Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)

Grotesque and bizarre horror thriller, a landmark in Fulci's filmography.

Italian master filmaker in extreme gore and horror Lucio Fulci, experimented in this 1972 disturbing and tense "Giallo" thriller, a different aproach of collective fear, madness and religious censorship, a work that was actually his best effort before he turned his attention to atmospheric supernatural horror, zombie nauseous imagery and shocking graphic violence, in classics like "Zombi", "city of the living dead" or his all-time masterpiece "The beyond".

When several young boys are brutally massacred in a southern small italian village, the locals decide to take bloody justice in their own hands: Consumed by fear and ignorance, the supersticious villagers turn against the obvious suspects with violent rage, and weird misfits fall under the vicious attack of the linching mob. When the police is overwhelmed, a nosy reporter comes to town to investigate the murders, and soon became curious about a young priest and his influence over the villagers, who censors the reading to prevent the corruption of their souls. What continues was an unseen morbid tale of sexual desire and creepy explorations of moral values.

With the usual tight budget and time that 70's italian horror movies suffered from, Fulci accomplished a tense, disturbing and gruesome story that actually manages to turn the Italian rural provinces in a hellish scenario, with a cerebral and absorbing tale of superstition and ignorance, violence and revenge. The moody and dense photography of Sergio D'offizi transforms the beautiful italian landscapes into menacing spaces of despair, and the haunting and macabre music score of Riz Ortolani gets under the viewer's skin.

The most effective thriller scripted and directed by Fulci himself, never actually reached the status that deserved, but for fans of Fulci this is the most popular and frightening work. The threatening and creepy atmosphere involving the villager's superstition, religion and dark magic, adding to the macabre situations like the early highlight of a linching mob assasination sequence, the endless riddles of the tense story and the disturbing encounters with the gore imagery, was a serious demarcation of Fulci over the world of horror cinema: With the minimum resources, a great talented filmaker can create a whole universe of fear, thrills and chills.

George A. Romero's "Night of the living dead" was the most outstanding example of an "accidental" masterpiece that described with cheap effectiveness the very end of the world, with only few shots of outer lanscapes, an old house and amateur crew and extras, staged media reports on radio and tv, plastic special effects and great passion and imagination. Now, if Romero could do such a monumental achievement that changed the vision of horror cinema forever, Why the masters of the B-horror movie's style of the 70's, including the grade-A student Tobe Hoper with the milestone "The Texas chainsaw massacre", can't be considered genius as well?

The answer is obvious: Classic italian horror filmakers are the very school of flawed but astonishing achievements with less-than-much budget, but with a cappacity for creating surrealistic ambients and a weird abstraction of fear that borders dementia, an incredible talent that Romero himself wish he had. With all due respect.
April 15, 2008

Disappointing Duck

This 1972 Italian giallo was not as intriguing as "Lizard in a Woman's Skin." The killer's identity may have been shocking in the seventies but not today. Who else could it have been? This person was closer to the boys than any other. The killer's excuse for murdering the young boys was rather lame. The acting, however, was great. Florinda Balkin as the gypsy witch was superb. The scenery was awesome. There was definitely a comparison made between the poverty stricken, medieval homes of the village and the ultra-modern highway nearby. The scenery was reflective of the villager's mindsets; they were still living in the midst of past superstitions. I did enjoy this movie more than Lucio Fulci's occult gorefests such as "Zombie" or "City of the Living Dead." I don't consider it on the same level as Dario Argento's early giallos. December 10, 2007

And Now for Something Completely Different

I haven't spent much time watching giallos, not for any particular reason really; I just haven't got around to them yet. I decided to start (again) with Lucio Fulci's "Don't Torture a Duckling." This is a rare film that I believe Fulci haters will tend to enjoy,

In a small village in southern Italy, young preadolescent boys are turning up dead from strangulation. Evidence points to a number of possible suspects, especially the local "witch," Martiara (Florinda Bolkan), whose voodoo practices and possible insanity make her a likely candidate. But what about Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), the bored city girl hiding out after a drug scandal, who now passes the time by flaunting her naked body in front of children? The local Catholic Church, headed by young Don Alberto (The Psychic's Marc Porel) and his mother, Aurelia (Irene Papas), tries to keep the population under control, but even the local police are baffled by the case. A reporter from the north, Andrea (Tomas Milian), comes to investigate and recruits Patrizia to discover some genuinely ugly truths about the quiet provincial town.

