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user\nI´m from germany so please excuse my style of writing. As I´ve seen Chucky 4 for the first time I was a bit surprised, I knew Chucky as a usual 80s scarymovie, but Bride of Chucky was very different from the old ones. First there is the artwork of the very good director Ronny Yu, who we still have in mind from A chinese ghost story. His visual style is in a wired kinda way comparable to Francis Ford Coppola. Also the voices of Chucky an Tiff are very impressive. I´ve also liked the screenplay very much, especially the scene in which Tiff throws the Champaignbottle in the ceilingmirror.
I give it a 9.0 vote for funny, gory and progressive entertainment. If you have any comments on my opinion, just send me an E-Mail. MFG Schawez
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user\nthe first Child's Play was an original and effective little horror movie. as expected though, the 2 horrible sequels seemed to spell the end for this franchise.
well, when i heard they were making a 4th one called \"bride of chucky\" i just rolled my eyes and muttered a \"...when will they ever learn.\"
but when i heard that they had gotten a great director, Ronny Yu and a solid cast including the awe inspiring Jennifer Tilly my interest in it perked up.
this film is extremely well done. it has a great sense of humor, highly stylized graphic violence, great cinematography and the stunningly sexy Jennifer Tilly strutting her most impressive stuff during the first half. (i should add that she is also a fantastic actress as well.)
it keeps it's tongue firmly in cheek without veering into campy territory. the doll effects are great and the verbal interplay between them is priceless. it's more of a horror/comedy than straight horror but the humor is welcome and well integrated.
i've already heard that they're planning a Son of Chucky. if they can match the quality of this film, than maybe this franchise will have made a legitimate comeback.
rating:8.5
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user\nSeen all 4 installments, this one is by far the best of all. I did'nt have much expectation when I got the DVD(3rd was such a drag), but to my delight this one was fast paced with some slick punch-lines.
Don't miss this one.
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user\nI was expecting this to be just like the others, tries to be scary- ends up looking silly. Somewhere along the line the writers must have realised this and so took the film in a totally different direction basically ignoring the other films. This feels like a different film rather than the fourth entry in the Child's Play series. The new idea works making this the best in the series by far.
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user\nThe Child's Play series isn't a favourite of mine, but Bride Of Chucky is actually an okay movie. This time we have two dolls Chucky and his former girlfriend (when he was human) Tiffany. Together they go on a journey to find an object. There are a few interesting scenes through the movie like the guy getting hit by the truck and literally exploding, the sex scene between Chucky and Tiffany and the ending which allows for another sequel to take place. Wasn't really a straight forward horror, it mixed a lot of comedy and was a sort of spoof of the horror genre. This made the movie better like comedy does do with many horror movies. All up even if your not a Child's Play fan give this one a go.
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user\nThis movie exemplifies a certain brand of comedy horror of a strictly adult kind but quite different to the Troma movies (with which it shares certain qualities). The humour is rough and ready but fast and furious. If the idea of hideous dolls with evil powers and twisted minds don't make you shrug with boredom, reach for the six-pack of beer and enjoy the best \"Chucky\" film yet.
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user\nThis is a great installment in the Child's Play series. It brought back some bang to the series. Great comedy, boy this movie is funny. Also there are awesome homages to other horror celebs. Beautiful cinematography. Great ending! Bring on Seed Of Chucky!
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user\nThis new installment to the Child's Play series has not one scary scene but tons of hilarious jokes such as a stoner witnessing Chucky giveing him the finger and saying \"rude f--king doll\" and lots of references to the series: \"you can kill me but I'll come back. I always come back\". The movie's title was probably thought of before the script and was written around it. This is totally different from all other films in the series. It doesn't even have Andy, the central character for all the previous ones. Chucky seems to interfere with characters from another movie, a soap opera about two teens running off together to get married. There is one cool elaborate death scene involving broken glass and water spilling everywhere. The movie is very gory, very funny, and has pop culture references from Martha Stewert to Jerry Springer. DO NOT SEE THIS ONE BEFORE YOU SEE THE OTHER THREE,. It will really ruin the effect since the first one is truly scary. Lots of guilty pleasure fun and silliness.

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user\nGreat movie. I thought it would never be as good as it was. Great special effects, great story, big laughs. It didn't take itself seriously, which is why I think it worked so well. Even the acting was surprisingly good. Overall a very funny and sometimes chilling story.
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user\nI remember reading the original Balzac story in college French.
