GORE IN THE STORE
REVIEWS BY FANS FOR FANS
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

The Hole
Outcast
Outcast
(Second Opinion)
Choose
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Mirrors 2
Puppet Master - Axis of Evil
Deadly Crossing
Death Race 2
The Last Exorcism
The Last Exorcism
(Second Opinion)
The Expendables
The Chatroom
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Splice
Peeping Tom - Re-issue
A Town Called Panic
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
Night of the Demons
Lawnmower Man (Blu-ray)
Siege of the Dead
Psych 9
Big Tits Zombie
Exquisite Corpse
The Collector
The Collector
(Second Opinion)
The Tortured
Zombies of Mass Destruction
Tears For Sale
Higanjima: Escape From
Vampire Island
I Spit On YOur Grave (1978)
Twelve (XII)
Dead Cert
[REC] 2
Mother
Killer Pad
Rin – Daughters of Mnemosyne
Death Tube
Death Tube
(Second Opinion)
7 Days
Death Note
Beyond The Rave
Hunter Prey
7th Dimension
Army of the Dead
Splintered
Basement
Meat Grinder
14 Blades
Manson Girl
The Blackout
The Torment
The Torment
(Second Opinion)
Hierro
Psycho - Blu-Ray
Pet Shop of Horrors
Kaiji:
The Ultimate Gambler
Shelter
Fullmetal Alchemist:
Brotherhood Part 1
The Final
Bubba Ho Tep - Blu-Ray
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Vampire
The Dead
Resurrecting
The Street Walker
The Haunting Of
Molly Hartley
Soul Eater: Part One
Rozen Maiden:
Traumend Vol. One
Bikini Girls On Ice
Diary of a Bad Lad
Satan's Baby Doll
Feast 111
Phobia
A Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Valhalla Rising
City of the Living Dead
Dorothy
Daybreakers
Daybreakers
(Second Opinion)
Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale
Watching Massacre
Harpoon:The Reykjavik Whale
Watching Massacre
(Second Opinion)
Feast 3:The Happy Finnish
Raging Phoenix
His Name Was Jason
Left Bank
Ju-On: White Ghost/White Ghost
Spiral
Ghost Machine
Stag Night
Bitch Slap
The Descent 2
The Descent 2-Second opinion
Dance of The Dead
Henry Lee Lucas: Serial Killer
House Of The Devil
The Twilight Saga
New Moon
Salvage
Salvage-Second opinion
Dread
The Haunted World of
El Superbeasto
Saw VI
The Horseman
Triangle-Second opinion
Triangle
Cabin Fever 2-Third opinion
Cabin Fever 2-Second opinion
Cabin Fever 2
Stan Helsing
Pandorum
Pandorum-Second opinion
Open Graves
Paranormal Activity
Growth
Growth-Second opinion
Train
Antichrist
Wrong Turn 3
Coffin Rock
Orphan
Sorority Row
Drag Me to Hell
Staunton Hill
Summer Moon
Driftwood
Messengers 2

 

Directed by Lucio Fulci. Starring Florinda Bolkan, Stanley Baker, Jean Sorel, Silvia Monti. Mystery / Thriller, Italy, 104 min.

DVD release date 7th June 2010 - £19.99

A glamorous woman in a fur coat flees through a train carriage; we can’t see who or what is pursuing. She tries to get into the carriage compartments, but the doors are locked and none of the occupants pay her any notice. In a jump cut the empty carriage corridor is suddenly full of people. She struggles to push through. A series of cuts transport the woman and the audience into what appears to be a warehouse filled with naked revellers. The eerie discordant score creates an queasy drugged atmosphere the effect enhanced by slow motion shots. The woman screams and seems to fall into a void…

It’s an opening worthy of Ken Russell at his most baroque, but in fact the director behind this fever dream is every gorehound VHS tape trader’s favourite, Lucio Fulci. I have to confess a strong distaste for the more celebrated films of Fulci’s oeuvre, his extreme gorefests beginning with 1979’s Zombie Flesh Eaters up to The New York Ripper in 1982 (in my opinion, one of the most loathsome films ever made). But Fulci’s first directing credit is in 1959, and his last in 1994, he made films across a wide range of genres, from spaghetti westerns to comedies. So it should come as no surprise that in the early 70s he would try his hand at the then hottest genre in Italy, the giallo. What is perhaps surprising, at least to someone whose knowledge of Fulci begins and ends with his splatter epics (namely me), is quite how good his gialli turn out to be. I will no doubt be branded a heretic by some sections of the horror community, tarred and feathered, and made to sit on the naughty step but I think this film stands head and shoulders above the later films that made Fulci one of the most controversial, if not the most controversial horror director of the 80s.

A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin is set in a London still swinging in the early 70s. A politician’s daughter Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) is plagued with psychedelic nightmares seemingly inspired by the wild bohemian parties being thrown by her glamorous next-door neighbour. One such dream ends with her bloodily slashing the neighbour to death in a Sapphic frenzy. Her psychiatrist thinks this shows that she has resolved her internal conflicts in a “liberating dream”. Trouble is, the neighbour turns up really dead, stabbed to death in a frenzied attack remarkably similar to Carol’s dreams. The murder brings the attentions of whistling Inspector Corvin (Zulu’s Stanley Baker). Soon Carol finds herself a suspect in the investigation, and at the centre of a web of familial intrigue. The narrative then plays out with more twists than a Chubby Checker tribute act. But every time the plot seems to be settling down into the groove of a forensic police procedural, Fulci throws a curveball from left-field dramatically upsetting proceedings. This is nowhere more apparent than the bizarre sanatorium chase sequence and its truly unexpected shock dénouement.

Red herrings abound, and the finger of suspicion seems to point in turn to nearly every character (usually only removed by sudden violent death). There’s the cheating husband (who looks disconcertingly like a smoother Terence Hill), sinister hippies, more dream sequences, and a spectacularly good extended stalking sequence using Alexandra Palace to brilliant effect. This sequence, which includes a terrific artificial bat attack, is highly reminiscent of the razor-wire murder scene in Argento’s later Suspiria.

There’s so much to enjoy here for giallo fans, beautiful photography by Luigi Kuviellier (who would shoot Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and Andy Warhol’s Dracula for Paul Morrissey, Argento’s Deep Red, as well as Fulci’s New York Ripper) the dissonant avant-jazz score by Ennio Morricone, graphic gore effects by Carlo Rimbaldi (who would go on to fame building Giger’s Alien designs and creating E.T.), and that thick paint-like blood that stains Italian horror films of the 70s.

Of course this all comes with a caveat, as there is possibly no more divisive sub-genre of suspense / horror / thriller than the giallo. For every fan who wallows in the opulent visual style, extremely showy camerawork, elaborate stalking sequences, and brash musical soundscapes, there is another (or more probably another two) decrying the stilted dialogue, convoluted plotting, hammy acting, and calling the pacing boring. Well each to their own, I’d rather delve time and time again into the strange pool of Euro-horror horror than suffer through yet another lame US slasher remake, there are just so many treasures to be found.

With that in mind kudos to the people at Optimum Classics for releasing this and putting the effort into a gorgeous restoration that reinstates footage from the various versions of the film that have been floating around (this is why the film occasionally slips into Italian for some scenes). It looks and sounds great for such a neglected title. It’s a pity there’s no Blu Ray release, but this is still a chance to catch up with a forgotten gem.

Now, let’s get on and release a R2 version of Don’t torture a Duckling. Pretty please?

Stuart Barr.

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