Don't Torture a Duckling

The best of Fulci’s Giallo. Horror movie of the Year. (30/12/2010)

According to the reviews here, this slightly morbid giallo film is quite OK. Well, I don’t really think so because other than the scene involving the naked Italian actress who was trying to seduce a 10-year-old boy, I only enjoyed one other scene that I had to wait for until the very end. An average course of investigation that looked like a combination of French crime movies and Italian naughty movies reached a conclusion that literally took my breath away. You see, the final fight was like an absolutely brutal Italian Fight Club. Brutal, illogical and in the end also bloody. I had to watch the scene twice because I haven’t seen something this funny in a movie for a long time. Thank you, Mr. Fulci, you kept low-key during the entire movie but you sure had a lot of fun with the ending. (27/02/2017)

Don’t Torture a Duckling is one of the films that clearly prove that Lucio Fulci was not only a purveyor of trash, but also a skilled director. In filmmaking terms, this thriller-drama can be faulted only for its excessive runtime. The plot is that of a conventional thriller about the search for a murderer, formalistically set in an unconventional environment. Of course, the film is characterised by Fulci’s fetishistic close-up shots, underscored by music that has a strange effect. The film practically has no main character, instead focusing on multiple characters whose portrayal alternates from suspect to innocent and vice versa. The provocative sexual tension surrounding one of the most prominent characters, embodied by the beautiful Barbara Bouchet, is pleasing. (22/06/2003)

"Do not torture a duckling" is a film that stands out in the giallo genre. Just by being set in the countryside rather than a big city, it evokes a different atmosphere, as if it were a prelude to a slightly different concept. And that is indeed the case. Additionally, Fulci has a talent for incredibly powerful scenes. In this case, it is a scene where a woman is beaten and then desperately hopes for rescue at the last moment. But she does not receive it. People around her simply drive by. This is something that sends shivers down one's spine. (12/04/2014)