L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco (1971)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Riccardo Freda

Writers:

Sandro Continenza (screenplay)
Riccardo Freda (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 August 1971 (Italy)

Genre:

Thriller | Horror

Plot:

In Dublin, a young woman is brutally murdered in her home by a maniac that throws acid in her face and then slits her throat with a razor...

Plot Keywords:

Police | Dead Woman | Maniac | Acid | Serial Murder

Cast

Luigi Pistilli	...	Detective John Norton
Dagmar Lassander	...	Helen Sobiesky
Anton Diffring	...	Ambassador Sobiesky
Arthur O'Sullivan	...	Inspector Lawrence
Werner Pochath	...	Mark Sobiesky
Dominique Boschero	...	Juanita - Ambassador's lover
Renato Romano	...	Mandel
Sergio Doria
Ruth Durley
Valentina Cortese	...	Mrs. Sobiesky

Also Known As:

Die Bestie mit dem feurigen Atem (Germany) (DVD title)
The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Les Films Corona

Trivia:

When the German Co-Producer Artur Brauner saw the finished film, he decided to skip a theatrical release in Germany, just due to the quality of the film which he wasn't satisfied with.

Awesome Giallo-title, Mediocre Giallo-plot ...

On paper this sounds like the exemplary and most mouth-watering Giallo purchase any fan of the genre could ever fantasize about. The title is amazing and only something an Italian Giallo writer could come up with, the cast is stellar (teaming Dagmar Lassander of "Hatchet for the Honeymoon", Anton Diffring of "Circus of Horrors" and Luigi Pistilli of "Bay of Blood" in one film!!) and writer/director Ricardo Freda is a reliable name in the business. Heck, even the opening sequences are extremely promising, with an enchanting musical score, an original setting (in Dublin, Ireland) and a downright fantastic – albeit cheesy – first death sequence. We witness the murder of a lovely young girl by a killer that is the utmost sadistic, to say the least! The poor thing has the entire content of a bottle of acid thrown in her pretty face before the maniac slits open her throat from ear to ear with a razor. This is a damn cool sight to behold in case you're a fan of this sort of sick cinema, even when the make-up effects are poor and the set-up is completely tasteless. Unfortunately, however, the film only sinks deeper and deeper downhill from this point onwards. "The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire" suffers from an unimaginably incoherent screenplay that attempts to blend high-society murder with cop-drama and cheap B-movie sleaze… Not exactly an effective combination!

In this 100% Italian-made movie, the Dutch mistress of the Swiss Ambassador in Ireland (how's that for European companionship?) is brutally slain by a clearly depraved killer. Former cop with a trauma John Norton sacrifices himself to seduce the beautiful and much younger Ambassador's daughter to infiltrate in these high society regions and investigate the murder further. Whilst the sleazy Ambassador hides himself behind his diplomatic immunity status, the murderer cheerfully continues to slice and dice random people in and around the Ambassador's estate. There are some very essential elements missing in Freda's "The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire". Unlike in the Gialli of, say, Dario Argento or Sergio Martino, the plot and characters nearly aren't as compelling as they should be. Never at one point in the film you feel the urge to help solving the murder puzzle or guessing along for the killer's identity. It's like you know already from beforehand that the denouement will be so absurd and implausible that you don't even bother contemplating about it. Also, the script contains far too many tedious dead-end scenes and certain sub plots that are just utterly ridiculous; like detective Norton's blind & deaf old mother with Agatha Christie allures. Aside from the splendid aforementioned first murder and a few other cool sequences near the end, the movie is tame and unmemorable. The joyous title, if you're interested, refers to a brief little anecdote one of the police characters narrates to his colleague and it is, in fact, totally irrelevant to the story itself. I guess it just sounded too cool not to use and simultaneously it cashes in on Dario Argento's trend to use animals in Gialli ("Bird with the Crystal Plumage", "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" …)