A Subtle, Sick Drama (Don't Torture a Duckling (DVD))

Member Name: robomit

Product:	Don't Torture a Duckling (DVD)
Date:	12/01/04 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent Direction, Great Acting

Disadvantages: Characters could have had more depth, Pacing is bit slow

Don't Torture a Duckling starts out relatively mild with someone covering up what looks like the bones of a small child and then immediately cuts to a scene of some young boys around the age of 12 or so getting into mischief in an open area near a village by firing their sling shots at nearby targets, smoking cigarettes and harassing a peeping tom, so far things are fairly tame and a bit humourous. You are shown the village the boys are from and some places of interest within the village. One particular scene I found rather amusing takes place in of the boy's homes and involves him taking orange juice, you have to see it to know what I'm talking about.

About 15 minutes into this movie the pace picks up and you're shown flashes of scenes involving a voodoo doll with someone jamming pins into it, shortly thereafter a boy is kidnapped and a ransom is offered. The family of the kidnapped boy can't afford to pay the ransom and tell police the kidnapper said he was going to kill their boy if the ransom wasn't paid. Money situations get worked out, a suspect is captured and cops are led to a shallow grave where the young boy is buried. This is where the film starts with it's twists and causes you to question and wonder who the killer is as boys from the village continue to go missing and turning up dead. There isn't much more to go into concerning the plot, to sum it up I'll say this is a mild giallo film, there's a lot of dialogue and the last 5-10 minutes seem to bombard you with a lot all at once and it can be a bit confusing.

The direction in this film was excellent, the long shots of rural Italy looked nice, the village fit the story, everything seemed in it's place, Lucio Fulci really showed off what he could do with a camera. All the scenes were very well put together, complete with a few instances of camera zooming. The plot is fairly solid however the pacing was sometimes a bit slow (but not too slow)
and there were a few characters I would have liked to have known a bit more about. The acting in Don't Torture a Duckling is great, everyone plays their roles well, even the newspaper guy who climbs through a window. The special effects aren't on the screen very much however when they're present you can tell this is a Lucio Fulci film. A good example of the effects are in a scene of vigilante justice that features townsfolk beating on someone they suspect of murdering the boys. The scene is filmed beautifully and features a car radio's music blasting while the townsfolk swing bats and chains. Great stuff.

Don't Torture a Duckling is a decent film that really shows off what Lucio Fulci was capable of and also includes some nice special effects. If one is looking for a horror movie with lots of over the top effects they aren't going to find it here. Don't Torture a Duckling is subtle, it's a mystery that keeps you guessing, features some nice effects, and still seems to hold it's own today even though it's a little over 30 years old. My only complaints about this film is that I feel a few of the characters could have had a bit more depth to them (especially the promiscuous woman who is staying in the village due to some drug issues she's having elsewhere) and the pacing towards the end of the film seemed a bit awkward. I thought this was a good film, something an older audience with patience can appreciate. If you enjoy a good, somewhat sick drama/mystery give this movie a shot.

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