The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (Blu-ray)
One of several ‘animal-in-the-title’ cash-ins 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).
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…
Benefitting from a sumptuous score by Stelvio Cipriani (Nightmare City, Death Walks on High Heels) and exuberant supporting performances from Valentina Cortese (The Possessed, Thieves’ Highway) and Dagmar Lassander (The Frightened Woman, The Black Cat), The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a luridly over-the-top latter-day entry in the filmography of acclaimed director Riccardo Freda (Caltiki – The Immortal Monster, Murder Obsession). An archetypal giallo from the genre’s heyday, Freda’s film is presented here in a stunning new restoration with a host of newly produced extras.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• 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