The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Movie Review 447

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a 1971 horror movie directed by Riccardo Freda and starring Luigi Pistilli, Dagmar Lassander and Niall Toibin.

The movie begins with a woman being killed. Her body is found in the car boot of Ambassador Sobieski(Anton Diffring). Dr. Johnson(Toibin) is called to the house and he looks at the body. They turn it over to the cops. Inspector Lawrence(Arthur O' Sullivan) calls to see the Swiss Ambassador to Ireland who lives in Dublin and who has diplomatic immunity. He asks him if he knew the woman who was killed. He denies that he knew her. He thinks that it might be a frame up just to cause him trouble. He tells Lawrence that he can interview the staff. The cops question the chauffeur, Mandel who seems shifty. He tells them that he knows nothing. They let him go.

A grizzled cop called John Norton(Pistilli) is brought in to investigate and he starts having a relationship with Sobieski's daughter Helen(Lassander). Everyone is a suspect as more bodies turn up and people are dropping like flies. John's mother turns Miss Marple and tries to solve the case and things get really weird and confusing. The doctor turns up looking weird and sinister and we are left wondering if he is the killer. Sobieski's lover is found murdered but they have no clues. Sobieski heads off to Switzerland and John follows him to ask him some questions.

Someone tries to kill Sobieski over there. John comes back to Dublin and tries to find clues. Mandel calls John and tells him that he knows who the killer is but won't tell him over the phone. WHY??? He gets killed. Helen is almost killed by the gloved killer and she falls into the river but somehow survives. The killer calls to John's place and meets his mother and attacks her and John's daughter in a brutal fashion. John arrives back and there is a huge fight. The killer is revealed as Sobieski's son Marc. It is all very confusing. He goes out the window and dies. The movie ends with Norton talking to Lawrence about Sobieski who they think killed his lover and made it look as if it was the killer.
He is heading off to Switzerland and he thinks he has gotten away with it, but the authorities over there know what he has done and he is going to be in trouble when he gets there.

This film was confusing for one thing. There were red herrings all over the place. The doctor was looking like the killer, then Sobieski etc etc. There were some horrible Irish accents here. Some were English, some were unidentified and I just had to laugh. I did like the fact that it was filmed in Ireland and it was fun on the whole. I liked the killing scenes but there were some horrific special effects. It is a cheap affair with terrible dubbing and confusing twists and turns, but I did enjoy it in parts. It is unusual as it was set in Ireland and it is probably the only Giallo movie ever filmed here. This is worth seeing for the fun factor alone. It isn't going to be the best film you've ever seen, so be warned.Even the director took his name off of it!!! If you enjoy Giallo movies, then this is a curious one that is worth a look. I will give it a 5/10.