the truth is divulged. Once again I believe that I am destined never to be a Fulci fan, finding the film rather dull and extremely dated.

With only a couple of murders, which take place off-screen. and plenty of scenes depicting boring police procedure, Lizard in a Woman's Skin is yet another disappointment from the Italian 'godfather of gore'.

In true Fulci fashion, the film manages to shock (most notably with a scene featuring several dissected, but still living, dogs; with their bloody organs and guts on display, these whining canines are very effective and are the highlight of the film), but it also bores.

And even when Fulci manages to occasionally impress, his hard work is blown with some truly awful moments. For example, during a chase scene in which a woman is pursued through a church by a knife wielding maniac, the tension so carefully built up by the director is quickly dissipated when the woman reveals her momentary hiding placeby resting on a switch which activates a huge church organ. And not much later she gives herself away again by screaming at the body of a dead bat. Duh!

I'm going to give Lucio one last chance at impressing me with Don't torture A Duckling, another of his giallos. I'm not expecting it to be great though!

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Fulci's Best Movie

lazarillo26 October 2004

Although Lucio Fulci is most famous for the atmospheric and very gory series of zombie movies he made in the late 70's and early 80's, this early 70's giallo might very well be his best film. It has all the strengths of Fulci's best work--great cinematography, brilliant editing, and a powerful sense of atmosphere (although the decadent, garish portrait he creates here of "Swinging London" is quite distinct from oozing sense of dread he conjures up in the rural American settings of his zombie films). This movie, however, has two things his zombie films do not have: first, a script that is both genuinely suspenseful and that actually makes sense (rather than merely functioning as a means to tie various interesting scenes together), and, second, Florinda Balkan. It is hard to describe how good Balkan is here, but if you've seen her in "Flavia, the Heretic" or in the supporting role she plays in another excellent Fulci giallo "Don't Torture a Duckling" you'll know what I mean. There is some decent acting in many of the later Fulci movies, but nothing like Balkan's performance in this and in "Duckling".

And if you're the typical Fulci fan seeking a heavy dosage of blood and gore, you won't be disappointed. This movie offers a bat attack similar to the one he later did in "House by the Cemetery" which is less bloody, but much more realistic as it accomplished through clever editing rather than phony prosthetics. Then there is the scene with a half-dissected (but still living)dog which actually landed Fulci in court for animal cruelty! (Don't worry--it wasn't a real dog). Hopefully, when this movie comes out on (legitimate) DVD that scene will be restored to its full power, and this excellent movie will be appreciated for what it truly is--Fulci's best movie.

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7/10

Fulci At His Best

rudyardellis1 October 2020

Trippy psychothriller about a rich housewife who has erotic dreams about her neighbor. When one of these dreams turns violent, she wakes up the next day to find out that her neighbor had been killed and she's the lead suspect. It's a race against time to find out the true identity of the killer and prove her innocence before her fate is sealed.

As wild as A Lizard in A Woman's Skin is, it's fairly restrained for a Fulci film. None of his trademark zombies or eye popping gore are on display here and the script is tighter and more involving than some of his other films. It's definitely one of his more accessible films, but the slow pacing and trippy quality of some of the scenes might turn more mainstream viewers off.

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7/10

good-looking psychological giallo

dopefishie1 January 2021

This film is gorgeous! The lighting, the shot, the locations... it's fantastic to look at! The acting is done well, and the story unfolds in a rather unconventional manner.

That being said, some scenes overstay their welcome. I wish it had tighter pacing. It doesn't end with a bang which I admired but also disappointed me.

Of note, this marks the beginning of Fulci's love affair with bats. You've been warned ;)

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9/10

An early giallo that tops most of the others.

coldwaterpdh28 March 2008

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lucio Fulci made better giallos than Dario Argento. I'm sorry, but this early classic is truly stunning. From the opening scene in the train, to the final twist at the end, it will leave your arm hairs standing at attention.

It's gory, it's thrilling, it's creepy and it's moody. It absolutely captures the early 70's psychedelic 'thing' without being cheesy. It's basically a psychological study of a woman who seems deeply troubled but, then again, may just be delusional. Until the end, we really have no idea which is the case, but when we find out, we're surprised. The plot is genius.

"A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" is a true must-see for giallo fans. It's a recommended-see for horror fans. It's a probably-should-see for gore fans. And it's a better-be-on-your-shelf for Fulci fans. Classic movie fans and critics? Stay away. This is a film that you were not born to GET and you shouldn't attempt to.

By the way, my favorite Ennio Morricone soundtrack second only to "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." 9 out of 10, kids.

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6/10

Stylish and clever but slightly overlong Fulci thriller

gridoon20245 August 2012

Warning: Spoilers

"Lizard In A Woman's Skin" is a film that has developed, over the years, a cult reputation as being one of the very best Lucio Fulci films, an opinion shared especially among those who prefer Fulci's less gory films (not that there aren't some very graphic scenes here, but they are few in number). It is a reputation that the film mostly lives up to. It's very stylishly shot around London (BTW, Fulci seems to have invented the "you-are-there / shaky-cam" style long before it became fashionable), the story is unpredictable and loaded with red herrings, and the cast is unusually competent for the genre - Florinda Bolkan may very well be the best giallo actress of them all (she's great to look at as well, and so are the other women in the film). But the film also drags at times, and the opening 10 minutes in particular come dangerously close to Jess Franco territory. Overall I think Fulci's later mystery "Seven Notes In Black" is superior to this one; I'll also have to watch "Don't Torture A Duckling" one of these days. **1/2 out of 4.

