Bezenby No wonder this was Lucio Fulci's personal favourite out of everything he directed. This is just about the darkest giallo you'll ever see, as it throws out all the kitsch, quirks and style and replaces it with social commentary, rage, and genuine emotion. (some spoilers ahead, but I don't reveal the killer)First off, the film is set out in rural Italy, swapping luxurious apartments for rocky hills and shepherds, and it's not sexy models being murdered, but a group of young pre-teen boys who are turning up strangled around the town. It's a strongly religious town where the boys are part of a youth club run by a young priest, but there's also an old magician living in the hills, with Florinda Balkan as his acolyte.Florinda sets the tone of the film as we see shots of her digging up a child's skeleton cut with that of three young boys taking the pish out of the town idiot. One of these boys encounters a totally naked Barbara Bouchet, who is new in town, and winds up the young guy by pretending to seduce him.*One of the boys goes missing and soon the town and land are full of Italian policemen with dogs. An mystery person claims to have kidnapped the boy and blackmails the family, only for it to turn out to be the town idiot who found the body and buried it. The cries of horror from the townspeople as the body is uncovered and their continual invading of scenes raises the tension throughout this film, as they turn on any suspect and bay for their blood - especially that of 'local witch' Florinda Balkan, whom we see doing voodoo on some child like dolls!Most of the cops aren't used to dealing with these mountain folk, and the only voice of reason seems to be journalist Tomas Milian, who is very restrained here. He seems to be the only one with any chance at all of figuring out the case, as he's the only one who seems to take a step back from the mounting hysteria. Unlike other gialli, Fulci really seems to have something to say here, and goes on to attack organised religion and its affects on sexuality, how it controls the masses, and the general ignorance of rural communities and the mob mind. No one in the film is entirely likable at all, and there's a whole vibe of alienation throughout the whole film, punctuated by an unidentified woman who sings, somewhere out in the hills.Of course the most famous scene of this film is where Florinda Balkan is cornered and beaten to death with chains by the murdered kid's fathers. With a car radio blasting inane tunes, Florinda is gorily ripped to shreds by chains and left to die. Except she doesn't. She crawls painfully to the highway (the only modern thing in the film) as happy families in cars blissfully drive by, and dies looking on a world she was never allowed. Fulci lingers on her corpse for a painful amount of time afterwards. The man was no hack and it's easily one of the most emotionally effective scenes in giallo.There's many other themes at play here, but I can't touch on them as they'll reveal the killer. This is a truly great giallo and just a plain great film. Viva Fulci!*Fulci got hauled over the coals for a lot of reasons because of this film, but he was brought to court for using a child in the nude scenes with Barbara Bouchet. Fulci had to reveal he actually dressed a dwarf in the kid's clothes for the scenes they appear together on screen. He also got blacklisted for having a go at the Catholic Church!

Giallo Fanatic Eccenlente. Fantastico. Magnifico. Grande. Molto grande. This is probably the finest Fulci movie. The first Fulci movie I saw was 'City of the Living Dead' and I was blown away. Then naturally I saw 'Zombi 2', 'The Beyond', 'House by the Cemetery' and 'The Black Cat. 'The Black Cat' being the weakest among them. I think they're all good atmosphere and gore horror movies - 'House by the Cemetery' being the most disturbing one - but I often thought that I should see something more coherent. Something more bound in reality. Don't get me wrong, Fulci makes excellent super-natural/abstract horror movies, I just felt he must be also good at making movies with coherent plots and stories. That's when I turned to 'Don't Torture a Duckling'. A sinister Giallo with a murderer strangling young boys. Already from the beginning we go into something very disturbing, something controversial. As the movie progress it just gets worse. Themes: repression, sin, guilt, sexual aberrant behavior, bigotry and violence. Genre: thriller/horror. Subgenre: Giallo/murder mystery. Writers: Lucio Fulci, Roberto Gianviti and Gianfranco Clerici. Director: Lucio Fulci.This movie is strongly critical of society and religion. For example, people were blaming the outsider for all the killings. The outsider being a disturbed woman who is a supposed witch. This is where the bigotry comes in. A person who doesn't believe in God is labeled a bad person by the majority of people in the movie. In fact, she ended up being beaten to death with chains by men. All because she was different and because people had the opinion of it might be her, because she was the odd outsider. To make it worse, she tried to get help by crawling to a road where a lot of cars were driving by. But they ignored her. They were too occupied with what they were doing they did not care about a dying woman. I cried because of that scene. That scene evoke such strong emotions in me. It was the first time I cried watching a Giallo and the last time so far. It was a strong criticism of society's bigotry. Religion was strongly criticized too. It showed that repressing sexual tendencies made things worse. As shown by a priest repressing his homosexual tendencies by strangling young boys. Strangling is the most intense form of intimacy there is.Christianity sees sexuality as a sin, although it is completely natural. To make matters worse the priest was justifying his crimes as a service to God. Denying his sexual urge which disgusted him and made him aggressive. It was very brave to come up with such criticism by Fulci. Especially with sexuality and religion being taboo at the time of release. It is no wonder this movie was blacklisted and Fulci became a notorious figure. The movie is also relevant to this day, with scandals of pedophile priests who are being bailed by the Vatican. Anyway, the movie has an iron grip atmosphere, thought provoking story, engaging plot, horrifying murders and a direction by Fulci which has never been better. Should be watched by all Giallo aficionados. This is my favorite Fulci movie and think that it is definitely his finest. I put the movie in such high regard I think it is on par with Dario Argento's 'Deep Red'. 10/10. Molto grande Giallo.

Chase_Witherspoon Despite not boasting an A-list American actor, there's no shortage of especially female talent on display in Lucio Fulci's penultimate giallo concerning a spate of child killings which maybe linked to a bizarre ritual of a mountain recluse and a deeply disturbed woman accused of being a witch.Fulci's narrative is unwavering, even though the usual procession of red herrings are trotted out and routinely exhausted, the suspense is never subdued. Florinda Bolkan is magnificent as the maligned loner whose grief-fuelled antics raise the suspicions of a superstitious local population and their insatiable lust for revenge. Her character is an ordeal, and a tangent to this tale that's as sad and decayed as the town gripped by the fear of a relentless child serial killer.Bouchet strips nude for not her killer in the opening scenes, whilst versatile Irene Papas has a critical supporting role as the local priest's long-suffering mother. The formidable trio of Bolkan, Bouchet and Papas render leading man Milan (and Alex Cord lookalike) a virtual bystander, but this is an ensemble effort, like its storyline, lots of moving parts pulling in the same direction make for a very satisfying (and bloody) thriller.

JasparLamarCrabb Despite some frequently slow pacing, this gaillo is among the best. Lucio Fulci's gruesome thriller about the murder of a several little boys in the Italian countryside is probably the director's best. The plot combines supernatural elements with a traditional murder mystery. Tomas Milian is a reporter investigating the case and the supporting cast includes Barbara Bouchet, Irene Papas and Marc Porel. Florinda Bolken, in a performance that has to be seen to be believed, is a crazed mountain woman who may or may not be the killer. Riz Ortolani, who would score over 200 films in his more than 50-year career, did the chilling music. Frequently cut for its content, the 102 minute version is the most complete.