THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974) Blu-ray Review

The Beast Must Die (1974) d. Paul Annett (UK) (92 min)

Combining elements of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, James Blish’s short story “There Shall Be No Darkness” is given an blaxploitation horror twist when eccentric millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) invites eight diverse individuals to his island estate for a weekend of hunting… without telling them that they are the quarry in question. Our intrepid adventurer has it in his head that one of his guests is a lycanthrope and is eager to face the supernatural foe face to snarling face. As the hours click by and the moon waxes full, suspects become victims, the game is afoot, and the question on everyone’s lips is, “Who Is The Werewolf?”

THE IGUANA WITH THE TONGUE OF FIRE (1971) Blu-ray review

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971) d. Riccardo Freda (Italy) (96 min)

Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage launched a wave of “animal-in-the-title” offerings, including this high energy (and equally high nonsense) effort which boasts a rogues gallery of perverse characters, violent murders, and ridiculous plotting where anyone could be the killer! Possibly the only giallo set in Dublin, Ireland, things kick off with an audacious pre-titles, acid-throwing, throat-slashing set-piece, with the victim’s naked corpse unceremoniously deposited in the trunk of the Swiss Ambassador’s limousine. When the icy government official (Anton Diffring, The Man Who Could Cheat Death) claims diplomatic immunity, the cops recruit former badge John Norton (Luigi Pistilli, Twitch of the Death Nerve) to find the killer.