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Ghost Canyon

'The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire: Special Ed.'
(Luigi Pistilli, Dagmar Lassander, Anton Diffring, Valentina Cortese, et al / Blu-ray / NR / (1971) 2019 / Arrow Films UK)

Overview: Set in Dublin (a rather surprising giallo setting), Iguana opens audaciously with an acid-throwing, razor-wielding maniac brutally slaying a woman in her own home.

The victim's mangled corpse is discovered in a limousine owned by Swiss Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring, 'Where Eagles Dare') and a police investigation is launched, but when the murdering continues and the ambassador claims diplomatic immunity, tough ex-cop John Norton (Luigi Pistilli, 'A Bay of Blood') is brought in to find the killer.

Blu-ray Verdict: One of several animal-in-the-title cash-in's released in the wake of Dario Argento's box-office smash 'The Bird with the Crystal Plumage', 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' is a gloriously excessive giallo that boasts a rogues gallery of perverse characters; violent, fetishized murders, and one of the genre's most nonsensical, red-herring laden plots (which sees almost every incidental character hinted at potentially being the killer!).

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 '60s and '70s.

First of all, the movie plays in Dublin, which I'm sure you'll all know by now was rather 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. Oh, and last but not least, it's one of the goriest gialli before Dario Argento made "Profondo Rosso" ('Deep Red'). And by that I mean, by example, some hapless victims get their faces mutilated by acid before the killer slits their throats!

Along the way Freda delivers some thrilling and uncanny moments and the climax is extremely nasty for various reasons re: it truly 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 throughout, which was to be expected, in truth.

As aforementioned, everyone seems to get eh finger of suspicion squarely pointed at them here, so trying to guess who did it is a masterful judgement call, for sure.

I mean, and not to go into them all, but the chauffeur supposedly has an alibi as he was at the "Swastika Laundry" (not making it up), and Luigi is even a suspect for a few minutes because his gran finds a bloody razor in a cupboard! Oh, and that's the very same scene that involves his cat being stabbed to death and stuffed in the fridge! Then there's the bobsleigh crash, but I digress!

All in all, 'The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire' (aka 'L'Iguana dalla Lingua di Fuoco') is not a masterly piece, but still very cool as a giallo.

Sure it's a wee bit too nasty for the easily offended, but easily offended people don't watch gialli anyway, do they now?! This is a Full Screen Presentation (1.33:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:

New 2K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Uncompressed mono 1.0 LPCM audio
Original English and Italian soundtracks, titles and credits
Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
New audio commentary by giallo connoisseurs Adrian J. Smith and David Flint
Of Chameleons and Iguanas, a newly filmed video appreciation by the cultural critic and academic Richard Dyer
Considering Cipriani, a new appreciation of the composer Stelvio Cipriani and his score to The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire by DJ and soundtrack collector Lovely Jon
The Cutting Game, a new interview with Iguana s assistant editor Bruno Micheli
The Red Queen of Hearts, a career-spanning interview with the actress Dagmar Lassander
Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
+ Collector's booklet - featuring new writing on the film by Andreas Ehrenreich

www.ArrowFilms.com





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