 Don’t Torture a Duckling
(1972) dir. Lucio Fulci
Don’t torture a what? I know, I thought the same thing when I first read it. But thanks to the phenomenal success of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, almost every giallo released in Bird’s wake had an animal in its title – The Cat o’ Nine Tails, Four Flies on Grey Velvet, Lizard in a Woman’s Skin, Tail of the Scorpion, Black Belly of the Tarantula, Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye, ad infinitum. I suppose one could wax philosophic about the use of animals as reflections of the giallo’s cold brutality, man being just another animal himself, “man as meat”, etc., but in truth many of these titles were unessential to the film’s plot, and simply attempts to jump on the commercial bandwagon set in motion by Bird. However, such is not the case with Don’t Torture a Duckling, which next to Bird with the Crystal Plumage is one of the most intelligent, if not historically important, giallos ever made. Duckling’s title is not a red herring, but is rather a guarded yet integral shell for the film’s story – a perverse tale of child murder, pedophilia, good mommies, bad mommies, black magic, and ultimately, the agony (and the ecstasy) of Catholicism. |
Installment 2 of four brings our exploration of the italian horror genre squarely into the 1970's, and more bloodthirsty territory... Please enjoy BobsBarb's continuing overview of the genre, and keep an eye out for future volumes in later weeks! -Mrheck
PART ONE (of four)
