Don't Torture a Duckling
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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.
Movie Review: So you think Fulci is just a gore director?
Summary: 4 Stars
Starting in 1979 with the release of Zombie, Lucio Fulci became known for gore movies. That continued through the 80s with a string of gore flicks, which include The Beyond and City of the Living Dead among others. Don't Torture a Duckling isn't your typical Lucio Fulci film at all. There are pretty much no gore scenes, though there are two scenes where Fulci delivers some gore, but I'll touch upon that later on.
Don't Torture a Duckling as I stated before is very different then what Fulci did in the late 70s and 80s. If you're looking for gore you will not find much at all. Actually about half the murders take place off camera. The plot is rather dark; pre-teens being killed is quite disturbing. Gore and violence is not needed when dealing with that subject matter. We also have a woman in her 20s that seems to have a weird sexual attraction to young boys.
It's really a strange movie and like I said unlike most of Fulci's other movies. While yes, Don't Torture a Duckling can be slow in some spots, and my biggest complaint is the sense of dread isn't quite there. Here, Fulci at times creates some great tension and atmosphere and other times it just doesn't work. Oddly enough I found Fulci's gore movies to have more tension at times.
But with that said this is still an excellent movie and Lucio Fulci proves he is more then just a gore director. While some scenes I felt lacked tension others had overall Fulci nailed it. While watching the movie I did enjoy it, but it was afterwards when I thought back I realized how good the movie actually was. There are several things while not directly brought up are hinted at, from sexual repression to pedophilia.
With all that hinted at and all going on in the movie it really does add to the movie and it shows what a talented filmmaker Lucio Fulci was. While I won't spoil who the killer is their motive was really creepy and they didn't do simply because they are psychotic, which yeah sure the killer is, but the motive was downright creepy.
As for the gore; one woman is whipped with chains and while not overly gory like in Fulci's later movies the gore was decent and the scene was really disturbing and with the music playing in the back-round it was even more disturbing. The last death in the movie is also a bit gory, but it's quite clear a dummy was used, but hey it still works well.
If you are a fan of Giallos I would very much recommend Don't Torture a Duckling. And for those who think Fulci is just a gore director should really check this out.
In closing, Don't Torture a Duckling isn't a perfect movie; it can at times be a bit slow and some scenes lack the tension they should have had, but overall Lucio Fulci delivers an excellent film and one of my favorite Giallos.
Co-star Barbara Bouchet has to rate as one of the most beautiful women to ever grace cinema.
Movie Review: And Now for Something Completely Different
Summary: 4 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Great giallo...
Summary: 4 Stars
...this is unlike any other film by Fulci, other than Lizard in a Woman's Skin. It is about a serial killer who murders little kids. The townspeople become paranoid and police seek out the killer. Interesting story, and twist in the end. You think you know who the killer is, but you don't! Great movie. Excellent setting and pace. A must for your Giallo or Italian horror collection.Movie Review: quite interesting
Summary: 4 Stars
I must confess I've never been a great fan of Lucio Fulci, but "Non si sevizia un paperino" is by far the best and most interesting work of his.
It's not a grossout gorefest, but delivers visually.
4 out of 5