A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

Description

This 1971 classic is key for any Fulci collection. A woman's nightmarish fantasies of murder and sadism come to life. Contains the legendary disemboweled dogs scene, courtesy of Carlo Rambaldi's special effects. Stars Florinda Bolkan, Jean Sorel, Silvia Monti, Stanley Baker and Anita Strindberg.

Customer Reviews:

Fulci strikes again !.......2007-08-16

I started to see Lucio Fulci's movies since Zombie, so I'd never seen his previous films. I got a chance to take a look at A Lizard In A Woman's Skin and it was incredible. The story was just so fasinating. I really couldn't tell or predict what would happen next. It was one of the best viewing experiences of a thriller I've ever had. I think the effect the film was going for was definitely there. This film is definitely a superior example of the giallo film as much as any of Dario Argento's best work. The remastered version is definitely the one to go with in this case. The picture and sound quality on the shriek show dvd is just great. This is definitely the best edition of this film to get. The dvd is great. A dvd a fan could definitely appreciate and own.

OUTSTANDING FILM, OKAY DVD.......2007-03-20

First I have to say that two weeks ago I had the luck to see a French video version of the film dating back from the 80's and it looked utterly gorgeous and had it all( the lesbian scenes, the dogs, the Francis-Bacon hallucinations... etc All from the same master!) The new Shriek Show version of this gem is only a success... In comparison to the previous double edition of the film which was an excessively expensive scandal! There might be all the missing scenes here, still unless you really need to wear glasses, you'll see right away that the different elements of the film are not of the same quality... So okay this version might be better than no complete version at all, you've got to know that it is far from perfect...

Excellent Giallo .......2007-03-15

This is my favorite Fulci and one of my favorite Giallo's. It has a very good story, a great soundtrack and just enough gore to satisfy Fulci fans.

I first bought the original butchered Shriek Show DVD and was torn when watching it, on one disk was a restored widescreen butchered version and the other disk had a more complete version but it was cropped and looked to be taken from an old VHS. Luckily the new release solves the problem with an uncut, widescreen restored version. Seeing the uncut version restored and in widescreen felt like I was experiencing the film again for the first time. This release almost makes me forgive Shriek Show for their first butchery.

A NEW & BETTER version???.......2006-12-29

The wait for the definitive version of LIZARD might just be over. Fans of this film have been dealing with VHS bootlegs from European sources for quite some time. Media Blasters announced the DVD version years ago and when it finally came out everyone was disappointed at the result; good quality and widescreen and cut or bad quality and pan & scan and uncut. In addition the uncut version was supposedly mastered from a PAL source which alters the running time due to the difference in frames per second with the NTSC format.

Knowing all of this, I finally bought a copy - settling on the idea that this is the best it's ever going to be.

...But then to my surprise I noticed TWO different listings for this DVD on amazon - the original MB version that I just purchased, and this one dated for a March 2007 release...by the SAME distributor!

Internet research revealed this information taken from the forums on DVD Maniacs.

"Over the past few days, I have been in correspondence with Richard York of Media Blasters, who is supervising the company's upcoming re-release of A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. Since I'm apparently "the most vocal critic" of their previous release (which both alarms and thrills me in equal measure), he wanted to give me the opportunity to ask any questions that I might have about the version they were putting together, and, having discussed the matter with him, I am now supremely confident that the upcoming release will not only blow away the existing Media Blasters version, but should finally be the definitive release of the film that fans have been waiting for for years.

First of all, this will not simply be a straight copy of the Italian release by Federal Video. Richard is aware of and has viewed this release, but instead Media Blasters have created their own transfer from the same film elements used for that DVD. In doing so, they have been able to identify and avoid a number of the problems affecting that release, including material missing from the opening sex scene and Julia Durer's party, as well as the mangled "rippled/unrippled" dream sequence and the dodgy splice where the same footage of Jean Sorel's character appears in two different places. The running time of the final version will be 103 minutes, making this a proper NTSC presentation rather than a PAL to NTSC standards conversion."

So...this seems like a pretty good indicator that all hope is STILL not lost for this film. And if I only need to wait 3 more months for this ultimate version it will be worth it. I just need to resist the urge to open my current version and return it instead!

Average customer rating:

103 minute version
The release is judged a bit too harshly, it's not that bad
great giallo
Well intentioned misfire from Media Blasters
2010?

Lizard in a Woman's Skin
Starring: Florinda Bolkan , Stanley Baker , Jean Sorel , Silvia Monti , and Alberto de Mendoza
Director: Lucio Fulci
Manufacturer: Shriek Show
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008QSB4
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Description

This 1971 classic is key for any Fulchi collection. A woman's nightmarish fantasies of murder and sadism come to life. Contains the legendary disemboweled dogs scene, courtesy of Carlo Rambaldi's special effects. Stars Florinda Bolkan, Jean Sorel, Silvia Monti, Stanley Baker and Anita Strindberg.

