A hilarious spoof that’s part mystery, part thriller, and all fun! Dylan McDermott (Hamburger Hill) stars as Vince Holloway, a poor excuse for a bounty hunter with a problem—the people he tries to bring back alive keep winding up dead. And in the bounty biz, no pulse means no paycheck. So Vince accepts a high-risk offer from the I.R.S. to recover $20 million from a crooked bank in the sleepy little town of Diablo, Mexico. Once Vince hits Diablo, he discovers a notorious bar called The Blue Iguana. It’s loaded with thugs, killers, smugglers and evil women. Vince feels right at home. But he’d feel more like making a run for it if he knew what awaits him. Written and directed by John Lafia (Child’s Play 2) and co-starring Dean Stockwell (Married to the Mob), Jessica Harper (Suspiria), James Russo (Extremities), Pamela Gidley (Cherry 2000), Tovah Feldshuh (Terror Out of the Sky) and rock legend Flea (The Big Lebowski), The Blue Iguana is a colorful ’80s neo-noir that’ll have you in stitches!

For thoughts on The Blue Iguana (1988), please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/em9G8ESse8U?t=3806]

Video Quality

The Blue Iguana debuts on Blu-Ray with a 1080p transfer in its original 1.85:1 from an older master that is decent enough from Kino Classics. This transfer could use some major improvements, but it holds up as an acceptable representation of the film which shows no real signs of digital tinkering. The main issue is the pretty consistent presence of small nicks, scratches and faint lines that could be ameliorated with a fresh master. The transfer looks fairly detailed for much of the runtime with only a couple of moments exhibiting density fluctuations in the grain field. Image quality is stable with some lovely detail in the production design and texture of clothing. Colors are consistent in terms of saturations, and they mostly look natural. Black levels are acceptable in their depth, even if a few moments struggle with delineation. Unsightly instances of compression artifacts or other digital anomalies are a rare occurrence in the transfer. It is nice to have the film in high definition, but a new master would have improved the experience greatly.

Audio Quality

Kino Classics brings us this new Blu-Ray with a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that likewise could be a bit stronger, but ultimately accomplishes what it needs to do. This movie has a sultry soundtrack which sounds great within the mix. You do not hear any weakness in the upper registers or anywhere else when it comes to fidelity. Dialogue holds up very nicely, coming through clearly without being stepped on by the music or sound effects. The environmental effects offer a bit of excitement at its most kinetic and are delineated nicely within the speakers. It is during these moments where you might want a greater impact, but it does not sound overly weak. Kino Classics has delivered a capable track here. There are optional English subtitles provided.

Special Features

Trailer: There is a two-minute trailer provided for The Blue Iguana in Spanish without English subtitles. There are also trailers provided for Blind Fury, Black Moon Rising, The Hot Spot and Married To The Mob.

Final Thoughts

The Blue Iguana (1988) is a film that never quite delivers on the promise of its premise. A knowing send-up of film noir tropes should be akin to shooting fish in a barrel, but the script lacks the strong comedic voice necessary to make an impact. The script feels like a patchwork of ideas that seem in conflict with one another. The performers do their best with what is on the page, but more often than not you will be left dreaming of a better version of this movie. Kino Classics has brought this film to Blu-Ray with an acceptable A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. This one is mostly for those who are already fans and have been waiting for an HD release.

The Blue Iguana (1988) is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.