P.S. Although the film appears to have been shot in English, the Italian version actually sounds more natural!

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9/10

Great early giallo from Fulci

dieseldemon853 March 2021

This was quite entertaining, kept you interested and guessing. I got it wrong a couple times. It has a bit of everything in it, great camera work, stunning set pieces, suspense, nudity. The dog scene is quite disturbing for an early era effect, and better than CGI. Stanley Baker does a great job as the inspector, and bears a striking resemblance to Sean Connery in Diamonds are forever. After the James Bond series, my next favorites are these Italian giallo's. They are vastly superior to U.S slasher flicks.

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6/10

An OK murder mystery or to give it it's proper name a 'giallo'.

poolandrews28 December 2004

Warning: Spoilers

Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) lives in a wealthy part of London in a flat with her Husband Frank (Jean Sorel) and stepdaughter Joan (Ely Galleani as Edy Gall). Carol is an insomniac and lately has been having strange and totally bizarre dreams about her next door neighbour Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg) that involve lesbianism, long boots and a fur coat, and who in reality holds drug and sex fuelled parties that annoy Carol, her family and the rest of their neighbours. Carol has been seeing a psychologist called Dr. Kerr (Georges Rigaud) to try and learn the meaning of her dreams and help cure her insomnia. During one such session she talks of having a dream where she murdered Julia with a paper knife. Soon after Carol learns from a Mrs. Gordon (Erzsi Paal as Ersi Pond) that Julia has been killed in real life, exactly like the way it happened in her dream. Insector Corvin (Stanley Baker) and Sergeant Brandon (Alberto De Mendoza) are put straight on the case. Together with someone from the 'scientific squad'(yeah right, I've lived in the UK all my life and they aren't called the scientific squad!) called Lowell (Ezio Marano) they make a load of implausible assumptions, and the fact that it was Carol's own paper knife that was used to stab Julia, they come to the conclusion that Carol may be responsible, however Carol claims she has never even spoke to Julia before and denies the accusation. Carol's Father Edmund Brighton (Leo Genn) luckily happens to be a hot shot lawyer and takes on the case together with Frank whom works for Edmund. Meanwhile Joan and Carol set out to find a couple of hippies who were at the party that night, Jenny (Penny Brown) and Hubert (Mike Kennedy). Things turn even more mysterious and complicated when an attempt is made on Carol's life, and it comes to light that Julia may have been blackmailing Frank over an affair he is having with a woman named Deborah (Silvia Monti). Who is responsible for the murder? Who is trying to kill Carol? Will Corvin and Brandon get to the bottom of the mystery? Who knows? Watch it to find out! Co-written and directed by Lucio Fulci and known more commonly under the title of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin, I thought this was a pretty good murder mystery who dun-nit, probably one of Fulci's better films. The London locations are used well throughout, especially the sequence where Carol is chased through a church and onto it's roof, it was actually Woburn Abby that the filmmakers used for this scene. The film has good production design and values plus a nice atmosphere to it throughout. There's a surprising lack of gore and violence, just Julia Durer being stabbed. There's more nudity than violence with most of the female cast getting undressed at one point or another. The script by Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, Jose Luis Martinez Molla and Andre Tranche concentrates on Julia's murder and the subsequent investigation, it's not a slasher film where random people are killed for the hell of it so don't expect a high body count. Therefore it may be a little slow for certain tastes, but try not to let that put you off as it's overall quite a rewarding film to watch, and it certainly kept me watching right through to the twist ending. There are various red-herrings to keep the viewer guessing, just about everyone seems to have both opportunity and motive. One thing I would like to mention at this point is that I managed to guess the killer's identity quite early on, it was a complete fluke as I just thought about the most implausible conclusion and to my surprise I was right! Technically the film is fine, photography, editing, acting and music. I'm not sure if I would want to see it again in a hurry as the story obviously loses it's impact and it's surprises are no longer surprising! A good, well made, solid and entertaining giallo that I recommend to all interested in the genre, and it's a film that may appeal to a wider audience too. Give it a try, you might like it.

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5/10

Fulci's movie that resembles a movie! But, is it enough?

markovd11111 July 2020

As I say it in the title, the movie is really nicely edited a put together. There is some interesting imagery and symbolism, but you quickly ask yourself what good is any of that if the story is boring as ever. The premise is interesting, yes. But it soon gets to you that you don't really care for any of the characters, that the main character is boring, dumb (in one chase scene she constantly screams, trips, screams like an idiot and in that way reveals her position) and not very lovable. Rest of the characters are also very generic, all up to to classic inspector which intuition and intelligence surpasses all members of his department combined. It is sad that it had to go this way, but I guess we should be glad we got a nice looking Fulci movie, if nothing else. "Don't Torture a Ducking" is a far better Fulci movie, along with "Psychic". One thing that is very good in this movie is Ennio Morricone's music, but that can't carry the whole movie. I give it 5.8/10. I didn't enjoy it, and for that reason, I can't recommend it to anyone. Sorry fans of Fulci's movies!

