I want to deliver juice to the woman in this…Okay, that sounds creeper than I had meant for it to.
Don’t Torture A Duckling (1972)
Directed By: Lucio Fulci (Cat In The Brain, Zombie 2)
The Prologue
So here we are folks! It’s the moment that Lucio Fulci started down the gory path that we know him for today! And the movie he picked to start down that path with actually had nothing to do with zombies, cats in the brain, or gates of what we can only assume was hell. Fulci started down the bloody path with the 1972 Giallo Don’t Torture a Duckling!
Many of the things that would define Lucio Fulchi’s career, both good and bad, was shown here in this film. But, was it any good?
The Movie
A reporter and a promiscuous young woman try to solve a series of child killings in a remote southern Italian town that’s rife with superstition and distrust of outsiders. We maybe should call the girl out for what she seems to be, and that’s not just promiscuous, that’s a pedophile as she attempts, or at least teases sexual things with a young boy right at the get go with her fist appearance in the movie. But only in the world of Fulci could someone of this nature be the “good” guy. But you know what? She’s hot..like REALLY hot, so I’ll give her a pass to.
This film sets up for a “who done it” plot where things aren’t always as they appear, people are getting naked, and when someone dies it’s usually gory if not slightly too over the top to a point it does indeed look fake, an issue Fulci’s movies would deal with for as long as he made movies. Also everything here sums up just what this movie is, a Giallo film. This being a Giallo also means this film doesn’t get in much of a hurry as it’s 102 minutes do seem to drag along at a snail pace at times.
People say this is Lucio at his best, but I must beg to differ. On top of the slow pace, we deal with a leading man that is just kinda there and really doesn’t stand out at all like a leading man until later in the film and by that time a good deal of the film has passed by already. I hate to say it, but at times the film does seem to have slightly bad story telling but it does however makes up for it at different moments.
The violence is something worth seeing in this film alone. It’s either really good or so over the top it’s funny, which still equals entertaining. From one scene I called “The Passion of the Gypsy”, to the iconic imagine of a drown boy, to the very unintentionally comical climax. The gore is well worth watching the film for, if for nothing than the gore alone. Maybe the man behind the camera wasn’t at his blood pouring peek just yet but it’s fun to see where he started.
Also there are some very interesting characters and twist in this one. Just sadly the most interesting characters aren’t really the main character (not the male anyway) and the ending and stuff leading to it was soo controversial for it’s time that the movie was banned in places and never saw light of day. And never did in America until Anchor Bay got the rights in 2002. But still, a very entertaining film all things aside.
The Conclusion
Don’t go into watching this looking for none stop excitement, but you can for sure come looking to be entertained and amused in one way or another. It’s no Zombie 2 by any means but I feel Don’t torture A Duckling is very much worth watching if you can deal with the slow pace.
The slow pace, the bad lead, and the somewhat bad (yet funny) gory moments won’t allow me to rate this oldie any higher than I am, but don’t think I hate this film because I don’t. It’s entertaining in it’s own little way.
The Rating (6/10)
Chucks website
