Director: Riccardo Freda (as Willy Pareto)
Year: 1971
Country: Italy/France/West Germany/Ireland
Alternate Titles: L'iguana dalla lingua di fuoco
Genre: Giallo
Plot:
Following a dead woman's discovery, the investigating detective is stymied by the fact that the chief suspect is held up behind the diplomatic immunity of a visiting ambassador, but as he becomes more determined to solve the case the bodies pile up which soon puts his family in danger.
Review:
Despite some issues here, there are some enjoyable elements present. One of the finest aspects present here is the rather ludicrous levels this one goes through to revel in its mystery. The central ploy of dealing with diplomatic avenues and various red tape that comes from that situation ensure that the struggle to actually investigate matters must be dealt with in a form surrounding that diplomatically which is what makes for such a silly time here as this attempts to accomplish that. Featuring buffoon-like contributions from his assistant and the manner of which the mystery emerges during the ensuing investigation, this one sets the stage for some wholly ludicrous actions here with the way this all comes together.
Furthermore, this ludicrousness extends to other areas here, most notably the laughably inept flashback sequence showing the detective's main psychological issues with the flashback of him beating the suspect to death or the rather simple methods of interrogation that he has to undertake while in their company which anticipate the later chase scenes in the second half. With the general attitude of the film already gearing for the crazy, a delirious scene on a bobsled run or the absolutely surreal finale that includes a suspenseful chase through fog-lined streets to the bloodsoaked confrontation that features some utterly ludicrous scenarios at play, these here are what hold the film up.
There are some problems with this one. Among it's biggest misgivings is that there's just nothing of interest happening for much of the running time, leaving this one feeling bland as a result. The lack of on-screen stalking or scenes featuring the killer stalking his victims is instead replaced with endless talk about the case or how his past is catching up to him, neither of which really prove to be all that interesting with all the red herrings continually popping into the film seemingly out of nowhere. The tendency to always act suspiciously around everyone or to have the film forcefully and intentionally persuade us to believe so really undoes a lot of the intended suspense here and replace it with laughable tactics instead.
The other real problem with this one is the fact that there's just so much haphazard work featured here that it really undoes a lot of the interesting material on display. The most infamous of which, the fake slow-motion sequence of the flashback showing the detective failing to stop the prisoner's suicide attempt is laughably ludicrous and really turns a tense sequence into a campy sequence, while the gore inserts of the acid-scarred faces crumbling away is somewhat goofy just for the suddenness of showcasing the feature out of the blue. The rest of the film follows in this cheap-looking manner, ranging from the disguise of the killer to the manner of keeping the red herrings intact and the relentless zoom edits that sometimes cause fits of laughter and really causing this one to be lowered significantly.
Overview: **1/2/5
Definitely on the lower end of the genre's totem pole, this is definitely one that has spurts of interest while trying to overcome the more detrimental elements that are far more prominent throughout here. This is really only recommended to genre enthusiasts or hardcore devotees of Italian genre cinema, while those looking for more competent material from the genre should heed extreme caution with this one.
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