Lizard in a Woman’s Skin
1971 Dir. Lucio Fulci Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) has been having bizarre and erotic dreams about her neighbour Julia, in which they make love and then Carol violently stabs her to death. Julia is then actually found murdered. Did Carol kill her and then repress the memory? Or is she having psychic visions of someone else’s crime? She tries to solve the mystery whilst evading attempts on her own life by a sinister stalker, seemingly intent on keeping her in the dark… After Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage proved extremely popular with its heady amalgamation of grindhouse exploitation and art-house chic, European cinemas were soon saturated with provocatively titled gialli featuring animal imagery in the titles. One of the more provocative and visually arresting of these films was director Lucio Fulci’s Lizard in a Woman’s Skin . The opening barrage of eerily sensual imagery produces a heady, hypnotic atmosphere rife with sexual decadence. Fulci showcases his...