THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE - UK BD review

A killer is stalking the friends and family of a prominent Swiss diplomat in Dublin, Ireland in Riccardo Freda's unique Giallo thriller THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE, which comes to UK Blu-Ray this month from Arrow films.

Set in Ireland, when the dead body of a young woman is discovered in the boot of a limousine, owned by Swiss diplomat Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring - Fareinheit 451, The Man Who can Cheat Death), the police are not convinced that he knew nothing about the victim.

As more mutilated bodies turn up, having been attacked by an acid throwing, razor wielding killer, who were all known to the ambassador, or his family and with the Ambassador refusing to cooperate and  hiding behind his diplomatic immunity. The police decide to use some unorthadox methods to investigate him.

Hiring a private detective, Norton (Luigi Pistilli - Your Vice is a Locked Room and I have the Only Key), a former police officer kicked off the force for beating a suspect to death, the police use him to get close to the family and see what he can turn up. But with more bodies piling up, will he be the next victim?

Certainly one of the more unusual Italian Giallo's I've reviewed, taking place in the Republic of Ireland for a change, rather than mainland Europe. THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE is never-the-less a good, solid, violent Italian murder-mystery

This release marks its UK Blu-Ray debut and comes packed with the following special features

English and Italian soundtracks - The film gives you the option to watch the film either with the English dubbed track, or its original Italian Soundtrack. If you select the latter, you also get the option of English subtitles and the film will play with it's Italian credits.

Audio commentary - Giallo connoisseurs Adrian J Smith, webmaster of the Horrorpedia wiki, and David Flint, Editor and Publisher of Reprobate magazine provide a running commentary track of the film.

Of Chamelians and Iguanas (21mins) - Cultural critic Richard Dyer discusses the film and it's impact on the Giallo genre. Considering Cipriani (25mins) - DJ and Soundtrack collector Lovely Jon gives discusses Stelvio Cipriani's soundtrack to this and some of his other films.

The Cutting Game (20mins) - An interview with assistant editor Bruno Michell discussing how he got into movies and his work on the film.

Red Queen of Hearts (20mins) - Actress Dagmar Lassander is interviewed, discussing her film career and her involvement in this.

Original trailers - the films original Italian and English language trailer are included.

Photo galleries - A collection of on-set still, promotional lobby cards, posters and promotional artwork are included which you scroll through using the skip button on your remote.

A nice selection of extras, but most will probably only appeal to die hard Giallo fans being largely comprised of critics giving their two-penneth on what they liked about the film. Though due to the film's age it was probably hard to track down any surviving members of the production. The interview with Dagmar Lassander was nice though and the commentary track with critics Flint and Smith was rather fun to listen to, which were both major plus points and I also liked the option of being able to watch the film in either English or Italian with the respective titles.

To summerise, if you enjoy Italian Giallos, you would well be advised to seek this one out, boasting plenty of violence, blood, female nudity and more red-herrings than you can shake a stick at, that will keep fans of Italian cinema very happy. 

Buy the UK BD from Amazon.co.uk

 

Short film THE DOLLMAKER on YouTube

Director Al Lougher got in touch to tell us about his short horror film THE DOLLMAKER, which is available online to view for free on YouTube. Check it out below...

Also, subscribe to Director Al Lougher on Twitter

DEVIL HUNTER - UK Blu-Ray review

Italian horror film regular Al Cliver gets to battle ruthless kidnappers, savage natives and a rather unconvincing demon on a remote tropical Island in Jess Franco's DEVIL HUNTER which makes it's UK Blu-Ray debut this month from 88 Films.

A group of kidnappers abduct a wealthy glamour model whilst visiting South America and take her to a remote island (actually a forest in Spain), where they demand a huge ransom from her agent. 

Notwithstanding, the agent instead hires a former vietnam vet, played by Al Cliver (The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters), to go in and get her back.

Unfortunately, he ends up not only battling the gangsters, as he attempts to rescue her, but also a savage tribe of rather dubious looking "natives". Many of which are white and have dodgy 70s hairstyles and moustaches. As well as a rather unconvincing "demon" that they worship, which is essentially a naked black man, with ping pong balls for eyes.

Once banned in the UK as a Video Nasty, though god knows why, DEVIL HUNTER is your typical Jess Franco pot boiler, which ranks right up with the likes of White Cannibal Queen in terms of "production values".

This is the first time the film has been released to Blu-Ray in the UK and picture quality is a vast improvement over the previous DVD release from Severin films, which was way too dark. Indeed, this version is so polished, you can clearly see the pimples on the native women's backsides (no SERIOUSLY) though that's not to say the picture is faultless. With some scenes boasting excessive grain and are overly soft, though this was undoubtedly a problem with the original elements.

Also, the English audio seemed overly loud on this and had to drasticly turn down the volume on my TV to avoid being blasted accross the room. However it seems this was also a problem on the old Severin DVD, so is obviously something to do with the original audio. However it seems like a missed opportunity not to try and correct this for this release.

It should also be noted that the previous Severin disc had a couple of extra scenes with the kidnappers, which were not on earlier English language releases. However these were in Spanish language only. These scenes, which occur around the 1hr 10m mark, are also included in this release. BUT there are no English subtitles. Whilst the disc does contain English subs for the hard of hearing, switching the sub-title track on for these scenes simply displays the caption "[Speaks Foreign Language]", which is a bit of a poor show.

As for extras, those who own the previous Severin disc may remember that included an Interview with the director. That has not been included here, instead we get a 50minute documentary entitled "Franco-Philes", in which film journalist John Martin, Sitges Film Festival organiser Mike Hostench; Fangoria editor and writer Tony Timpone and many others examine the maverick career of Director Jess Franco,

To summarise, this release is a vast improvement picture wise over previous releases, but is really only one for Jess Franco fans, or Video Nasty collectors as I doubt mainstream movie fans will appreciate Franco's "unique" style of film making. 

Buy the UK BD from Amazon.co.uk

 

Brian Skiba’s comedic horror, ROTTENTAIL hops into US cinemas April 12

Award-winning filmmaker Brian Skiba is set to premiere his new hilarious Easter nightmare, Rottentail this month in Los Angeles. Opening theatrically in the US on April 12, the film, Movie Critical has called “the bloody, funniest movie this Easter”, will have its red carpet premiere on April 11, 2019, at Hollywood’s Raleigh Studios.

Rottentail tells the bizarre tale of young Peter Cotton, who grew up in the town of Easter Falls and loves rabbits. Peter’s Science project on rabbit breeding is ruined when the school bullies beat up, and actually kill, his rabbit. Years later, the kind but still shy Dr. Cotton works steadily and gently with his rabbits to cure human infertility. Unbeknownst to Peter, the military is perverting his work, developing fierce soldiers with strength far exceeding a human of their size, and with Peter’s fertility serum, the ability to breed in the field.

Peter discovers the true nature of the experiment and attempts to stop it. But in an accident of poetic justice, a bite from an experimental mutant rabbit combines with Peter’s own serum to transform him into the evil Rottentail. This creature heads to Easter Falls to exact revenge on the wrongdoings of his youth and to finally lay claim to the love of his life... and his timing could not be better, since Easter Falls’ biggest day of the year is coming and the entire town will be there to watch the Annual Easter Parade. 

Starring Corin Nemec (Stargate SG-1, Supernatural), William McNamara (Copycat, Stealing Home), Dominique Swain (Lolita, Face/Off), Laurie Love (.357, Beverly Hills Christmas) and Byron Browne (Who Else To Blame?, Periphery), Rottentail is the 2011 Arizona Filmmaker of the Year’s latest and most ambitious venture yet in his career which boasts 18 directing credits and numerous credits in producing, writing, editing, and visual effects.

Brian Skiba will be in attendance at the Los Angeles premiere of Rottentail and will walk the red carpet along with cast and crew from the film including Peter Rottentail himself, Corin Nemec, Dominique Swain and Gianni Capaldi. 

 View the trailer on YouTube

New images revealed for TERMINATOR : DARK FATE

Twentieth Century Fox have revealed a set of brand new images for the eagerly awaited TERMINATOR : DARK FATE. 

 

Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger return in their iconic roles in TERMINATOR : DARK FATE, directed by Tim Miller (Deadpool) and produced by visionary filmmaker James Cameron and David Ellison. 

Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, TERMINATOR : DARK FATE also stars Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta.  

TERMINATOR : DARK FATE is coming to UK cinemas soon. 

Zombie Anthology VIRUS OF THE DEAD hits US DVD

The new zombie anthology, VIRUS OF THE DEAD, starring Kathryn Eastwood (Clint's daughter) will be hitting US DVD April 9th. 

The film brought on board 22 filmmakers from around the world to contribute segments; including Timo Rose (Fearmakers, Barricade), Shane Ryan (Amateur Porn Star Killer, My Name is 'A' by anonymous), James Cullen Bressack (producer of Gangster Land and Altitude), Nick Principe (star of Laid to Rest and American Muscle), Jarrett Furst (producer of The Last Sharknado: It's About Time), and many more. 

Miss Golden Globe Kathryn Eastwood (Jersey Boys), daughter of Clint Eastwood, stars along with Mhairi Calvey (of Mel Gibson's Braveheart). Eastwood also co-wrote her segment (American Virus) with director Shane Ryan. Tony Newton's UK based Vestra Pictures produced the anthology.

Buy the US DVD from Amazon.com

 

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK - New Trailer and Posters released.

Entertainment One UK is pleased to release the first trailer for SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, from the visionary mind of producer Guillermo del Toro. 

 

Two new posters are also revealed for the upcoming adaptation starring Zoe Margaret Colletti, based on the classic horror anthology series for children.

It’s 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time—stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah’s terrifying tome.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK is coming soon to UK Cinemas.