One of the greatest Giallo films of all time and one of Lucio Fulci’s masterworks, Don’t Torture a Duckling is a brilliantly crafted, twisted murder mystery that deftly explores themes of guilt, superstition, and perversion.
The film takes place in the sleepy Italian town of Accendura, where a string of brutal child killings has shaken the community to its core. The police begin their investigation but are completely bewildered because every lead they pursue sends them in the wrong direction. Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian), a reporter who has traveled to Accendura to cover the news, initiates his own amateur investigation. Will Andrea and the police be able to identify the murderer in time to prevent another attack?
Lucio Fulci and his cinematographer, Sergio D’Offizi, nail the small-town setting by completely engrossing the audience in that milieu. Despite the picturesque beauty of the town, they manage to create a frightening, dense atmosphere in a place where religion and black magic coexist and are populated by superstitious, small-minded, and god-fearing people with a conservative mentality. As the investigation progresses, several residents come under suspicion, including Giuseppe (Vito Passeri), a village idiot and a peeping tom who spies on locals, Magiara (Florinda Balken), a reclusive Gypsy who delves into black magic and has a grudge against the children, Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), a beautiful young woman from Milan who is hiding in her wealthy father’s house at the village to escape a drug scandal, etc.
What distinguishes this film from other whodunits is that whenever a person comes under suspicion, Lucio Fulci does not let that suspect off the hook easily. Instead, he goes so far as to almost convict that suspect of the crime and nearly persuade the viewers that the person is the true culprit until the very last second, when one minor detail proves their innocence. For instance, when the first boy, Bruno, is attacked in the woods, the scene cuts to his father, who reports to the police that he received a ransom call from someone requesting money in exchange for Bruno’s return. The father goes to the drop-off location and deposits the money in the spot the kidnapper specified. Eventually, the kidnapper shows up and tries to take the money, but the police officers apprehend him, revealing himself to be Giuseppe, the local fool. In response to the police’s inquiry regarding Bruno’s location, Giuseppe leads them to the spot where he buried the boy. He is subsequently arrested for the murder, despite his repeated denials that he had found Bruno dead at that location earlier and had only contacted his parents in a feeble attempt to extract some money. The clever screenplay almost has us believing Giuseppe is the culprit, but when another child is killed while he is in custody, the police discover he is speaking the truth. This allows the audience to entirely focus on that specific suspect rather than letting our thoughts ponder the identity of the actual murderer. As a result, the final reveal of the killer’s identity turns out to be impactful, even if it may have been staring at us in the face the whole time—we just didn’t look in that direction. Even the motivation behind the murders is intriguing and unique, calling into question some of the Roman Catholic Church’s religious beliefs.
It was in Don’t Torture a Duckling that Fulci first demonstrated his prowess in depicting violent gore effects and graphic imagery, qualities that he would standardize in his subsequent films and eventually become famous for. His penchant for extreme gore effects is evident in a scene in which a few villagers lynch a woman with an iron chain. As soon as the iron chain comes into contact with the woman’s skin, Fulci cuts to a close-up of the skin peeling away from the body, revealing the mass and the blood. It is tough to watch and is unquestionably one of the most brutal and shocking torture scenes I have ever seen. Furthermore, the peppy American song playing in the background, juxtaposed with the cruelty, followed by a melancholy Italian ballad, makes this an even more tragic and heartbreaking scene. Finally, the film comes together nicely thanks to sharp editing, heightening its suspense and intensity. A few innovative cuts are employed so skillfully that they aid in establishing a person as a legitimate suspect.
Don’t Torture a Duckling movie links: Letterboxd, IMDB
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