Don't Torture a Duckling
by Lucio Fulci
List Price:
Our Price: $12.99
You Save: $1.96 (13%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $6.91 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Barbara Bouchet, Florinda Bolkan, Irene Papas, Marc Porel, Tomas MilianDirector: Lucio Fulci
Brand: Ryko Distribution
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-02-27
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Blue Underground
Movie Reviews of Don't Torture a Duckling
Movie Review: Grotesque and bizarre horror thriller, a landmark in Fulci's filmography.
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Summary of Don't Torture a Duckling
The oddly titled Don't Torture a Duckling (taken from a minor plot point) is one of director Lucio Fulci's most linear and conventional narratives, relying more on story and mystery than on gore and atmospherics. In a rural Italian village, young boys turn up dead, and the authorities are stumped as to who the murderer is. A reporter lends his efforts to the hunt for the killer, many red herrings turn up, and more kids are murdered while the police search for the culprit. A sexually liberated young woman from Milan, a local witch, and the village idiot all fall under suspicion until the killer is uncovered. Gone is much of the director's trademark visual style, replaced with the blinding sunlight of an Italian summer for a hyperrealistic feel (though Fulci's affinity for the zoom shot and deep focus comes through). More tellingly, though, Fulci points toward the superstition and ignorance of the villagers as being as dangerous and destructive as the murderer himself. Also, the film's vehemently anti-Catholic sentiment had to have been controversial at the time of its release. Fans of the giallo and Italian horror in general would do well to seek out this film for an example of Lucio Fulci at his most grim and serious. --Jerry RenshawA Classic Of The Perverse From Director Lucio FulciSeveral young boys are murdered in a remote village rife with sex and superstition and the townspeople go mad with rage and violence. But when a hard-nosed reporter and promiscuous young woman search for the true killer they discover a fiend and motive even more shocking than the crimes themselves.DON T TORTURE A DUCKLING is a landmark giallo so savage it could only come from the mind of director Lucio Fulci (THE BEYOND ZOMBIE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD). Featuring an international all-star cast that includes Tomas Milian (RUN MAN RUN) Barbara Bouchet (BLACK BELLY OF THE TARANTULA) Irene Papas (Z) and Florinda Bolkan (LIZARD IN A WOMAN S SKIN) this re-discovered classic has been restored from the original vault materials and is now presented completely uncut and uncensored.Extras:Lucio Fulci BioFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 827058109093 Manufacturer No: 1090
Horror DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in My top 40 nightmares!!!!!
![Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition [Award Series] Image](/images/Alien-20th-Anniversary-Edition-Award-Series-B00000ILDD-X.jpg)
Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition [Award Series]Release date: 1999-06-01; DVD
Best price: $3.07
Price in other shops:
The Silence of the Lambs (Full Screen Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2004-08-24; DVD
Best price: $5.69
Price in other shops:
CreepLION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2005-12-20; DVD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
The BroodTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2003-08-26; DVD
Best price: $2.57
Price in other shops:
Baby BloodSTARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-10-10; DVD
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The UglyRelease date: 1998-12-08; DVD
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops:
Carrie (Special Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2001-08-28; DVD
Best price: $7.01
Price in other shops:
RabidKoch International; Release date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $7.58
Price in other shops:
The Descent (Unrated Widescreen Edition)LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-12-26; DVD
Best price: $4.01
Price in other shops:
Near DarkRelease date: 2002-09-10; DVD
Best price: $9.89
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
City of the Living DeadRyko Distribution; Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $8.35
Price in other shops:
From Beyond (Unrated Director's Cut)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
The Black Belly of the TarantulaRyko Distribution; Release date: 2006-03-28; DVD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Blood & Black LaceRelease date: 2005-11-08; DVD
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (2-Disc Special Edition)Release date: 2005-10-25; DVD
Best price: $11.82
Price in other shops:
The Mario Bava Collection, Volume 1 (Black Sunday / Black Sabbath / The Girl Who Knew Too Much / Kill Baby Kill / Knives of the Avenger)STARZ HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2007-04-03; DVD
Best price: $23.25
Price in other shops:
Deep RedRyko Distribution; Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $8.30
Price in other shops:
ShockRyko Distribution; Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $8.73
Price in other shops:
InfernoRyko Distribution; Release date: 2007-02-27; DVD
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
A Lizard in a Woman's SkinMedia Blasters; Release date: 2007-02-06; DVD
Best price: $11.95
Price in other shops: