LizardinaWomansSkin

A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971)

Carol is married to a prominent attorney and her father is going to run for office. But Carol is also having strange dreams about one of her neighbors. Sexy dreams about all the naughty things that the neighbor does and that maybe Carol would like to do with her as well. She relates all this to her therapist, including the dream where she kills the neighbor. But when the woman shows up dead, killed with Carol’s letter opener, the question becomes whether it was a dream at all? Is Carol a killer or did perhaps one of the many other suspects frame her?

And that is what makes this a very cool Giallo. The story is very solid, interesting, and easy to follow. I only add that last part because it is directed by Lucio Fulci, who also wrote the screenplay. Many of Fulci’s movies have issues with the narrative and honestly don’t always make sense, but here that isn’t the case. This is a nifty mystery that has all the twists and turns that Giallo fans are going to be looking for. You have many suspects beyond the obvious to be sifted thru. There are plenty of red herrings that are discarded along the way (both literally and figuratively) until we get to the solution of the murder. And as is the case in the best of these sorts of movies it is satisfying and makes sense. There is nothing worse then to sit thru a Giallo only to be given an ending that is confusing and leaves plot holes. This one ties up all the loose ends and is a blast to watch.

If you aren’t familiar with what a Giallo is then let me explain. Basically a Giallo is a murder mystery that has some sort of lurid or exploitive aspect that pushes it beyond what you would normally see in a traditional mystery. This could be over the top violence, lots of nudity and sex, or some sleazy aspect to the killer’s motivations. Without giving anything away A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin has a very cool and for the early ‘70s kind of shocking twist at its core. Again I don’t want to say much more and spoil it, but I can say that the movie does deliver the goods.

Speaking of delivering the goods I do want to mention something about the gore and kills. We do get to see a couple of bodies after the fact and there is a bit with an arm getting slashed, but don’t expect too much. I know that with Fulci’s name attached as the director some fans might be expecting a blood bath. This simply isn’t the case with this movie and really it wouldn’t fit with the story anyway. Gore aside I really enjoyed the style of the movie and how it was shot. The dream sequences are very cleverly done and there are some visual queues that are used to explain things later on in the movie. This brings me to a point that sort of bothers me. Many fans automatically think of the over the top gore and that is understandable. But Fulci also had a visual style all his own that I really dig. Much like Bava or Argento I can normally tell when I’m watching a Fulci flick just by how it is shot and the lighting choices. Next to The Beyond this might be one of Fulci’s better efforts behind the camera.

Obviously I’m going to recommend this one. Not only is it a cool movie for Fulci fans to own, but it is a very good Giallo as well. You can’t really go wrong on this one.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer