The Grim Cellar

1971, Italy, Directed by Lucio Fulci

Colour, Running Time: 104 minutes

DVD, Region 1, Shriek Show, Video: Anamorphic 1.85:1, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Perturbed by incomprehensible, kaleidoscopic nightmares of decadent sex, gory violence and, worse, hippies, Carol becomes implicated in the brutal murder of a neighbour because one of her dreams appears to match the nature of the killing exactly. Initially insistent that she hasn’t killed anyone she even begins to doubt herself as more of the revealed details comply with what went on in her head during slumber. But the revelation that her psychotherapist has been asking her to record the nightmares on paper as and when she remembers them suddenly opens up the potential suspects; even her own husband’s innocence comes into question. Plus there’s the mad hippy who turns up at police headquarters adamant that he’s the killer. Is it really so obvious that Carol is the murderer or has someone else scoured her notes and adopted the technique outlined in order to divert attention to her?

Having become vocationally incarcerated within ‘genre’ film-making of various kinds Fulci resigned himself to being artistically confined, but only to an extent - he continued to apply personal vision, technical skill, and boundary-pushing to his work throughout the 70s (and, arguably, the first half of the 80s). Perhaps self-referentially the script for Lizard was entitled ‘The Cage’, the alteration arising due to the producers’ desires to jump on the animal-themed giallo bandwagon that Argento essentially popularised. The film revolves around Freudian themes with dream-induced imagery that supposedly represents what’s happening at lower levels of consciousness, the alleged control of one aspect of a person’s mind over the other (an ongoing struggle between the id and superego, supervised with varying degrees of success by the ego), the collision between sex, violence, and morality, and the practical implementation of psychotherapy in order to make sense of all of this. While Freud and his theories are often criticised they no doubt pushed psychological study into previously uncharted territory, helping eliminate the explanation of mental disorders as demonic possession (how problems of the mind were usually viewed up to that point) to take a more realistic scientific approach. There are pros and cons concerning Freud’s studies and conclusions, but it’s a testament to his innovation that his work is still taught in psychology today, and it also provides a rich source for films, something which the giallo more than most genres has embraced in many ways. Lizard makes engaging use of this, helping enhance a standard homicide story with an intricate examination of someone’s mind, offering the viewer plenty to cogitate. Whilst I think I marginally prefer Don’t Torture A Duckling, there’s much going on here to revel in - the prolonged chase of a woman through a deserted cathedral being especially well staged, the incorporated bat attack surely paying homage to Hitchcock’s The Birds, so similar is it to the assault that Tippi Hedren suffers in the attic. The perverse, macabre dreams themselves are also inventive, references to the work of Francis Bacon apparent (Fulci was reportedly a fan of his); the movie is a satisfying experience.

Media Blasters (on the Shriek Show label) released Lizard as a two disc SE a couple of years back, coming under fire because, due to the source material, the longer Italian version was of inadequate quality (it contained the US cut as a properly mastered principle feature on disc 1). Seeking new source material of the Italian cut to rectify this, eventually they put together another disc release (labelled ‘Remastered’) containing just that (though no US cut). People then complained because the new disc didn’t port over all of the extras from the previous SE but these days hardcore DVD collectors can be a bunch that’s difficult to please at the best of times. There’s some damage occasionally prominent here and the saturation is excessive but I’m reasonably pleased with the presentation, though it should be noted that varying sources appear to have been used to constitute this cut. Audio is provided in Italian mono, English mono, and an English 5.1 mix that is surprisingly enveloping with Ennio Morricone’s score, general ambience and sound effects work (dialogue almost always remaining centred). While it’s mostly the work of Italians, Lizard works well in English due to it being set (and partly shot) in London. The 40 minutes of interview focus firstly on why Professor Paolo Albiero is so enamoured with Fulci followed by more specific details and analysis of Lizard itself, including its censorship history. The previous SE is still available for the US cut and the alternative extras but the version here is currently the best way to see Lizard. An essential giallo purchase.