The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

Following a dead woman's discovery, the investigating detective is stymied by the fact that the chief suspect is held up behind the diplomatic immunity of a visiting ambassador, but as he becomes more determined to solve the case the bodies pile up which soon puts his family in danger.

Despite some issues here, there are some enjoyable elements present. One of the finest aspects present here is the rather ludicrous levels this one goes through to revel in its mystery. The central ploy of dealing with diplomatic avenues and various red tape that comes from that situation ensure that the struggle to actually investigate matters must be dealt with in a form surrounding that diplomatically which is what makes for such a silly time here as this attempts to accomplish that. Furthermore, this ludicrousness extends to other areas here, most notably the laughably inept flashback sequence showing the detective's main psychological issues with the flashback of him beating the suspect to death or the rather simple methods of interrogation that he has to undertake while in their company which anticipate the later chase scenes in the second half. With the general attitude of the film already gearing for the crazy, a delirious scene on a bobsled run or the absolutely surreal finale that includes a suspenseful chase through fog-lined streets to the bloodsoaked confrontation that features some utterly ludicrous scenarios at play, these here are what hold the film up although there are some problems with this one. Among it's biggest misgivings is that there's just nothing of interest happening for much of the running time, leaving this one feeling bland as a result. The lack of on-screen stalking or scenes featuring the killer stalking his victims is instead replaced with endless talk about the case or how his past is catching up to him, neither of which really prove to be all that interesting. The other real problem with this one is the fact that there's just so much haphazard work featured here that it really undoes a lot of the interesting material on display. The most infamous of which, the fake slow-motion sequence of the flashback showing the detective failing to stop the prisoner's suicide attempt is laughably ludicrous and really turns a tense sequence into a campy sequence, while the gore inserts of the acid-scarred faces crumbling away is somewhat goofy just for the suddenness of showcasing the feature out of the blue. The rest of the film follows in this cheap-looking manner, really causing this one to be lowered significantly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language, mild sex scenes, violence-against-animals and drug use.

Encumbered with the somewhat unwieldy, yet not entirely uninviting title of, 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' (1971), Riccardo Freda's enjoyably off-beat, skin-searingly schizo shocker actually proves to be a skittish, hysteria-laden, entertainingly twisted Giallo-esque blood-spiller from the gifted Italian genre maestro. Thus far the consensus on Freda's pleasingly lurid, early 70s psycho-slasher is curiously unflattering, but, on the contrary, I really dig this handsomely shot, palpably odd, yet undeniably charismatic, Emerald isle-set murder mystery. With all its pungent red herrings, gonzoid throat slashing, and plethora of charred, vitriol-burned flesh 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' brazenly tweaked all my more grisly-minded Giallo G-spots! The esteemed character actor, Anton Diffring employs his glacially aristocratic spiel with great élan, and the always sublime, Luigi Pistilli makes for an indomitable, no nonsense copper. 'Iguana with the tongue of fire' is a bellicose, Black-Gloved blood-spiller; and yet again, masterful soundtrack il duderino, Stelvio Cipriani percolates yet another moorishly flavoursome, magnificently mellifluous score!

This starts very well, indeed, startlingly so with surreal quality about it as we proceed from outlandish and vivid killing to child finding body in trunk of car and something strange going on with eyes. Various persons emerge from secret doors and there is emphasis upon dark glasses and limited sight with some weird sound going off to suggest something untoward is about to happen. Things calm down and killing become a bit mundane, very bloody but not very involving until the end when things spark back into life. Along the way, Anton Differing is effective, if a little one note and Dagmar Lassander lovely as ever. Veteran actress, Valentina Cortese puts in a great little performance and Italian movie stalwart Luigi Pistilli is most effective. Great shots of Dublin and Switzerland along the way and if this is not the finest giallo, it is certainly entertaining enough.

So I decided to re-watch "The Iguana and the Tongue of Fire" by Riccardo Freda after many years of not seeing the movie.In the prologue beautiful woman has her face melted with acid and her throat slashed by unknown black gloved killer.Her body is found in the trunk of a car belonging to the Swiss ambassador.Former police Inspector John Norton(Luigi Pistill)tries to solve this grisly case of mutilation and murder.But the elusive killer soon will kill more victims.""The Iguana and the Tongue of Fire" is a watchable albeit quite unsatisfying giallo with several nasty and gory murder scenes and very sadistic finale.The acting is fairly good and there is a bit of nudity.Still it seems that Riccardo Freda himself was dissatisfied with the film and effectively disowned it.That's why he directed it under the pseudonym of Willy Pareto.7 fiery iguanas out of 10.

Riccardo Freda's rude giallo is not quite a masterpiece, but it still delivers good entertainment and some stuff quite unusual for the "typical" Italian thriller of the Sixties and Seventies. First of all, the movie plays in Dublin, which I already assume unique in the history of giallo. Second, the family involved in the crimes is the one of the Dutch ambassador in the Republic of Ireland, which makes the case even more complicated for the policemen involved.

Also very remarkable is the fact that this giallo delivers no nude scenes, which is quite rare for this genre. And last but not least, it's one of the goriest gialli before Dario Argento made "Profondo Rosso" (Deep Red). E.g.: Some hapless victims get their faces mutilated by acid before the killer slits their throats.

By the way Freda delivers some thrilling and uncanny moments, and the climax is extremely nasty for various reasons: It has to be seen to be believed. The cast - including Anton Diffring, Luigi Pistilli, Dagmar Lassander and Werner Pochath - is above average and always convincing.

All in all, "L'Iguana dalla Lingua di Fuoco" is not a masterly but still very cool giallo. Its only fault (possibly) is that it's too nasty for the easily offended - but easily offended people don't watch gialli anyway, I guess.