I remember Ken Nordine of WGN-TV in Chicago reading it as one of his late night shows.
Always loved the story but never believe they could or would make a movie of it. To my surprise they did and did it VERY well.
Few of any Balzac stories lend themselves to dramatization, which is unfortunate, and -cat lover that I am, I was always hoping it WOULD be filmed without a lot of Hollywood sexing up. This is as close to perfect conversion as could be done.
The theater of the mind is always better than what the eye can see, but this is as close as I think it can come to letting the imagination of reading meet the reality of seeing.
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user\nMy opinions do not flow with the majority in most cases. I tend to lean toward the artsy, imaginative, and different. This movie was reminiscent of Frances Ford's \"The Black Stallion\" wherein a fantasy situation is created to showcase the beauty of a magnificent creature who's not readily available to view performing at its peak except on these multitudes of documentaries ala natural. Unlike those nature films, this offering utilizes the finest movie making techniques the industry has to offer fit for a diva creating one of the most sensual super stars (the cat) on the screen.
This fantasy depicting the love relationship that develops between a french soldier (he is very nice too) lost on the Egyptian desert and a female leopard he encounters when he chances upon an abandoned Egyptian temple is mesmerizing. I bought into it wholeheartedly. If you are the least bit open to fantasy and appreciate the grace, beauty, power and sensuality of the feline, you should enjoy it.
The only flaw in my book was the ending. It was a perfect set up for a Romeo and Juliet finale - that would have taken me over the top.

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user\nThis movie is beautiful in all ways. It is visually stunning, and this is a good thing since the dialogue would only take up a page or two of paper. The acting is superb; it is subtle, passionate and intense. Ben Daniels does a fabulous job of turning himself into an animal, and mixing that wild nature with a man's overbearing passion and honor. There is not one flaw, not one mistake or wrong moment to be found anywhere. It is completely perfect, but only if you understand what you're going to experience. It isn't a movie for anyone who wants normality.
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user\nAn excellent story well told by the film maker. The interactions between the man and the leopard brought many questions to the viewers mind about just who was being humane. The humans killed for no reason the animals only to survive. At the end of the movie you were left wondering just who the real \"hero\" of the movie was. A well told story. The human actor did an excellent job but the leopard stole every scene it was in.
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user\nWhat an incredible story and what a beautiful film! Hat's off to Ben Daniels, Lavinia Currier and the great Honore de Balzac. This captivating film conveys the passion experienced by the characters so effortlessly and yet so powerfully. I watched it mesmerized, almost holding my breath as the story developed towards its inexorable end. This film's execution was almost flawless: simple and pure, it plays with our hearts, guiding us in understanding the strange platonic, absolute thus possessive bond between two creatures not meant to be part of each other's world. Both are capable of affection, yet ironically, it's the more \"evolved\" one who becomes dependent and possessive, unable to accept the other's freedom. It's one of the most fascinating and intriguing look at the many forms of love, and an incredible study on how oppressive and destructive human love can be sometimes.
Only a rudimentary mind would associate this story with any kind of bestiality.
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user\nThe story starts out with a soldier being transported to a desert town then goes back in time to tell the tale of how he came to this place. He started out as an officer in Napoleon's army fighting in Egypt but became separated from his unit. After nearly starving and/or dying of thirst he came upon a leopard which somehow became his bosom buddy. It brought him food and before long the soldier became almost totally wild so acute was his bonding with the animal. All things do end however and the man decided it was necessary for him to leave the critter. A very strange film, well written and portrayed. Beautiful scenery from Jordan and Utah which didn't always blend perfectly, but who cares.
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user\nA film about the relationship between a man and leopard that's very reminiscent of \"The English Patient,\" even down to a scene similar to when Ralph Fiennes' character carries the body of his lover across a desert-rock cliff. In \"A Passion in the Desert,\" the main character carries the body of the leopard across a desert-rock cliff but in the opposite direction (calculated decision or unconscious contrast?). Historically expanded from a very short Balzac story, the film is not perfect but a treat no less. Final shot will haunt me for weeks. (8 of 10)
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user\nI love this movie, though I don't like how they picture Egyptians, being an Egyptian citizen myself! that's why it earns an eight out of 10.
The relationship between Augustin and the leopard is awkward, and of course because of loneliness and living in that cave for quite so long, he develops a kind of insanity and passion to that leopard.
A very touching scene when the leopard dies, watch Augustin's reaction..
