A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971)

This 1971 classic is key for any Fulci collection. A woman's nightmarish fantasies of murder and sadism come to life. Contains the legendary disemboweled dogs scene courtesy of Carlo Rambaldi s special effects. Stars Florinda Bolkan Jean Sorel Silvia Monti Stanley Baker and Anita Strindberg.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: UNRATED UPC: 631595062991 Manufacturer No: SSDVD0629 Product Description

The Chameleon

In '71 and '72, Italian gore maestro, Lucio Fulci, directed two unique Itaian gialli. The first, and, in my opinion, the better of the two, was "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin." The second, "Don't Torture A Duckling," was too anti-religious for my tastes. In a "Lizard," Carol is an attractive, upperclass socialite who is suffering much abuse from her relatives, including a philandering lawyer husband who is having an affair with her best friend, and a snooping, pesky stepdaughter. Her father is a successful lawyer/politician. She could've been a successful lawyer but chose not to be. Add to this a beautiful neighbor, Julia, who throws wild parties replete with promiscuous sex and drugs. Under a great deal of stress, poor Carol visits her phsychoanalyst and tells him about her dreams, especially about the ones involving her and Julia. They become increasingly more sexual and violent until Carol dreams she stabs Julia to death. A few days later, Julia is found dead just as Carol dreamed. Did someone in Carol's family kill Julia and is trying to frame Carol who wrote her dreams down on bits of paper? The characters are well drawn and very three dimensional. The deaths of several of them disturbed and saddened me. There were several gory scenes, especially the viscerated dogs, which lets us know that Lucio Fulci directed this giallo. The bat attack scene was remiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." There were numerous chase scenes involving beautiful women in peril. Speaking of beautiful women, Florinda Bolkan did an excellent job as "Carol." She later went on to co-star with Barbara Bouchet, another beauty, in "Don't Torture a Duckling." In "Duckling," Florinda Bolkan is a gypsy witch, thus showcasing her acting talents with her ability to play everything from the wealthy elite to the rejected outcasts. However, I do admit that no amount of dirt on her face could hide Florinda's beauty in "Duckling." As with "Duckling," the identity of the killer in "Lizard" can be found in the movie's title. The killer is a chameleon, able to change its appearance but always remaining a detestable, deadly lizard. This Shriek production of "Lizard" has good quality and audio and several extras. I rather enjoyed Lucio Fulci's giallos more so than his later gore fests such as "Zombie," "House by the Cemetery," and "City of the Dead." January 28, 2008

Fulci strikes again !

I started to see Lucio Fulci's movies since Zombie, so I'd never seen his previous films. I got a chance to take a look at A Lizard In A Woman's Skin and it was incredible. The story was just so fasinating. I really couldn't tell or predict what would happen next. It was one of the best viewing experiences of a thriller I've ever had. I think the effect the film was going for was definitely there. This film is definitely a superior example of the giallo film as much as any of Dario Argento's best work. The remastered version is definitely the one to go with in this case. The picture and sound quality on the shriek show dvd is just great. This is definitely the best edition of this film to get. The dvd is great. A dvd a fan could definitely appreciate and own. August 16, 2007

OUTSTANDING FILM, OKAY DVD

First I have to say that two weeks ago I had the luck to see a French video version of the film dating back from the 80's and it looked utterly gorgeous and had it all( the lesbian scenes, the dogs, the Francis-Bacon hallucinations... etc All from the same master!) The new Shriek Show version of this gem is only a success... In comparison to the previous double edition of the film which was an excessively expensive scandal! There might be all the missing scenes here, still unless you really need to wear glasses, you'll see right away that the different elements of the film are not of the same quality... So okay this version might be better than no complete version at all, you've got to know that it is far from perfect... March 19, 2007

Excellent Giallo

This is my favorite Fulci and one of my favorite Giallo's. It has a very good story, a great soundtrack and just enough gore to satisfy Fulci fans.

I first bought the original butchered Shriek Show DVD and was torn when watching it, on one disk was a restored widescreen butchered version and the other disk had a more complete version but it was cropped and looked to be taken from an old VHS. Luckily the new release solves the problem with an uncut, widescreen restored version. Seeing the uncut version restored and in widescreen felt like I was experiencing the film again for the first time. This release almost makes me forgive Shriek Show for their first butchery. March 15, 2007

A NEW & BETTER version???

The wait for the definitive version of LIZARD might just be over. Fans of this film have been dealing with VHS bootlegs from European sources for quite some time. Media Blasters announced the DVD version years ago and when it finally came out everyone was disappointed at the result; good quality and widescreen and cut or bad quality and pan & scan and uncut. In addition the uncut version was supposedly mastered from a PAL source which alters the running time due to the difference in frames per second with the NTSC format.

Knowing all of this, I finally bought a copy - settling on the idea that this is the best it's ever going to be.

...But then to my surprise I noticed TWO different listings for this DVD on amazon - the original MB version that I just purchased, and this one dated for a March 2007 release...by the SAME distributor!

Internet research revealed this information taken from the forums on DVD Maniacs.

"Over the past few days, I have been in correspondence with Richard York of Media Blasters, who is supervising the company's upcoming re-release of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Since I'm apparently "the most vocal critic" of their previous release (which both alarms and thrills me in equal measure), he wanted to give me the opportunity to ask any questions that I might have about the version they were putting together, and, having discussed the matter with him, I am now supremely confident that the upcoming release will not only blow away the existing Media Blasters version, but should finally be the definitive release of the film that fans have been waiting for for years.

First of all, this will not simply be a straight copy of the Italian release by Federal Video. Richard is aware of and has viewed this release, but instead Media Blasters have created their own transfer from the same film elements used for that DVD. In doing so, they have been able to identify and avoid a number of the problems affecting that release, including material missing from the opening sex scene and Julia Durer's party, as well as the mangled "rippled/unrippled" dream sequence and the dodgy splice where the same footage of Jean Sorel's character appears in two different places. The running time of the final version will be 103 minutes, making this a proper NTSC presentation rather than a PAL to NTSC standards conversion."

So...this seems like a pretty good indicator that all hope is STILL not lost for this film. And if I only need to wait 3 more months for this ultimate version it will be worth it. I just need to resist the urge to open my current version and return it instead! December 28, 2006

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