MOTW #37 LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN

[Kikabi]

The Movie of the Week:

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa185/Kikabi/LizardInAWomansSkin.jpg

A Lizard in a Woman's Skin AKA Schiziod - 1971

Written by Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, Jose Luis Martinez Molla, Andre Tranche
Directed by Lucio Fulci

Original Music: Ennio Morricone
Cinematography: Luigi Kuvellier

Florinda Bolkan: Carol Hammond
Stanley Baker: Inspector Corvin
Jean Sorel: Frank Hammond
Leo Genn: Edmond Brighton
Edy Gall: Joan Hammond
George Rigaud: Dr. Kerr
Sgt. Brandon: Alberto de Mendoza
Mike Kennedy: Hubert
Penny Brown: Jenny
_________________________________

Upcoming Schedule:

April 27th - MOTW #38: Halloween III: The Season of the Witch
May 4th - MOTW #39: Audition (Odishon)
Movie of the Week #40?? Please go to The Schmoe Horror Movie of the Week (http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2729556&posted=1#post2729556)thread to VOTE for which movie you'd like to see for Week #40

[Kikabi]

A pretty fascinating and entertaining psychological horror/mystery movie . The art direction, set direction, and costuming are terrific, so the movie looks great and, at times, appropriately odd. The score is fantastic.

I was certain of who did it half-way, yet, of course, I was wrong. But that's part of the fun of murder mysteries. The characters are interesting and believable and most of the acting is top-notch. The red-herrings all work great, their motivations believable. Naturally, the only character who isn't three-dimensional is Julia, but she's not really a character. She's a metaphor and the "McGuffin" of the movie. Another great thing are the dream sequences; Fulci really caught the randomness of dreams. And Dr. Kerr's psychoanalysis of things really worked well within the story.

Whilst I was fascinated by it, it's a flawed movie. The over-use of the zoom was very annoying. It was the "in" thing back then (just as the shakey cam is now), but Fulci takes it too far. Inspector Corvin's habit of whistling was pretty annoying. On the home front, I happened to watch this at a rare time when my dog wasn't around - she hates whistling and would have raised a fuss! I don't mind whistling, but Corvin constantly doing it got on my nerves.

Although, except for the dodgy camera work, I love the bat scene - it just goes to show you there's no reason to be afraid of bats since all the vast majority will do is get tangled in your hair, especially if you scream and make a fuss.

The main flaw is the ending scene. I don't have a problem with who the culprit ends up being, merely the reveal. Considering the number of writers on this, I'd think one of them could have handled this better than just dumping a load of exposition on us. It reminded me of the typical ending of some Columbo or Murder She Wrote episode. After such a fascinating an entertaining movie, that last scene left me feeling flat and dissatisfied.

But, for all of that, I give it 8/10

By the way, did I blink and miss the infamous dog emboweled scene or did NetFlix send me a version with it cut out? When does this scene occur? Considering that I was entertained by the movie without seeing this scene, it makes me think it's an unnecessary scene.

[Freddy Krueger]

I've never seen this at a movie store. Ever. So I doubt I'll get to see this anytime soon.

[Kikabi]

I've never seen this at a movie store. Ever. So I doubt I'll get to see this anytime soon.
Sorry about that. I did ask twice on the horror schmoe movie of the week thread that if anyone thought there might be a problem with people getting a hold of this movie to let me know as soon as possible. No one responded to either post.

[Cronos]

Right, I'm going to watch this in the next two days, been holding off on watching some of Fulci's flicks for their MOTW showings so I'm going to get onto this when I can. I've never heard of the dog disembowelling scene though, I'll keep an eye out for that, not sure what version I've got though.

[Kikabi]

Right, I'm going to watch this in the next two days, been holding off on watching some of Fulci's flicks for their MOTW showings so I'm going to get onto this when I can. I've never heard of the dog disembowelling scene though, I'll keep an eye out for that, not sure what version I've got though.
Whoops! I hope this doesn't end up being a spoiler for you. And that your copy of it has it, as you enjoy that kind of stuff much more than I do. ;)

[Cronos]

Whoops! I hope this doesn't end up being a spoiler for you. And that your copy of it has it, as you enjoy that kind of stuff much more than I do. ;)
Depends if it's real or not.... it isn't real is it?

[Kikabi]

Depends if it's real or not.... it isn't real is it?
No, but they had to go to court to prove it. If it were real, you know me - I'd be up in arms about it.

[Freddy Krueger]

Sorry about that. I did ask twice on the horror schmoe movie of the week thread that if anyone thought there might be a problem with people getting a hold of this movie to let me know as soon as possible. No one responded to either post.

Oh, sorry. I never saw that.

[Henry Lee Lucas]

I got this movie like 3 days ago through blockbuster online, keep trying to watch it, the opening scene is a freaking nightmare!

i was really feeling the reanimator but once this is over i think ill watch lizard.

review/discussion to follow

[Cronos]

No, but they had to go to court to prove it. If it were real, you know me - I'd be up in arms about it.
Yeah, that's what I thought, wanted to make sure before I watched it.

If I can get my headache to go away I'll try and put this on a bit later.

[SAI]

I saw this one for the first time late last year. I liked it rather than loving it (there's a review on my myjoblo blog), but I'm going to give it a rewatch and get back to you with some clearer thoughts.

[Kikabi]

While we've gone on to week #38, it's still not too late to check out this movie and comment on it.

[Cronos]

The disembowelled dog(s) scene isn't that important to the film (from what I could tell at least), it's only around 30 seconds long and seemed pretty random to me. They must have sent you the first disc from the 2 disc set which was the censored US version of the film, I've got a copy of the 98 minute cut which has some extra scenes, not fully uncut though and it's in bloody fullscreen. I can't really comment on how it was filmed since I'm missing some of the image, quite noticeably at times but it seemed to have Fulci's general style, which I like. Acting was mostly pretty good and the plot/characters kept me interested.

Not Fulci's best but a great film.

I'll have to get the latest 1 disc release, fully uncut remastered print in widescreen... mmmmm, that'll be nice to watch.

9/10

[Kikabi]

At which point does the disembowled dogs scene comes in?

[Cronos]

SPOILERS
At which point does the disembowled dogs scene comes in?
It's around the 55 minute mark, when the guy chases her into St. Paul's Clinic, she runs up some stairs and down a hallway checking the doors, she gets to a door at the end of a hall and hides in it. After waiting for a man to leave an adjoining section of the room she moves into it where she comes across the disemboweled dog blood draining room, she faints and wakes up in a bed with doctors around her.

[Kikabi]

I had a feeling that was about when it happened - it made the most sense and I had a feeling I had missed something when I saw the next scene in her hospital room with the doctors. But, as you say, it seem as though I missed something integral to the story.

It's a shame there are these different versions of the film, quite annoying. Too bad it didn't work out as a MOTW this time around. Ah, well.