THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE
Director: Riccardo Freda
Original / Alternate Titles: L’ Iguana dalla lingua di fuoco
Rating: UR
Running Time: 92m
Description: Riccardo Freda is probably not a name on the tip of your tongue, even if you are an avid giallo fan. From doing a little research, it appears that this may be his only entry into the genre (a couple of other Freda films could arguably be considered gialli, but you would have to argue your point), even though like many other gialli directors, Freda has entries in most of the popular Italian genres of the time (spaghetti western, sword & sandal, spy thriller, etc.) To add to his lack of gialli experience, many critics feel that Freda’s only really good movies were I, Vampiri (which has later been mostly credited to Mario Bava), The Frightening Secret of Dr. Hichcock and its sequel, The Ghost. I personally can’t comment on any of those films, because The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is the first and only Freda film I’ve seen.
Truth be told, TIwtToF will also probably be the last Freda film I’ll be watching. I wouldn’t rule out his films forever and ever – nothing like that – but based on this flick I most definitely will not be having a Freda Film Festival at my house this weekend! TIwtToF has a lot of good stuff going for it – a giallo killer that uses acid as a main weapon, creeping & peeping killer POV, red herrings, “weapon POV” on some killings, some really funny and absurd dialogue, and really: how cool is that title? Unfortunately, even with all that good stuff, TIwtToF is just average at best.
I really wanted to get on board for TIwtToF, but I just couldn’t. I felt that the film was just Freda’s stab at trying what was the dominant genre of the time, and that his film was very formulaic for this genre. Black-gloved killer sneaks around in the dark and kills women with acid (cool) and a razor (cool, but very common); policeman on the verge of retirement tries to stop aforementioned killer. Red paint blood ensues.
I guess if you had never seen any gialli before, TIwtToF would be a decent place to start, but if you are familiar with the genre, the only real appeal this film holds is in the very strange dialogue throughout. Some of my favorite lines: “What did you expect… the murderer’s name and address, and an invitation to drop by for tea between 5 and 6?” “If you wait a couple of years, you can read the book I’m writing about my life.” And my favorite: “When will you learn that if you don’t wear your glasses you can’t hear anything? Somebody could come in and kill you!” I’m not joking. There is a grandma who somehow goes deaf when she takes her glasses off. I actually had to rewind the film just to be sure I heard that right: no glasses = deaf. Wha???
If you were hanging out with your gialli buddies, and one of them decided to put The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire on, don’t storm out pissed off or anything like that. It’s not that bad. But if you’re at the video store with your gialli buddies, and it comes down to choosing between TIwtToF and something else, chances are you should go with something else (unless something else is Knife of Ice…)
2.5 out of 5 Old Ladies that Can’t Hear Anything without Their Glasses On
Not Commercially Available
DVD Available for Trade
