Director: Lucio Fulci
Year: 1971
Country: Italy/France/Spain
Alternate Titles: Una lucertola con la pelle di donna; Schizoid
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Suffering from strange nightmares, a woman visits a psychiatrist for help with her condition which is soon overshadowed by her infatuation with a strange free-spirited neighbor who is soon found dead, bringing her into a deadly mystery to uncover what she saw before a killer strikes.
Review:
This one ended up being quite a fun erotic giallo. One of the strongest elements present here is the incredibly overt and enjoyable amount of sexuality that’s present throughout here. Delving into the psychological realms as frequently as this does in the attempt to explain and understand the recurring dreams which are always sexual in nature, whether it be in the middle of an orgy or other sexual dalliances with the suspicious neighbor allows for innumerous numbers for erotic softcore groping. Given the near-constant use of these scenes and other hedonistic sequences with an alarming frequency here, this contrast with her own stunted psychological issues and repression offers a great turn that makes the film rely on exploring these issues further. It also doesn’t help that there are capable performers regularly showcasing these attributes.
However, the psychological factors explored here are rather engaging, enhancing the central mystery. Since we’re all deeply aware of her repressed condition as the meetings go into extraordinary detail hammering home the nightmares and dreams as the attraction to and destruction of vice and degradation, the idea that the wild, unhinged nature her neighbor represents compared to her is a big part of the film. Although there’s a determined push towards the rejection of the lifestyle she leads by keeping the details of the crime hidden which amounts to a distressing feeling of abandoning the free-spirited lifestyle through violent means if possible, there’s a lot to like about how this all ends up psychologically toying with her psyche in such a way that the burgeoning snap from sanity feels incredibly realistic and genuine.
While these factors are quite fun, there’s a lot to enjoy with the traditional giallo elements. The central investigation is well-handled here and is easily one of the finest in the scenes as everything not only comes to the forefront but is all rationally thought out. There are several cutaways back to the detectives on the case piecing together the clues and evidence from that night in an attempt to name and clear various suspects which are rather enjoyable since the means through which it gets solved come off nicely leading into the full reveal at the end. Likewise, the dynamic visuals and arresting concept at play, whether the impressive psychedelic dream sequences or the pounding suspense of a frantic escape attempt in an abandoned church trying to lose a crazed killer, keep this one fascinating and compelling throughout which keeps this one up over its flaws.
There are some minor issues to be had here. The biggest of these factors is the film’s psychological torment route that keeps the action to a minimum for fans of the higher body-count features. This one spends a lot of its running time engaging in trying to clear the story involving the mysterious dreams and how they connect her to the crime which causes a massive drop-off in terms of deaths or other activity. That causes the film to become quite talkative for some despite how well the story comes together since the journey here isn’t geared towards revealing what’s happened rather than bumping off tons of individuals to hide it. Even with a low-key finale that feels like an epilogue tacked on afterthought instead of generating a rousing close or finish that can feel like a slight letdown, these few issues aren’t nearly enough to hold this down much.
Overview: ****.5/5
A highly enjoyable and intelligent giallo with a lot more going on than expected, there’s quite a lot of fun to be had with this one especially if you’re looking for something different in the genre. Fans of the genre, Eurohorror in general, or the creative crew will want to check this out quite quickly while most others out there should heed caution.
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