If you are a fan of the sub-genre known as giallo then its surely an impossibility to not be a bit excited by a film entitled The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire? It's a truly mind-melting title that promises so many potential psychotronic thrills. Sadly the movie itself just cannot live up to this terrific moniker. Its overall a somewhat clumsy effort really, although its still definitely entertaining in a trashy way.
The main thing that sets this one apart from all others is its Irish setting. Even though these films were set in various locations throughout Europe it remains a somewhat unusual location for a giallo, especially when it means that we have Luigi Pistilli dubbed with an Irish accent. And we also have a funny scene where a couple of characters take a bike ride through 'Dublin' – it looks hopelessly unlike the city though and appears more like Las Vegas. Location aside however, visually this is a relatively drab looking film with uninspired camera-work. Seeing as this is one of the chief strengths of the genre, this is a little unfortunate.
What The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire does have going for it is a mean-spirited exploitative element. There aren't that many on-screen murders – annoyingly several are lazily committed off-screen – but the ones that we do see involve gory throat slashings replete with the sound of gushing blood and acid attacks where peoples faces are burned nastily. These effects aren't very convincing but good value all the same. But probably best of all is the final act where the killer attacks a half-naked school-girl and then batters her granny's head repeatedly off a bed post! It's a scene that is wrong on several different levels but it's so out-of-order you just have to marvel at its audacity. The killer himself looks really freaky too, so a further plus point on that score. To be honest, the movie is really saved by the ending, as after a very promising start it does get bogged down with too much tedious detective work.
The cast is really good to be fair. Pistilli, Anton Diffring and Dagmar Lassander are all well worth seeing in any film. So the movie has decent personnel in front of the camera. There are also occasionally effective suspense scenes such as the chase through the foggy night street. But like I say, this one's probably got too much emphasis on the detective side for it's own good. But, all-in-all it still manages to pull enough tricks out of the bag to keep us happy.
Oh and who in their right mind would use a laundry service called the 'Swastika Laundry'? Sounds like a business Martin Bormann would have set up after the war while in hiding
The main thing that sets this one apart from all others is its Irish setting. Even though these films were set in various locations throughout Europe it remains a somewhat unusual location for a giallo, especially when it means that we have Luigi Pistilli dubbed with an Irish accent. And we also have a funny scene where a couple of characters take a bike ride through 'Dublin' – it looks hopelessly unlike the city though and appears more like Las Vegas. Location aside however, visually this is a relatively drab looking film with uninspired camera-work. Seeing as this is one of the chief strengths of the genre, this is a little unfortunate.
What The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire does have going for it is a mean-spirited exploitative element. There aren't that many on-screen murders – annoyingly several are lazily committed off-screen – but the ones that we do see involve gory throat slashings replete with the sound of gushing blood and acid attacks where peoples faces are burned nastily. These effects aren't very convincing but good value all the same. But probably best of all is the final act where the killer attacks a half-naked school-girl and then batters her granny's head repeatedly off a bed post! It's a scene that is wrong on several different levels but it's so out-of-order you just have to marvel at its audacity. The killer himself looks really freaky too, so a further plus point on that score. To be honest, the movie is really saved by the ending, as after a very promising start it does get bogged down with too much tedious detective work.
The cast is really good to be fair. Pistilli, Anton Diffring and Dagmar Lassander are all well worth seeing in any film. So the movie has decent personnel in front of the camera. There are also occasionally effective suspense scenes such as the chase through the foggy night street. But like I say, this one's probably got too much emphasis on the detective side for it's own good. But, all-in-all it still manages to pull enough tricks out of the bag to keep us happy.
Oh and who in their right mind would use a laundry service called the 'Swastika Laundry'? Sounds like a business Martin Bormann would have set up after the war while in hiding