All in all I find it enjoyable, and I'm looking forward to reading the short story by Balzac.
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user\na mesmerizing film that certainly keeps your attention... Ben Daniels is fascinating (and courageous) to watch.
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user\nThis is another film where the cinematography is the best thing to recommend it. That would be fine if the film were a travelogue, but as a dramatic exercise in cinematic artistry, that is not good enough. The theme of inter-species respect and co-operation ventures timidly into the forbidden world of inter-species love, but its approach is stereotypical, indicating a lack of understanding of the behavior motives of either species. As with many films, one always wonders what could have been achieved by a more innovative director and a more creative screenwriter. Alas, we probably will never know.
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user\nLucio Fulci, later known for his graphic horror films like The Beyond and Zombie, was years earlier a master of the Italian giallo (in the company of Argento and Bava) with films like A Lizard In A Woman's Skin and his masterpiece, Don't Torture A Duckling. This film has all the elements of the Italian mystery/thriller genre known as the giallo, but really pulls the viewers in by having each key character with a skeleton in his/her own closet. This keeps you doing as much detective work as the detectives in the film itself. Who is killing the young boys in town? The young rich woman who is so bored that she sexually taunts the eventual victims, the reporter who likes to tamper with a crime scene to get a better photo shot, the townswoman with a mentally retarded daughter, the local witch, the town idiot....the list goes on, and you have to keep mental notes like a true game to play and solve. The themes in this film are very daring and done with that perfect Italian style in the early 1970s. It is certain that no American studio would have even considered making a film of such strong content, and that is precisely why this is such a satisfying film (despite some unusual accent choices for the dubbing) and will definitely have people discussing its meanings long after viewing it. As the saying goes, they don't make them like this anymore, so get a copy and cherish an important film like this one!
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user\nAs far as I know I've seen most of Lucio Fulci's films, with the exception of some later ones that are popping up on DVD now, and I would have to say this was his best \"pre-zombie\" offering. In fact it beats out his later movies hands-down. This is a tale of superstition and suspicion in a small Italian town out in the middle of nowhere, where young boys are dying mysteriously. It's no mystery how they died, I guess, it's more who's doing it. Is it a woman that the townspeople have always considered a witch? Is it a young woman that lives in a fancy modern house on the outskirts of town, who used to do a lot of drugs? Is it the village idiot, who gets nabbed early on because of being in the wrong place at the wrong time? You'll only know if you watch, and watch you should, for this is a top-notch mystery thriller, or should I say, a \"giallo\". I've seen this before but it's been a long time and upon a second viewing it was still as powerful as the first time. For those of you that only know Lucio Fulci for his zombie flicks, well, open your minds to this because it's well worth seeing and while the \"monsters\" in this are human, they're as nasty as anything dredged up in his later films. 9 out of 10 stars, see it! Please....
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user\nThis is Lucio Fulci at his best. If only all the films he made after were like this.
This extraordinary film is as intriguing as Dario Argento´s \"The bird with crystal plumage\"...
If you´re an Argento fan but you don´t like Lucio Fulci films, like
\"The Beyond\", \"Manhattan Baby\", \"The House by the Cemetery\", etc. this one has nothing to do with the others... this is what the Italians call \"giallo\"... that would be something like a \"who-done-it\" movie in a nutshell.
You won´t know who the killer is until the last moments of the film.
But apart from that, there´s the plot: some maniac living in a small village starts killing little boys... A journalist (Tomas Milian), a sexy young woman (Barbara Bouchet), a priest (Marc Porel), his mother (Irene Papas) and a witch (Florinda Bolkan) are the main characters in this tangled, bloody story.
Talking about the actors, I want to say that Tomas Milian is superb (like always), and Florinda Bolkan is terrific as the village witch...
Do you want to know who is the killer?...
I cannot tell you... but I can tell you that you must see this film!.
(10 out of 10)... of course!