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10/10

A delirously entertaining giallo!

directjw19 February 1999

I've seen a lot of giallos, but Lucio Fulci's Lizard in a Woman's Skin is way up there with the best! Yes, it is unintentionally funny with its portrayal of hippies as murderous, drug-crazed psychopaths. However, what makes this film great is its delirious visual style, and its myriad, clever plot twists. Oh, and yes, it is suspenseful and scary. With its use of split screen and its naughty decadence, this film was obviously a big influence on the equally wonderful films of Brian De Palma's.

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7/10

Florinda Goes Batty!!!

ferbs5419 January 2008

"Lizard in a Woman's Skin" (1971) is an early, comparatively goreless giallo from Italian master Lucio Fulci. In it, Florinda Bolkan (who would go on to play the epileptic voodoo woman so memorably chain-whipped to death in Fulci's 1972 effort "Don't Torture a Duckling") portrays Carol Hammond, a well-to-do wife living in London who suffers from dreams of a very startling nature. Her latest involves the murder of her swinging next-door neighbor, a gorgeous blonde who's always throwing psychedelic, acid-drenched orgies. (Why can't I get invited to one of these things?!?) When that neighbor is found brutally slain a few days later, poor Carol is thrown into quite a state indeed... Anyway, director Fulci uses all the tricks in his considerable arsenal--split screens, slo-mo, smeared lenses, rapid-fire editing, unusual camera angles--to create a sense of decided strangeness in his picture, and he is abetted by the maestro himself, Ennio Morricone, who provides a score that is alternately freaky and quite lovely. Despite the relative lack of gore and the low number of actual homicides, the film boasts at least one bravura set piece, in which Florinda plays cat and mouse with a crazed killer in an immense, deserted cathedral, inhabited only by rampaging bats. (Fulci would use a similar bat attack sequence in a later film, 1981's "The Black Cat.") I cannot imagine anyone being able to divine the identity of the killer in this picture (unlike detective Stanley Baker, who is very fine here, by the way), but must admit that the film does hang together logically and coherently, unlike some other gialli that I have seen. In all, a most worthwhile film indeed, and the very decent-looking DVD that I just watched from the fine folks at Shriek Show serves it well.

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5/10

Vanilla Giallo

Jonny_Numb7 October 2007

(Second review: pertains to the recent DVD release that clocks in at 103 minutes--allegedly the most complete version available.)

To those--such as myself--who were weaned on Lucio Fulci's post-"Zombie" gorefests, looking back at his earlier work can be a jarring experience. Films like "Don't Torture a Duckling" and "The Psychic" show a filmmaker bringing a sense of macabre mystery to the mainstream; the same can be said for "Lizard in a Woman's Skin," his first foray into the 'giallo' subgenre...though the result is terribly disappointing.

It's hard to ignore the cue Fulci takes from Dario Argento, making an animal-themed (and relatively restrained) film in the footsteps of "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage." There are glimpses of the frenetic (almost invasive) camera tricks and stylistic techniques Fulci would mine with more confidence (and effect) in his gritty horror outings. While he stages an impressive extended chase through Alexandra Palace (beginning in the underground tunnels and finishing on the rooftop), piques our interest with a smattering of sex, violence, and psychedelics at the very beginning, and gives us a dog-vivisection dream sequence that foreshadows his later work (and is still gruesomely effective today), what lies in between is talky and largely uninteresting.

The plot is simple enough: Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan--"Don't Torture a Duckling"), daughter of a prominent politician in Great Britain, is afflicted with strange hallucinations that literally bleed over into reality when her next-door neighbor, Julia Durer (sexy Anita Strindberg) is stabbed to death. Meanwhile, Carol's husband Frank (Jean Sorel) is carrying on an affair with a family friend, and Carol's daughter-in-law, Joan (Edy Gall) is somehow involved with a bunch of hippie types who know something about the murder.

I consider Fulci's "Don't Torture a Duckling" one of the finer examples of a giallo done right--it wasn't so heavily stylized that it detracted from character or story, and at times invoked a sense of realism-through-restraint. "Lizard" is almost the total opposite--the characters tend to become dancing puppets within a plot that's constantly twisting itself into a pretzel; indeed, much like Argento's style-drenched films, the best method of viewing is to just drink in the look and feel of things, and wait for the inevitable Closing Revelation, in which all the convoluted plot points are explained. Yet "Lizard"--save for its experimental, color-soaked LSD scenes--isn't even that much fun to watch; taking place in a perpetually gloomy Britain, one feels Fulci stretching for legitimacy and falling short. The dialog scenes are endless to the point of tedium, and produce more confusion than intrigue.

In short, "Lizard" is required viewing for the Fulci completist, but otherwise not worth the bother.

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