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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9786305807766 Format: Color, Letterboxed, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC ISBN: 6305807760 Label: Starz / Anchor Bay Languages: Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Starz / Anchor Bay Release Date: May 23, 2000 Running Time: 102 minutes Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay Theatrical Release Date: 1972 Editorial Review: 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 Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Maybe not the best introWarning: I'm a spoiler type reviewer from time to time, when my reviews take on specific aspects of the plot, so be forewarned. Try as I might, I just simply couldn't get into this one. Perhaps it was the washed out tones; perhaps it was the drawn-out approach--I'm not really sure, but though this was by no means a "bad" movie, I didn't really find it to be very much of an "effective" movie (words that I understand are so much more arbitrary than their common uses). So, ... Read More Rating:  - 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 ... Read More Rating:  - Disappointing DuckThis 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 ... Read More Rating: - And Now for Something Completely DifferentI 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 ... Read More Rating:  - Giallo rules!Another great classic from the master of extreme horror. This giallo tale is about a mad-man(or woman)roaming the Italian countryside murdering little boys. It is not by any means his goriest or most f****d up but for the time the child murders and anti-catholic message were unheard of. There are a couple of cool special effects scenes and it is not completely devoid of gore, especially one scene that is reminiscent of "The Beyond" (the cliff scene is cool too) and can definitely see the start of a gory career ... Read More |