There really isn't much gore except for two scenes; that of a woman being beaten with a chain and a man scraping his face down the side of a cliff (ouch!). This is probably my favorite Lucio Fulci film being that I did not enjoy The House By the Cemetery and Zombi 2 (25th Anniversary Special Edition 2-Disc Set) I enjoyed the acting, especially the man who played the priest, who is a dead ringer for Orlando Bloom (just in looks, though, not in lack of acting skill, thank goodness!). The rest of the cast did an excellent job as well, even the children.

This is a disturbing film, but not the typical slasher flick. Since it is a giallo, it is more murder-mystery than horror. If you're a fan of Italian horror and Fulci I would say to watch this movie, The Italian title is "Non si sevizia un paperino," which literally translates to "Don't Torture Donald Duck." Most people assume the name was changed to Don't Torture a Duckling because of licensing issues. A small Donald Duck shows up at one of the bodies although I still fail to see how this was enough to name the movie. I like to give extra thanks to Dave K. and M. for giving me that second push on Fulci because if it wasn't for them I would of givin up on this director a long time ago.
November 8, 2007

Giallo rules!

Another great classic from the master of extreme horror. This giallo tale is about a mad-man(or woman)roaming the Italian countryside murdering little boys. It is not by any means his goriest or most f****d up but for the time the child murders and anti-catholic message were unheard of. There are a couple of cool special effects scenes and it is not completely devoid of gore, especially one scene that is reminiscent of "The Beyond" (the cliff scene is cool too) and can definitely see the start of a gory career for the maestro. The other great thing about this movie is the music is done by Riz Ortilani, the same man who made the excellent music for "Cannibal Holocaust". If your a giallo fan or a Fulci fan this is a must have. FULCI LIVES! July 14, 2007

Fulci's Masterpiece

Italian director Lucio Fulci is rarely given the credit he deserves. Fulci was a director of great utility, who traversed generic boundaries regularly before he became firmly associated with the horror genre. His final gory step into the horror genre with "Zombi 2" was as much the result of economic imperatives and producer influence as it was a conscious decision on Fulci's part. These films were marked by an ambivalence towards conventional narrative patterns, which makes his 1972 effort "Don't Torture a Duckling" all the more exceptional. This film is as tightly plotted and efficiently constructed as any giallo film, but with its undertones of peasant superstition, the supernatural and witchcraft, places it firmly within the thematic universe of the director. This is giallo Fulci style and the concessions he makes to the conventions of this form are purely within the remit of iconography. This is a giallo marked by a particularly unsettling atmosphere of hypocrisy and perversion (one only need look toward a truly shocking scene in which a young boy of 12 is prick teased by a naked Barbara Bouchet). This is further augmented into the white washed walls of this rural northern Italian city, and its superstitious villagers, who aren't above a bit of chain whipping vigilante action. Fulci invests a great deal more in the procedures of the police, but ultimately the resolution is arrived at by amateur detectives, who represent both modernity and bourgeois society. The murders of innocent children, intriguingly, are not due to perverse motives, but instead an idealistic religious conviction which sees the modern world as a haven of vices which can only corrupt the innocence of youth. Fulci shows the negative side of both modern Italy and its rural counterpart. By showing that both are marked by ignorance and arrogance, Fulci seems to offer a particularly nihilistic vision of mankind.



This DVD re-issue by Blue Underground is excellent value for money. The picture quality is very good for a film that has been mishandled and distributed badly for decades. This is a must buy for anyone interested in European horror, not only is it an exemplary giallo, but also Fulci's most rounded cohesive and enjoyable pictures.

June 14, 2007

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