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user\nI tend to get furious when hearing about Lucio Fulci's reputation as a director. Too often he's categorized as a no-talented filmmaker, only out to shock and disgust entire audiences with images of pure gore. True, his films contain more explicit filth and sickness as your average mainstream American production, but his films always are of wide range and the plots are gruesomely morbid. Don't Torture a Duckling is yet another story! This film is a pure gem of the Italian shock cinema! I easily dare to call this film a masterpieceit's an old-fashioned giallo that includes all brilliant aspects of genuine horror. The film shows the search for a inhuman serial murderer in a small Italian mountain-town. The bodies of 3 young boys are found, horribly mutilated. There are quite a lot of pseudo-madmen in the town but every trail leads to nowhere. Among the suspects are a greedy bum and a scary woman, obsessed by witchery and voodoo. Like a true mastermind, Fulci knows to find the right creepy tone for his film. He portrays the small town as a claustrophobic and inescapable setting of macabre happenings, supported by a giddy soundtrack. Fulci also develops himself as a genius storyteller here. The script always is one step ahead of you and the complex plot will mislead you more than once. In other words, this is a unique giallo (horror slash murder mystery). The gore isn't presented as grotesque and explicit as in Lucio's later milestones (among them are the legendary Zombie 2, The Beyond and the New York Ripper), although there still are a few nauseating and hard-to-watch shock-sequences shown.
Don't torture a Duckling is the most compelling and effective achievement Lucio Fulci ever brought forward and it easily ranks among the greatest Italian horror movies ever made. Right next to the masterpieces made by Mario Bava and Dario Argento. The film is fascinating from start to finish, some plot aspects are alarmingly realistic and the tension is adrenalin-rushing at all times! A must see for horror fans and an absolute priority for Italian shock-lovers!
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user\nSporting a title seemingly more suitable for a Looney Tunes featurette than a grisly giallo, \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" (1972) is nonetheless a Grade A thriller from horror maestro Lucio Fulci. In this one, someone has been strangling the preteen boys in a rural, southern Italian village and, typical for these gialli, there are many suspects. There's Barbara Bouchet (Patrizia), looking more scrumptiolicious than you've ever seen her, a rich girl hiding out after a drug scandal; Florinda Bolkan (Martiara), the local epileptic voodoo woman; her witchcraft-practicing beau; Giuseppe, the local idiot; the sweet-faced priest; his dour mother; and on and on. The film features some unusually violent set pieces, including a chain whipping of one of the main characters in a graveyard (one of the most realistically bloody sequences that I've ever seen) and a nifty dukeout when the killer is ultimately revealed. The film's bursts of violence compensate for the fact that there are no real scares or suspense to speak of. Still, this giallo fascinates, with its unusual rural backdrop, unsettling child murders, oddball characters, and freaky score by Riz Ortolani. The film has been beautifully photographed in what I presume to be Monte Sant'Angelo, near the Adriatic in southern Italy (at least, that town's police force is thanked in the closing credits). And while subtitling would've made this fine-looking DVD work even better (the American slang doesn't convince in this rural Italian setting), Anchor Bay is to be thanked for another job well done. Oh...that title DOES eventually make perfect sense, too!
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user\nDON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING is one of Fulci's earlier (and honestly, in terms of story-line, better...) films - and although not the typical \"bloodbath\" that Fulci is known for - this is still a very unique and enjoyable film.
The story surrounds a small town where a series of child murders are occurring. Some of the colorful characters involved in the investigations - either as suspects, or those \"helping\" the investigation (or in some cases both) - include the towns police force, a small-time reporter, a beautiful and rich ex-drug addict, a young priest and his mother, An old man who practices witchcraft and his female protégé, a mentally handicapped townsman, and a deaf/mute little girl. All of these people are interwoven into the plot to create several twists and turns, until the actual killer is revealed...
DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING is neither a \"classical\" giallo or a typical Fulci gore film. Although it does contain elements of both - it is more of an old-fashioned murder mystery, with darker subject matter and a few scenes of graphic violence (although nothing nearly as strong as some of Fulci's later works). This is a well written film with lots of twists that kept me guessing up until the end. Recommended for giallo/murder-mystery fans, or anyone looking to check out some of Fulci's non-splatter films - but don't despair, DON'T TORTURE still has more than it's fair share of violence and sleaze. Some may be put off by the subject of the child killings, and one main female character has a strange habit of hitting on very young boys, which is also kind of disconcerting - but if that type of material doesn't bother you, then definitely give this one a look. 8.5/10
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user\nI didn't know what to expect when I rented this widescreen DVD. I knew it had a cult following but I had also seen a lot of the director's later works which although delightfully gory were also pretty much incoherent. DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING actually had a linear storyline and a mystery that kept me guessing almost until the end. And after all was said and done, it was a genuinely unsettling and creepy experience. One major caveat: I would much rather have heard the original soundtrack and read English subtitles than the uneven dubbing found here.
