by: Shaun Anderson
Posted on 11.23.09 in All Horror Films > Giallo
Release Date: 1972

The name of Lucio Fulci is now most firmly associated with a series of highly stylised and graphically violent horror films which he made between 1979 and 1983. These films often eschewed any efforts at a plausible narrative and were riddled with numerous continuity errors. Rather than destabilise these films, the fractured narrative space and temporal confusion often created a dream like atmosphere which was highly appropriate to the Lovecraftian imagery that was on display. Whilst much critical debate has centred on discussions of authorship through these horror films, it is sometimes forgotten that like most directors of popular cinema in Italy in the 1970’s, Fulci had an impressive skill at tackling multiple genres. Prior to his ascendancy to king of gore, Fulci directed four interesting giallo pictures - Perversion Story (1969), Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971), Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972) and The Psychic (1977). The most accomplished of these four is the film under consideration here – Don’t Torture a Duckling.

Unlike Fulci’s later horror films, this particular film is heavily reliant on a strong narrative structure. The most successful examples of the giallo form are those that perform that tricky balancing act of the detective narrative, with its red herrings and complex plot developments, with a linear story that provides a satisfying and sensible conclusion at the end. Don’t Torture… is a tightly plotted, efficiently constructed example of the giallo at its best. However despite its adherence to cause and effect, this particularly giallo is overflowing with many of the thematic concerns that Fulci would go on to develop. The theme of superstition, the ignorance of rural peasant folk, witchcraft, and the occult are all key aspects of Fulci’s cinema. However in this example the supernatural elements are used effectively as an imaginative red herring. The film is also marked by an unsettling atmosphere of repression and perversity. A general malaise in adult morality is combined with a stifling orthodoxy of attitude and hypocrisy. One only need to quote the scene in which a nude Barbara Bouchet prick teases an innocent twelve year old boy.

This creation of a rural community insular in its moral codes and attitudes is one that is asphyxiating under the repressive doctrines of Catholicism. This is reinforced by the unremitting brightness of the whitewashed walls of the village, and the labyrinthine nature of this part of Italy. The villagers are the non-trusting type who view outsiders, especially those from the cities, with mistrust and fear. They mete out their own brand of vigilante justice, which includes the brutal chain whipping to death of a local white witch. The police are depicted as ineffectual bunglers, a stance which is not new for gialli. Instead the task of solving the spate of child murders falls to a couple of amateurs from the city. The motives of the criminal remain one of the most fascinating aspects of this film, due as they are, not to some perverse reason, but instead to a zealous idealism which strives to preserve childhood innocence. This idealism sees the city and its denizens as a haven of vice and immorality whose polluting tentacles are slowly reaching the rural parts of Northern Italy. The stifling summer heat and the sun bleached walls become a metaphor for a society crushed beneath the repressive doctrines of Catholicism. This film is possibly Lucio Fulci’s finest hour

• ★★★★★

  Acting:

• ★★★★★

  Blood:

• ★★★★★

  Violence:

• ★★★★★

  Partying:

• ★★★★★

  Language:

• ★★★★★

  Humor:

• ★★★★★

  Predictable:

• ★★★★★

  Girls:

• ★★★★★

  Gore:

• ★★★★★

  Sexuality:

• ★★★★★

  Torture:

• ★★★★★

  Overall:

I agree...this is a very important giallo, and has a cloying atmosphere of repression and perversity that links it nicely with that other 'rural' giallo House with Laughing Windows. That would be one hell of a mindbending double bill...I must experience it some time.

This and Lizard In a Woman's Skin are my favorite Fulci films. It's amazing how the heat in this film stifles its audience. The cemetery scene is one of my favorites of all time. This has to be the greatest giallo of all time. Such a great study on a rural community and the blood that has suddenly washed its streets.