The blurb on the back of Arrow Video's blu ray release played a big part in me picking this bad boy up as it reads like an intriguing proto-slasher checklist, to say the very least. Let's go through them shall we?
A gloriously excessive giallo. Oh yeah. You want gratuitous zoom lenses, garish fashions, family drama to pad out the running time. You got it.
A rogues gallery of perverse characters. Well, some of them do look a bit dodgy, but I would think that would be an oversell. But with a screenplay this cynical, everyone comes off as if they have a dead body in their past.
Violent, fetishistic murders. Yes, very much so. Including a very effective death of a cat. The kills are remarkably brutal for 1971, almost reaching a Fulci level of bravado. They are indeed a good reason to hang on during Iguana's more ponderous moments.
One of the genre's most nonsensical, red-herring laden plots (which sees almost every incidental character hinted at potentially being the killer). Yes, it's fantastic. Thanks for asking. It's almost literally everyone. It's a ham-fisted attempt at misdirection, but it so of the time and so what i was expecting, I could not help but love it.
A sumptuous score by Stelvio Cipriani. Yes, another element atypical from the era, the composer for Nightmare City as well as a couple or so Mario Bava pictures delivers a jaunty and at psychedelic sound that give the film a lot of personality.
Exuberant supporting performances from Valentina Cortese and Dagmar Lassander. Well yes, in fact all the supporting characters deliver in either look and or performance. The story might bounce might literally bounce from continent to continent once in awhile, but the film never once becomes visually boring, which is sure as hell not something I can say for the rest of the film's in this marathon.
a luridly over-the-top latter-day entry in the filmography of acclaimed director Riccardo Freda. Well, for what it is, Iguana is well directed and edited. Freda got what he needed and then some. The film benefits greatly from his assured hand.
An archetypal giallo from the genre's heyday. Absolutely, in fact, that is exactly how I would summarise The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire. At times, it feels like a derivative cash in on Bird with the Crystal plumage, other times it has an impeccable style and enamouring quirks that give it a voice that is all it's own. Iguana is bloody, occasionally sleazy and at times has such a disregard for pace and character motivation, that it seems to run entirely on dream logic. It displays both the best and the worst the Giallo had to offer and I would 100% recommend it.
A gloriously excessive giallo. Oh yeah. You want gratuitous zoom lenses, garish fashions, family drama to pad out the running time. You got it.
A rogues gallery of perverse characters. Well, some of them do look a bit dodgy, but I would think that would be an oversell. But with a screenplay this cynical, everyone comes off as if they have a dead body in their past.
Violent, fetishistic murders. Yes, very much so. Including a very effective death of a cat. The kills are remarkably brutal for 1971, almost reaching a Fulci level of bravado. They are indeed a good reason to hang on during Iguana's more ponderous moments.
One of the genre's most nonsensical, red-herring laden plots (which sees almost every incidental character hinted at potentially being the killer). Yes, it's fantastic. Thanks for asking. It's almost literally everyone. It's a ham-fisted attempt at misdirection, but it so of the time and so what i was expecting, I could not help but love it.
A sumptuous score by Stelvio Cipriani. Yes, another element atypical from the era, the composer for Nightmare City as well as a couple or so Mario Bava pictures delivers a jaunty and at psychedelic sound that give the film a lot of personality.
Exuberant supporting performances from Valentina Cortese and Dagmar Lassander. Well yes, in fact all the supporting characters deliver in either look and or performance. The story might bounce might literally bounce from continent to continent once in awhile, but the film never once becomes visually boring, which is sure as hell not something I can say for the rest of the film's in this marathon.
a luridly over-the-top latter-day entry in the filmography of acclaimed director Riccardo Freda. Well, for what it is, Iguana is well directed and edited. Freda got what he needed and then some. The film benefits greatly from his assured hand.
An archetypal giallo from the genre's heyday. Absolutely, in fact, that is exactly how I would summarise The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire. At times, it feels like a derivative cash in on Bird with the Crystal plumage, other times it has an impeccable style and enamouring quirks that give it a voice that is all it's own. Iguana is bloody, occasionally sleazy and at times has such a disregard for pace and character motivation, that it seems to run entirely on dream logic. It displays both the best and the worst the Giallo had to offer and I would 100% recommend it.