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user\nIn a small, picturesque Sicilian village, someone is brutally killing young, sexually curious boys. The local police force keep busy trying to track the killer and whittle the list down to five or so main suspects, including voyeuristic village retard Giuseppe (Vito Passeri) and an elusive, grungy, voodoo doll-poking backwoods witch named Maciara (Florinda Bolkan). There's also Don Alberto (Marc Popel), a handsome young priest who runs the local boy's school, Andrea (Tomas Milian), a journalist helping to aid the police, and the beautiful Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), a gorgeous, but seriously screwed-up drug addict who seems to have a thing for very (I mean, VERY) young boys. As typical with the giallo subgenre, the plot won't be fully revealed until the last few frames, but if you can hang in there long enough, this film pays off. The script (written by Fulci, Gianfranco Clerici and Roberto Gianviti) keeps red herrings to a minimum and will keep you interested and the story is ably supported by excellent location work, cinematography (by Sergio D'Offizi) and musical score (by Riz Ortolani). The acting, particularly Bolkan, is also very good. Fulci fans who were weaned on his 80s grotesqueries like THE BEYOND and ZOMBIE will find more artistry and less gore on display here than they might anticipate, but they'll still enjoy a particularly nasty chain whipping scene in a cemetery (bizarrely, yet effectively, set to singer Ornella Vanoni's ballad \"Quei giorni insieme a te\") and a long tumble down a rocky embankment that Fulci liked so much that he reused it in his film THE PSYCHIC (1977). Scenes of the children being killed is mainly kept off screen (except for a brief strangulation), but the camera doesn't hesitate to linger on their corpses. The film was not released theatrically in America and, presumably because of some anti-Catholic elements in the storyline, received only a limited theatrical release in Europe.
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user\nLucio Fulci's \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" paints an exceptionally unflattering portrait of small-town Sicily plagued by series of brutal murders of young boys.This surprisingly well-directed film(especially in comparison to later Fulci's gorefests)is distinguished by overall atmosphere of perversity,nastiness and two truly grotesque scenes of brutal violence.The soon-to-be-dead children are depicted as casually cruel and budding peeping toms;Bruno's near-seduction by the naked Patrizia(Barbara Bouchet)really has to be seen to be believed.Highly recommended-especially in pair with my another cult favourite \"House with the Windows That Laugh\"(1976).
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user\nBeing a seasoned fan of Italian thrillers and directors Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Sergio Martino and Aldo Lado, I thought of Lucio Fulci as an overrated hack. I had seen The Beyond which I think is totally overrated, I found The New York Ripper to be simply appalling and I didn't particularly like The House By the Cemetery. These three movies left me to conclude that Fulci is the least interesting of these Italian filmmakers. But my stubbornness prevailed and I had to check out more of his films. City of the Living Dead was a film I found very interesting but Don't Torture a Duckling is very nearly a masterpiece.
Set in a small town in the Italian countryside in a repressive religious community where young boys are being murdered. The authorities are clueless as to who's behind these crimes, especially after their prime suspect has been cleared. An eager young reporter along with a rather slutty girl (who seduces young boys) investigate and eventually get to the bottom of it.
Brilliant atmosphere combined with a good story and a good cast (not always the case with 70's Italian thrillers) make Don't Torture a Duckling a crackling good thriller. The plot is well constructed, not easily figured out and the end conclusion is very satisfying. Fulci creates a dynamic atmosphere of repression and guilt in a very unforgiving and ignorant community and creates some very strong visuals, particularly in a scene where a woman gets beaten to death by some local townsfolk. Fulci's social commentary concerning religion and innocence are quite edgy and every aspect is well handled. When thinking of his zombie flicks and his ultra violent giallo New York Ripper it's amazing how well he balances his critique with explicit violence and makes an even stronger point. So far I haven't seen any Fulci film made as professionally as this one.
While not a traditional giallo film, Duckling has many of the genre's trademarks. Fulci displays complete control over the format, only once going overboard with an unconvincing gore-moment, but overall he seems to be even better at making mysteries than full blown gore epics. The extreme scenes here are much more powerful and really pack a punch.
So far Don't Torture a Duckling is Fulci's best film by far in my opinion. Edgy social commentary combined with explicit scenes of violence and a crackling good mystery to boot.
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user\nIf you like who-dun-its, you will like this film, considered the best Italian detective story (giallo), Fulci has done.
It's not Mickey Spillane for sure. There are scenes designed to disturb anyone.
Many would be offended by a local beauty trying to seduce a 12-year-old boy. She was joking, but she was naked nonetheless, and he would have jumped at the chance to jump her bones. She also tries to tempt the local priest.
