No tortures esa muñeca

Overall, this is a really good movie (pretty close to great). I actually think that when I revisit this film (as is bound to happen) I'll enjoy it more the next time through. As far as a giallo film, this movie wasn't nearly as much fun as any of Argento's entries, but it did try to do some things that I found innovative and compelling. For my first Fulci film, I was rather impressed, though I can almost say for certain he won't be replacing Argento as one of my favorite horror directors. This movie is a twisty entry into a genre I love, and it's one that I've already recommended to a few people. For our full review of Don't Torture a Duckling visit True Myth Media!

In a small, idyllic village, far more is going on than meets the eye. When a local boy is found murdered, a suspect is quickly arrested. The police commissioner has serious doubts about the man they've put in jail. It's the second such killing, and it won't be the last.

Director Lucio Fulci's DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING is a disturbing giallo, due to its subject matter. It is a tale of perversity, superstition / the occult, madness, and revenge. Packed with interesting characters, red herrings, mystery and suspense, this is one of Fulci's most satisfying thrillers.

Florinda Bolkan (A LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN) is perfect as the insane, shattered Maciara. Her beating is brutal today, and had to be extreme in 1972! Barbara Bouchet (THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS, THE RED QUEEN KILLS SEVEN TIMES) is also good as the VERY free-spirited, Patrizia. Though the bloody, final revelation is a tad overdone, it remains effective...

Lucio Fulci, later known for his graphic horror films like The Beyond and Zombie, was years earlier a master of the Italian giallo (in the company of Argento and Bava) with films like A Lizard In A Woman's Skin and his masterpiece, Don't Torture A Duckling. This film has all the elements of the Italian mystery/thriller genre known as the giallo, but really pulls the viewers in by having each key character with a skeleton in his/her own closet. This keeps you doing as much detective work as the detectives in the film itself. Who is killing the young boys in town? The young rich woman who is so bored that she sexually taunts the eventual victims, the reporter who likes to tamper with a crime scene to get a better photo shot, the townswoman with a mentally disabled daughter, the local witch, the town idiot....the list goes on, and you have to keep mental notes like a true game to play and solve. The themes in this film are very daring and done with that perfect Italian style in the early 1970s. It is certain that no American studio would have even considered making a film of such strong content, and that is precisely why this is such a satisfying film (despite some unusual accent choices for the dubbing for the English language version -- You'd do yourself a favor by watching it in its original Italian language, as that is how the actors spoke) and will definitely have people discussing its meanings long after viewing it. As the saying goes, they don't make them like this anymore, so get a copy and cherish an important film like this one!

I really enjoyed this film although I have only had a chance to watch it once. It's a great Giallo IMO and just as enjoyable as Fulci's later films. The direction was perhaps a bit rough around the edges but on the whole I thought the film worked really well and the ending was great (a real cliff hanger!). I thought one scene was particularly disturbing when the locals beat the hell out of a poor women while the radio played in the background. The inappropriate music made the images even harder to swallow but also gave the scene an emotional punch uncommon in a Fulci movie. I also felt that the story worked coherently and that the twist at the end was great. Fulci obviously has a rather low opinion of rural Italy's inhabitants because in this film all the villagers are presented as simpletons prone to mass-hysteria who live by their own backward laws (illustrated by the remorseless killing of the women) and religious beliefs.

I didn't know what to expect when I rented this widescreen DVD. I knew it had a cult following but I had also seen a lot of the director's later works which although delightfully gory were also pretty much incoherent. DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING actually had a linear storyline and a mystery that kept me guessing almost until the end. And after all was said and done, it was a genuinely unsettling and creepy experience. One major caveat: I would much rather have heard the original soundtrack and read English subtitles than the uneven dubbing found here.