Customer Reviews:

103 minute version.......2007-03-02

Sex, drugs ,lesbians and gore! Whats not to like? I found a 103 minute version that blue underground just released and I almost like it more than his gore flicks. If you like "Fulci" and giallo you should definitely buy this. To me this ranks up there with "Tenebre" and "Deep Red". FULCI LIVES!

The release is judged a bit too harshly, it's not that bad.......2006-03-27

I was very nervous about buying this film, having read all the negative reviews about the quality of the discs, especially the uncut italian version. But it wasn't so bad, really. Yes, the uncut release is fullscreen and only in mono, but it's very watchable and there are only a handful of scenes that aren't featured in the english version. As for the english version, which is cut, the quality there is good, with a good sound mix and decent enough picture quality. I honestly think some people here are judging this release a bit too harshly.

As for the film itself; A lizard in a Woman's skin is one of Fulci's better films. His venture into giallo territory is much more interesting than his full blown gore-drenched gothic horrors. Lizard is fairly well written and quite suspenseful at times, with good setpieces such as the bat attack but it's fairly slow moving. His other giallo's Don't torture a duckling and Seven notes in black are better, but Lizard is well deserving of a viewing, especially for giallo fans.

great giallo.......2006-02-08

Since I'm a big fan of Dario Argento and the giallo, Mario Bava seemed like the next logical step, after seeing all of Argento's movies. After seeing a couple of Bava films, Fulci seemed the next logical step to know more about the giallo.
This movie is surprising and doesn't disappoint. The story is great, very complicated at times, and I didn't guess who the killer was, like the inspector of Tenebrae. The London setting is just great, and the chase in the Alexandria Palace is awesome. Like other reviewers said, the dream sequences are good too. The actors: Penny Brown as the hippie knife thrower is my favourite but Stanley Baker is also great.
Direction wise, Fulci knew what he was doing, although at times his camera work is a bit sloppy. But I liked the photography (from the same director of photography of Deep Red). The overuse of the zoom doesn't bother me as it does some picky reviewers out there.
This dvd received horrible reviews when it was released, and it's not hard to understand why. It contains 2 versions of the movie. The uncut looks like a vhs release from 10 years ago, but I found it quite watchable. The other one, with the original aspect ratio, is better but it is cut, and the print is damaged here and there. The sound is also better. Nevertheless, I don't think media blasters should receive so many attacks. This was the best they could do, for now, at least. It's a fair version of a great film; though it could be much better.
The music is also great but unfortunately it isn't used properly. There's some great pieces on the soundtrack which don't appear at all in the film. The mono in the uncut version doesn't help either.
The featurette is nice and the packaging is cool!
5 stars for the movie, 3 for the dvd = 4.

Well intentioned misfire from Media Blasters.......2005-04-19

Can one call Fulci a great director and still deserve to be taken seriously? Certainly the guy had some real talent, of a sort. But, let's be honest, he made some real bad movies - I mean unwatchable stinkers of the first order. But he also made a a number of movies that were of the so-bad-they're-good variety. Then there were the ones that weren't good by conventional standards, but were a lot more watchable and entertaining than any number of more conventionally "good" movies - too many of these to just be a fluke. And then, every once in a while, he made a movie that was actually good.

'Lizard' is actually pretty good, even by normal movie standards. The English dubbing is a lot better than what you're probably used to, for one thing. It's definitely got its charms. So it's a real pity about this disc.

Obviously the problem here was finding acceptable elements. So we have this unwieldy two disc set that accentuates the downside a bit more than a patchwork composite of the available versions might have. (Examination of the differences between the English and Italian versions reveals some ways in which this might have been even more problematic, however.)

The cropped Italian home video version is NOT, by the way complete. Both of the versions here have been shorn of sexy moments - different ones in each case! So there's a good chance that there might even be footage that doesn't appear in either of the versions here! Some deleted scenes from a (very poor) fourth source are included on the second disc as an easter egg - but this is not nearly all of the footage that was cut (rather sloppily) out of the Italian version presented here.

If I ever find my old bootleg I'll do a comparison and update this review if I see anything new. Just know that this is a less than satisfying presentation - not for lack of trying, though. I'm sure the folks at MB were at least as frustrated trying to put this together as I was watching it.

Note: While I can't really tell if my bootleg is a composite or not, there doesn't seem to be any extra footage. There is, however, a dialogue scene presented in English that only appears in the Italian version of MB's set - indicating that there was a complete English language version at some time.

Also, the English language credits on my disc aren't the same as the ones presented on disc one - instead they reproduce the graphic style and effects of the more visually interesting Italian credits on disc 2 (except that they are yellow instead of white).

One last thing I forgot to mention: In at least one scene the Italian version has some interesting background dialogue (in English!) that you won't hear in the English version. Why, I don't know. It enhances the tripped-out nature of the film as a whole.

2010?.......2004-10-28

you gotta be kidding me. I've never seen this film, but I'm ranking it 5 stars based on what I've heard from Fulci fanatics who have. hurry the hell up

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