Young boys are turning up missing, and there are several interesting suspects. You have to watch carefully to discover the killer. Can you? Don't jump on the first guy, it's way too early, and he is too obvious.
Anyone familiar with Fulci will be able to guess the killer, who died a violent death at the end. What crazy reasoning he had.
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user\nThe name \"Lucio Fulci\" congers up images of graphic death and mutilation in the minds of may fans. Thanks to movies like \"Zombi 2\", \"City of the Living Dead\", \"The Beyond\" and \"The New York Ripper\", Fulci has a reputation for being one of the goriest directors in history. And although many of his later movies certainly justify his reputation until the release of \"Zombi 2\" in 1979 Fulci's films did not contain anywhere near the amount of blood and guts he's know for, in fact they were for the most part gore free, instead relying on more traditional shocks and disturbing imagery to work. \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" hardly contains any gore, yet ranks as his best.
\"Don't Torture a Duckling\" is set in a small Sicilian town where superstition rules instead of logic. The townsfolk are very distrustful of outsiders as well as anyone different, often shunning them. After a series of child murders though many people descend upon the town, including Andrea Martelli (Thomas Milan) who tries to uncover the truth about the murders while they continue to happen.
This is a remarkable film. It's very well made with an excellent cast filled with many favorites of Italian exploitation cinema. It also contains a solid score as well as many creative camera movement courtesy or Lucio Fulci. But the real draw of \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" is the disturbing nature of the movie. Little kids, around twelve years old are shown mocking retarded people, visiting prostitutes and being propositioned sex by an older woman. It also contains some very biting commentary on the middle class and the Catholic Church. It is for reasons like this that \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" was blacklisted throughout Europe when it was first released and never was shown in the United States. Still, \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" stands as a monumental achievement in giallo cinema as well as Lucio Fulci's best work. I really can't recommend this one enough, check it out.
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user\nIf you are one of those people that think Lucio Fulci is all about gore, guts and zombies, you have to watch this (and \"The Psychic\" too, for that matter). Even though the film does include some quite brutal scenes of violence, and a unsettling subject matter, it's not the main thing here. This is a truly impressive, story and character-driven murder mystery that might well be the director's masterpiece. Here, he proves that he's a real craftsman, creating a memorable, disturbing yet strikingly beautiful masterpiece, filled with creepy Catholic imagery and interesting social commentary. It also has a great cast, including the gorgeous Barbara Bouchet, as well as Tomas Millan (from Beatrice Cenci) and Irene Pappas in a small but important role. Still, it is Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan (who also stared in Fulci's bizarre \"Lizard in a woman's skin\") who steals the scene in the role of Majara, giving an excellent performance of a woman driven insane by her superstitions, and her vicious murder scene is particularly heartbreaking. The second star of the movie is Sergio D'Ofizi's cinematography who, along with the melancholic Morricone-esquire score by Riz Ortolani, help bringing the \"secluded Italian village with a dark secret\" setting to life. I have to admit thought that the dummy head hitting the rocks kind of pulled me off, but nonetheless, this is a definite Italian horror classic - a moving, sad and ultimately thought provoking work of genius. 10/10 for me. If you liked this one, I recommend watching Alfred Sole's \"Alice, Sweet Alice\", as they are somewhat similar, and are both underrated gems.
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user\nSet in and near a poor working class town in the mountains of rural Italy, it's a story of madness. The landscape may be quite picturesque, but there's madness herein, concealed behind the mask of a person who seems outwardly normal. This person kills little children.
In style and tone this film resembles Dario Argento's famous Italian giallos, those fascinating whodunit horror films, except that Argento's films are much better looking. Still, the visuals in Fulci's \"Don't Torture A Duckling\" are competent, with some interesting compositions and lighting. Lightning and thunder on a rainy night enhances suspense in one sequence wherein one of the \"ducklings\" is vulnerably alone.
In one sequence the gore is a bit overdone. But this is no slasher film. A legitimate theme undergirds the story. And that theme is that madness can take many unexpected forms, not just the obvious delusions of people who practice voodoo or black magic.
Plenty of red herrings render the puzzle solution difficult if the viewer doesn't assume an agenda on the part of the director. Don't dismiss someone who might not seem to be a suspect. The twist near the end provides good misdirection. However, in one scene midway through, a line of dialogue could have been added to clarify the relationship between two characters, one of whom is the murderer. The film's finale takes place on a beautiful mountaintop with the wind whistling in the background. We see flashbacks to clues and get insights into the killer's mindset.
