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.

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. 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 although 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. 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, really causing this one to be lowered significantly.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language, mild sex scenes, violence-against-animals and drug use.

Encumbered with the somewhat unwieldy, yet not entirely uninviting title of, 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' (1971), Riccardo Freda's enjoyably off-beat, skin-searingly schizo shocker actually proves to be a skittish, hysteria-laden, entertainingly twisted Giallo-esque blood-spiller from the gifted Italian genre maestro. Thus far the consensus on Freda's pleasingly lurid, early 70s psycho-slasher is curiously unflattering, but, on the contrary, I really dig this handsomely shot, palpably odd, yet undeniably charismatic, Emerald isle-set murder mystery. With all its pungent red herrings, gonzoid throat slashing, and plethora of charred, vitriol-burned flesh 'The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire' brazenly tweaked all my more grisly-minded Giallo G-spots! The esteemed character actor, Anton Diffring employs his glacially aristocratic spiel with great élan, and the always sublime, Luigi Pistilli makes for an indomitable, no nonsense copper. 'Iguana with the tongue of fire' is a bellicose, Black-Gloved blood-spiller; and yet again, masterful soundtrack il duderino, Stelvio Cipriani percolates yet another moorishly flavoursome, magnificently mellifluous score!