Product Description

A 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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31367 in DVD
• Brand: Ryko Distribution
• Released on: 2007-02-27
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
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 Renshaw

Dario Argento
"One Of Lucio Fulci's Best Films And A Superb Giallo!"

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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.