Lizard in a Woman's Skin

Lizard in a Woman's Skin

1971
Suspense/Thriller, Horror
1h 35m
Florinda Bolkan plays the daughter of a prominant English politician who keeps having recurring "nightmares" in which she makes love to a bisexual nympho who lives downstairs and conducts all-night LSD orgies... (imdb)
Your probable score
?

Lizard in a Woman's Skin

1971
Suspense/Thriller, Horror
1h 35m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 55.38% from 196 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(196)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 06 May 2008
55
32nd
Thoughtful - and at times seductive - cinematography and mise-en-scène makes this Fulci-dish at times spellbinding, but too much (trivial and uninteresting) talk makes the film dull and lifeless where it could've been colourful and delicious. Partly fascinating, but ultimately ineffectual.
Rated 06 May 2011
75
74th
A woman dreams that she kills her slutty next door neighbor, and then the neighbor is found dead, leading the woman to think she's going mad. A hazy Lucio Fulci murder mystery with blackmail, sexy lesbians and tripped out hippies. A cavalcade of bizarre visuals and a creepy score by Ennio Morricone do a great job of conveying the twisted dream logic that dominates a lot of the film. Unlike many Italian giallos, the explanation at the end actually makes sense.
Rated 23 Jan 2010
76
88th
Well, this one's very dated, the hippies. the psychoanalysis, and particularly the obscene abuse of the zoom lens, but damn is it cool. Aggressively inventive, surreal, tense, and even pretty good acting which is rare for the genre. I was quite impressed.
Rated 24 Nov 2017
72
72nd
Consistantly superior to The Psychic in almost every way, but didn't quite reach the high that is the church stalking scene from Fulci's other thriller. It's amusing to me that these films are quite entertaining, but I would never recommend them over The Beyond or Zombie or some of his other horror pieces. It's almost like you need to earn the right to watch Fulci at his best or most accessible. What a silly thing to gatekeep. If you can't handle maggots to the face, you don't deserve suspense?
Rated 09 Jun 2017
70
58th
This was pretty good, and for a film whose content was quite trippy, the whole thing plays quite lucidly. Nicely filmed, well acted and effectively scored. Some of the dialogue-heavy scenes could've been punchier, or made more interesting. The style certainly dates it to the 70s, but it doesn't suffer because of it. Good job, Lucio.
Rated 27 Dec 2008
82
88th
Decadent, lush and hallucinatory. The first scenes in particular are spellbinding as we lose ourselves in Carol's strange, erotic nightmares. Although it grows a little too talky and long in places, the film remains one of the most accomplished and elegant efforts in the giallo genre.
Rated 27 Dec 2008
93
92nd
https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/film/a-lizard-in-a-womans-skin/1/
Rated 01 Jan 2015
79
61st
One of Fulci's classiest efforts. The plot is still dumber than yer mama.
Rated 02 Jan 2009
62
75th
Fulci's psychedelic giallo is one of his best and quite restrained: his gore sensibilities are mainly showing in a couple of scenes (the dog one especially). Jumpy editing/cinematography feels a bit gimmicky at times, but I guess it suits the theme. Church chase is especially effective and suspenseful; challenging the best work in the genre. Bolkan does a good job as the lead and Baker provides solid backup. Sorel is rather underused. Morricone's music is good but used surprisingly sparingly.
Rated 02 Jan 2015
50
0th
Lucio Fulci #3
Rated 12 Nov 2014
65
33rd
The early dream sequences certainly have a trippy mystery to them and overall it's quite stylishly done as you would perhaps dare to expect from Fulci but the actual murder mystery plot is pretty stupid and boring and disappointing by the end. It could've worked a lot better with less flat exposition and at least one flashy memorable setpiece towards the end. The mundane story really let down the atmosphere and intrigue it initially had going for it I thought.
Rated 04 Sep 2008
86
96th
Very Nice
Rated 23 Sep 2018
68
60th
The synopsis makes it sound sooo much better than it actually is, how could I not be disappointed. Still pretty good tho.
Rated 23 Dec 2019
80
68th
This is an important film for Lucio Fulci since it really marks his transition from a director of comedies to a director of more serious, violent genre fare. This is also among his very best films. Stylistically, it's reminiscent of the series of giallo made by Sergio Martino in this same time period, and it's easily as good as any of those.
Rated 03 Mar 2020
85
66th
DP really fucking loves crash zooms.
Rated 15 Jul 2020
73
27th
Mild intrigues and lackluster thrills.
Rated 10 Dec 2022
75
56th
Although the plot is *heavily* explained at the end, it still leaves you with many unanswered questions. It's Fulci though, we can't expect anything else
Rated 01 Apr 2023
65
63rd
The plot is not that uninteresting, but as usual with Fulci, Style has a life of its own and doesn't need to care about the subject. It feels like an experimental movie trying hard to get free from the plot. But I think what really hurts the most is the most-often-than-not inept attempt at creating suspense. We never know for sure what is at stake, or what can we believe in. It's a ballet, and the camera dances more than anyone. The threat is not real, like in a spook ride.

Collections

(15)
Compact view
Showing 1 - 15 of 15 results

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...