Don't Torture a Duckling [Blu-ray/DVD] [2 Discs]

Director: Lucio Fulci Lucio Fulci

Overview

When several young boys are brutally murdered in a small southern Italian village, the superstitious locals react with ignorance and violence. All misfits are immediately suspected, such as big-city tart Barbara Bouchet, the local village idiot, and voodoo practitioner Florinda Bolkan, who is brutally murdered by the villagers in a startling and powerful scene. Cop Tomas Milian (Almost Human, Amistad) comes to investigate, and is rather curious about a young priest who censors the town's reading material to keep it free of corruption. The peculiar clergyman seems to envy the dead boys, who will never grow up to be corrupted. Milian soon becomes convinced that the priest wants to send the kids' souls to Heaven and feels guilt about desiring the boys sexually.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/03/2017
UPC:	0760137035480
Original Release:	1972
Rating:	NR
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	18,504

Special Features

New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films; Giallo a la Campagna, a new video discussion with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film; Hell is Already in Us, a new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger; Lucio Fulci Remembers, a 1988 audio interview with the films' co-writer/director; Interviews with actor Florinda Bolkan, cinematographer Sergio D'Offizi, assistant editor Bruno Micheli and assistant makeup artist Maurizio Trani (Blu-ray only)

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bárbara Bouchet	Patrizia,Actor
Florinda Bolkan	Martiara
Tomás Milian	Andrea Martelli
Marc Porel	Don Alberto
Georges Wilson	Francesco
Actor	Actor
Irene Papas	Actor

Technical Credits

Gianfranco Clerici

Roberto Gianviti

Lucio Fulci	Director
Gianfranco Clerici	Screenwriter
Roberto Gianviti	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Before turning his attention to extremely gory zombie films like Paura nella Citta dei Morti-Viventi in the 1980s, Lucio Fulci directed some pretty good thrillers, such as this effective giallo set in Italy's rural southern provinces. The portrayal of the superstitious villagers is the major strength of this film, building a creepy atmosphere where religion and magic co-exist, and where every mystery leads to another riddle. Sergio d'Offizi's photography is moody and dense, turning sunny postcard landscapes into threatening spaces which offer no escape. Riz Ortolani's haunting score will surprise many viewers accustomed to his ungodly faux-disco work of later films, and the script (by Fulci, Roberto Gianviti, and Gianfranco Clerici) is absorbing and solid. One of Fulci's more successful outings, this one even took home some well-deserved awards at various filmfests. Fulci's next thriller, Una Lucertola con la Pelle di Donna, abandoned much of this one's individuality for Argento-inspired visual tricks, and he returned to the theme of preserving innocence through murder in his shocking Lo Squartatore di New York a decade later.