I don't care for the film's widescreen projection. But background music is effective, and ranges from jarringly creepy at the beginning to low-key jazz, to indigenous Italian songs. Acting is generally average, though in a couple of cases, it's a bit overdone.
Though not as visually brilliant as Argento's giallos, \"Don't Torture A Duckling\" nevertheless is a fine film, one that contains a thematic storyline and enough of a whodunit puzzle to interest most viewers who like thrillers and murder mysteries.
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user\nIn this early Fulci work the director shows his most mainstream side as well as a talent for compelling storytelling and more than reasonable elucidation for the genre. Personally I think he has been unfairly maligned throughout his career as an aesthete of gore. It's a pretty capable procedural and surprised me with its subtextually rich narrative that shows his distrust for small minded small-town mentality and the inefficiency of the police, as well as the twisted ideals of the Catholic church, the last of which seemed to have cut this film at its knees when it was first released and could have possibly given the director another direction so early on. The comparative lack of gore in the film shows a more urgent and psychological imperative to this film in its prevailing \"mystery\" but the gore and puppetry he does utilise is put to good use here most notably in the scene where a falsely accused murderer is senselessly lynched by a mob of men in a graveyard and left for dead in a show of vile and antiquated vigilantism, expertly choreographed to the modern tunes off a diegetic radio.
Another example was the final scene (which was indeed awesome) in which a strikingly handsome priest falls from a cliff and the puppet used is markedly showed in a medium closeup which accentuated its demonic appearance and evident ugliness. Curiously, considering his later works, Fulci also invokes the idea of modernity seized upon the hamlet holding on to its anachronistic superstitions and ignorance when the idea of black magic is just that, a quaint idea of supernatural evil that never really ends up manifesting from the voodoo dolls while making its witch nothing more than a disturbed woman. Another thing I liked was that he adds to these character layers by making a bourgeois city girl into an ambiguous figure - is she the corrupter the priest fears for his wards and perhaps more tellingly, for himself? This giallo does lend itself to becoming one of Fulci's more personal and substantive films, in that we actually get a fair influx of ideas from him.
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user\nCult-director Lucio Fulci is probably most famous for his gory Zombie flicks from the 1980s that earned him his rightful reputation as the \"Godfather Of Gore\". Fulci's absolute greatest film, however, dates back to 1972 and, while it is definitely gritty and violent, it is not nearly as gory as many of his other films. \"Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino\" aka. \"Don't Torture A Duckling\" of 1972 is not only by far Fulci's greatest film, this tantalizing and utterly brilliant Giallo is one of the absolute highlights of the genre. The stunning atmosphere and tantalizing suspense, the great Sizilian setting, the intriguing story the brilliant performances or the intense moments of sheer shock - I don't know what to praise most about this ingenious Giallo! \"Don't Torture A Duckling\" truly delivers cinematic perfection in every aspect, which makes it an absolute masterpiece of Italian Horror cinema.
Contrary to other Gialli, it is not seductive beauty queens who are slain one by one, but little boys who fall victims to a killer on the loose. Bodies of little boys are found in rural Sicily. While the police are desperately searching for the killer, the little town is basically full of strange people, and the townsfolk are screaming for a culprit...
The film is stunningly suspenseful and uncompromising from the very beginning, with a gritty, dark, and constantly tense atmosphere that has yet to find an equal. The acting performances are among the best in Italian Horror cinema. Tomas Milian (one of my personal all-time favorite actors) is excellent in the lead, as journalist Andrea Martinelli who is investigating the crimes. Sexy Barbara Bouchet delivers both eye-candy and a brilliant performance. Equally outstanding performances come from Irene Papas and Florinda Bolkan, who is utterly brilliant in her role. The great score by Riz Ortolani brilliantly intensifies the suspense and atmosphere, and the film is ingeniously shot in fascinating Sicilian landscapes. Although not as gory as many other Fulci films, this film is definitely gritty and uncompromising in its violence, with a few shockingly brutal scenes.
\"Don't Torture A Duckling\" has everything brilliant Horror requires. This is not quite as easy to get hold of as most other Fulci flicks, but I assure that searching it will pay off. Any Horror fan MUST see this personal favorite of mine, and I highly recommend any true lover of film in general not to miss this. A Masterpiece!
