Advertise with us and reach over 500,000 horror fans all over the world!
DON’T TORTURE A DUCKLING (1972)
4 stars
Arrow Video. Limited edition UHD. Also available on Arrow’s streaming service.
Aka: Non si sevizia un paperino
The film opens with the camera panning across a remote Italian landscape. A long stretch of road snakes through the countryside. Close up of a woman’s hands, who later learn is Maciara (Florinda Balkan) digging in the ground uncovering the skeleton of a child.
Three young boys — Bruno, Michele and Tonino — watch as two ladies, who are clearly prostitutes, arrive at one of the local farmhouses and hook up with a couple of the men there. Guiseppe (Vito Passeri), ‘the village idiot’ spies on them. The trio taunt him.
At home Michele shyly takes orange juice to a naked Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet). She teases him. That night Bruno is being chased through the woods. He is later reported missing and the police search for him. An anonymous caller has contacted his father asking for 6 million lire — a small amount of money under the circumstances. He takes the ransom to an old warehouse and leaves it in the furnace. When Guiseppe sees the father leave the package he collects it and is promptly arrested. He tells the police he doesn’t know anything. Unfortunately for him the father identifies him (by hearing his voice over the phone!). In a clearing in the woods they discover a body — though Guiseppe claims he just buried the already dead boy…
However despite the evidence, the commissioner doesn’t think he is the killer. Then Tonino turns up dead. Will more killings occur?
But who is the murderer? Are local superstitions at play? Could Maciara, who the townsfolk think is a witch, have something to do with the killings? After all she has three black wax doll effigies stuck with pins? Or is it Patrizia, who only arrived in the village recently? Andre Martelli (Tomas Milian) a reporter, tries to help the police in solving the case.
The film is surely directed by Lucio Fulci, who for many is best known for his gory zombie movies like ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (1979), though he helmed other films in the giallo mould, like LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN (1971) and THE PSYCHIC (1977) to name just a couple. This film proved controversial in Italy, which meant a limited release in Europe and it was never released in cinemas in the US.
This UHD disc looks fabulous showing off the colourful and striking cinematography by Sergio D’Offizi. For the technically minded it is a new 4K restoration from the original 2-perf Techniscope camera negative. It has a notable Riz Ortolani score plus you get Boucher being sexy and Balkan being manic plus a dash of extreme gore when Maciara is attacked by several men. You get both the Italian and English version.
Steve Kirkham
EXTRAS
4 stars
Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of ‘So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films’
Giallo a la Campagna, a video discussion with Mikel J. Koven, author of ‘La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film’ (27 mins)
Hell is Already in Us, a video essay by critic Kat Ellinger (20 mins)
Lucio Fulci Remembers, a rare 1988 audio interview with the filmmaker, answering questions from journalist Gaetano Mistretto. Split into two parts (33 mins in total)
Plus interviews with actress Barbara Bouchet (18 mins), with actress Florinda Bolkan (28 mins), with cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi (46 mins), with editor Bruno Micheli (25 mins) and with makeup artist Maurizio Trani (16 mins)
Theatrical trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady and an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and Howard Hughes
