Don't Torture a Duckling

[lordofdance]

Barbara Bouchet helped me get through this movie.

For a Lucio Fulci film, the gore is fairly restrained. Only at the end does the viewer get a hint of that absurdly gruesome blood and gore that is associated with Fulci's work.

Don't Torture a Duckling is a giallo without any supernatural elements, so don't expect the nightmare-style narrative of films like The Beyond or Gates of Hell. For the most part, the movie is a straightforward murder mystery with a little gore and nudity thrown in. The subject matter, revolving around murdered children, isn't handled in a particularly disturbing fashion. Overall, this is the least ridiculous or gross Fulci film that I've seen.

Grossness ***
Cruelty *** (Woman gets a beating)
Overall Disturbing Content **1/2 (Dead children, but it's not that graphic)
Nudity **1/2 (Just at the beginning)
Film Quality ***
(Out of *****)

[captainofbeef]

I love the title, film sounds pretty interesting too.

[lordofdance]

It was a trend back then to have some sort of animal name in the title of a giallo film. I think Dario Argento started it with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. The Italians were big into copying each other, be it Westerns or Horror films.

I was impressed by how decent this film was compared to other Fulci films I've seen. This and Perversion Story are my two favorite films by him after Zombie.

[criterionmaster]

I have been meaning to check this out, 'cause, like beed said, the title always interested me, and it is Fulci, who I love. I will have to check this out sometime soon. As well as the other film you mentioned, Perversion Story, which I had never heard of at all, and don't have a clue what it is about. Maybe you could tell me?

As for Italians copying each other, they most certainly do, a great example being, Hell of the Living Dead. They stole the score straight from Dawn of the Dead, the Argento version. I began realizing through the film that it was the same, but I figured it had to just sound the same or something. Nope. Exact. There are probably many other stories exactly like it.

I have seen Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage before, and liked that a lot. I believe the film is available on LikeTelevision. It didn't hold a candle to Suspiria, but on its own, it was a nice little film. Some fucking awesome elements to it too.

[lordofdance]

It just came out recently, and it is nothing like his later horror stuff. It's more of a swanky sex movie mixed with a murder mystery. It has a good jazz score and a respectable amount of nudity, at least for a film from 1969. It's not really perverted, but it's stylish enough to pass the time.

Grossness *
Cruelty *1/2
Overall Disturbing Content **
Nudity ***1/2
Film Quality ***1/2

[criterionmaster]

Wow, surprised I hadn't heard of it. I will check it out sometime soon, nudity is always a good thing in a film. I haven't seen any of Fulci's early films.