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user\nI was pleasantly surprised by the depth of story and character development. Fulci was a master at creating horrific atmosphere using inventive camera work, vivid cinematography, and yes - wonderfully explicit gore.
This film is no exception, however, compared to his later films (The Beyond, Zombie 2, City of the Living Dead, House by the Cemetery, etc.) the characters here are extremely well developed and the emphasis shies away from the supernatural and is more on the suspense created by a classic who-dunnit amongst the lush hills of Italy. The scenery is at moments reminiscent of cherished folklore and then immediately contrasted by mud and blood-soaked terror shrouded by crumbling ruins. The gore in this film is not quite as prevalent and seems restrained compared to Fulci's later films however, splatter and giallo fans will most likely be satiated by a few close-ups of oozing wounds and the last 5 minutes of the film.
Overall a fantastic and mature film from one of our great Italian horror directors.
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user\nThis film shows a serious side to the often thought of as gore-fest works of fulci. Not a lot of blood and guts here , but a fine tale about murder and the lives affected by it.
A real find, considering it was made in 1972 and will soon celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Check this one out, but be warned it is hard to find!
Ron
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user\nI saw this movie five times and never get tired of it. This features traces of the \"giallo\" genre, but also with a vivid Italian countryside setting, where ignorance and superstition are deadlier than any serial killer. Featuring excellent location (reminiscent sometimes of Fellini, sometimes of the Taviani brothers), good characterisation and some of the finest genre actors (including the great Tomas Milian and Ida Lupino in an unforgettable role), this is NOT euro-trash, just a masterpiece that should be discovered generation after generation (It recently recieved great acclaim at the Paris Cinematheque at a double-feature tribute to Lucio Fulci)
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user\nFirst of all I have to say that I'm a huge Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento fan. Although I have not seen absolutely all of their movies, I really enjoyed almost every one I did see. I really like giallos and I thought Argento was the master of this genre, after seeing films like \"Tenebre\" and \"Phenomena\". But after I saw \"New York Ripper\" by Fulci, I found out that he could do pretty good giallos besides his graphic zombie movies and even outdo Argento, on a certain level.
I love Fulci's style, and yes I love gore, but this film I think, although it has a more developed plot and characters than his other films, is not his best one. What I don't like is that it can be confusing at times, especially at the end. And the fact that we go from one suspect, to another, and then another until we even suspect the retarded little girl for a moment, I think it goes too far. I know giallos are supposed to keep you guessing until the end, and the killer should be very hard to find, but this film plays a little too much with our minds. However I did like the scene when the witch is killed, I think it is very well done and gave me the chills. The acting is also pretty good and the photography is great.
Although this is not a bad film, I think Lucio Fulci has made better films than this, and I think his best one is \"The Beyond\", a very different movie but a more atmospheric and visual experience.
I give \"Don't torture a duckling\" a 7 out of 10.

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user\nEasily Lucio Fulci's most respected film, \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" is highly renowned for it's edgy subject matter, gruesome imagery, and strong storyline. Terror befalls a small Italian village as young boys begin turning up murdered, engulfing the confused and determined authorities plus a dedicated detective in mystery. Was it the creepy hermit? The spastic voodoo witch? One of the hookers? The rich girl? Someone else? Contrary to most fan's frequent representation on the film's violent content - I consider it much more plot driven; featuring only one real moment of memorable bloodshed (involving chains and boards). In no aspect does this detract from the positive attributes this movie delivers. Fulci proves himself fully capable of dishing out one hell of a dark and disturbing giallo with childing killing, black magic, and of course a nice full set o' knockers... Though I'm particularly more fond of Fulci's \"Lizard in a Woman's Skin\" and \"New York Ripper\", \"Don't Torture a Duckling\" dominates the giallo genre as a moody and compelling murder mystery!
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user\nWhat a surprise this film was. I've seen a good few of Fulci's horror and zombie flicks and was amazed that this was by the same director. He also wrote the screen play which shows that the chap was quite capable of crafting a detailed, complex story line. The dubbing on this is not good, but far from the appalling slop that only further hinders later howlers like 'Manhattan Baby'.
The photography in this film is fantastic. A strange, almost futuristic highway appears throughout the film which focuses on a small town where young boys are being murdered. A scene involving the beating of a woman is uncomfortable to watch, yet refreshing in comparison to usual cinema violence.
What went wrong Lucio? Perhaps there is a strong case to suggest he had reached his peak with this film, and it slowly went downhill after that.
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