With the rather cumbersome title of 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' the film itself actually proves to be a supremely limber and entertaining giallo-esque thriller from Riccardo Freda. Thus far the general consensus on this lurid early 70's slasher is a trifle underwhelming, but, on the contrary, I really enjoyed this brisk, Ireland-set thriller; with all its pungent red herrings; gonzoid throat slashings, and plethora of charred, vitriol burned flesh. The venerable Anton Diffring does his regular aristocratic aloof spiel with great elan, and the sublime Pistilli makes a zesty show of the violent, maverick copper; all in all 'Iguana with the tongue of fire' is a blast; and yet again, il maestro Stelvio Cipriani percolates another magnificently potent score.

The Swiss ambassador to Dublin, Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring) is shocked to find a dead naked body of a girl in the trunk of his car, her face distorted from the acid the killer uses, despite this the identity of the girl is forthcoming and the police find that she was a dutch national, which was where the Ambassador had his previous post. the local police suspicious of this their only clue, have to tread carefully because of his diplomatic immunity and send a Detective John Norton (Luigi Pistilli) known as "the brute" in undercover to find out the truth. Norton is a man haunted by his past, because he let a man in custody steal his gun, the result of which was a bloody suicide, his reputation in tatters, this is an opportunity for some glory…maybe? He soon befriends the daughter Helen (Dagmar |Lassander) of the ambassador in order to find out the truth. Strangely set in my home town, it brought back many memories of my childhood, some scenes even shot 2 minutes from my childhood home, despite this obvious plus side the film is just a tad boring and lacking in thrills, it does have some gory moments that are rather fake looking, the cast is fine and Pistilli excepted they are never really allowed to shine and I must say I found it rather off putting to see the usually intense Pistilli talking with a a stagey Oirish brogue. There are also a few suspicious minor characters that are never explained. Despite this there are some positives, Norton's mother a keen detective/mystery fiction fan who is keen to provide her son with her notion of who the killer is, provides some light relief as in some ways her ideas are more successful than her sons. Stelvio Cipriani's nice score seems very familiar, again I believe this may have been reworked in later work of his, in either Death walks on high heels or perhaps What have they done to your daughters?. There is also a rather downbeat ending, a sting in the tail so to speak but its rushed a little by Freda and if you're not paying attention you might even miss it.

After a brutal and attention-grabbing opening murder, this movie settles into a predictable rut. Riccardo Freda seems content to borrow the conventions of the giallo genre--such as giving the killer a recognizable trait like a limp, and then having half the characters in the film limp in various scenes--but manages to suck the life out of them, leaving a rather slow-moving film. Freda is considered a top-notch Italian director but it's hard to see why, especially since his protege had outclassed him and positively defined the genre the year before. Still, it's done with enough care to have (apparently) taught Brian DePalma a thing or two when it came to "Dressed to Kill," and the finale has a jaw-dropping viciousness to it that has to be seen to be believed, involving a nude 16 year-old, an old woman and a completely berserk black-gloved killer. It's just a shame that the scenes between the violent ones aren't more involving and interesting.

I agree with my swiss friends. I say that this film isn't surely a masterpiece neither one of the best Freda's films. Characters are not very expressive, storyboard is week and not very plausible. However I must highly recommend this film mostly for gory scenes. Murders are savage and extremely violent; above all three scenes deserve to be remembered: the Luigi Pistilli flashback; the cat killed and close into the fridge; and the final scene. These are three motives for watching, watching again and adoring.