Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Florinda Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet, Tomas Milian, Irene Papas, Marc Porel, Vito Passeri
I can still remember when I first got hold of a bootleg copy of this rare (at the time) Fulci film. This was at a time in my career as a horror fan that I only knew Fulci from his gore films such as Zombie, The Beyond, and such. So it was quite a surprise seeing something so different than what I was used to. Plus, it also showed me just how a skilled craftsman Fulci was before he became known for just his gory films. This is a grim tale of a small Italian village where someone is killing young boys. Several people seem suspicious, some are even accused and bad things happen. Fulci shows us a darker side of humanity, while still being able to weave together a great little giallo.
Back in the early 80’s, I went to a midnight screening of some horror movie called When the Screaming Stopped. I had never even heard of it before, but they were passing out barf bags, so how could this not be an awesome movie! Years later, I would discover that this was the re-titling of a Spanish horror movie from Amando de Ossorio, the very man who gave us the Blind Dead series. But the feature at hand was actually Las garras de Lorelei, or The Loreley’s Grasp. Looking back, this was might have been my first introduction to Spanish horror, and probably the first time my eyes laid upon the beauty was is Helga Liné. But more on that later. Since they were passing out barf bags, the movie had to be gory, right? And at that time in my life, gore was what I was looking for. The film did deliver, on many levels. It would be years later before I truly appreciated it for what it is. And that, is one hell of a fun time.
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