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.

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 place—by 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!

An early effort from Italian goremeister Lucio Fulci, this slow-moving giallo has a really odd dream-like atmosphere to commend it. Despite being unintelligible and rather too complex in parts, for the main it's an intriguing murder mystery packed with suspects, red herrings, and a dogged inspector pursuing the case until its very end. Unlike most gialli of the time, there is only one murder here, but every facet of the crime is explored in full detail.

There are plenty of good points in this film's favour. Firstly, the wacky direction from Fulci, which has the camera darting all over the place. Secondly, a rubbery bat attack which comes out of nowhere and rips off a certain Hitchcock classic. Then we also have an imported Stanley Baker lurking about, whistling a little ditty constantly. He's a cross between John Saxon and Donald Pleasence in DEATHLINE - fantastic! The only thing missing in this film is the excess gore we've come to expect from Fulci - apart from the one bloody murder and an arm slashing, this is gore free, although there is a very disturbing moment involving vivisection. The acting is generally very good here, and a lot better than you might expect. Florinda Bolkan is very good as the confused, haunted victim and Leo Genn adds a touch of class to the movie.

Don't be put off by the slow first half, as things soon pick up in the latter segment. Okay, so at times they do get too complex, but there's a wonderfully tense chase which seems to last forever, plus about a billion different people involved in the crime at the end - and the motives are somewhat bizarre, to say the least. This isn't a brilliant film by any means, but I would recommend it to Italian horror/mystery fans as there are a lot of interesting bits.