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Don't Torture A Duckling
Starz / Anchor Bay // Unrated // May 23, 2000
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Part of me wants to hang around the horror racks at Best Buy just to see the expression on someone's face when they pick up a box with "Don't Torture A Duckling" in ominous print and the laughably-fake bloated corpse of a drowned child on the cover. If the price were lower, I could definitely see Don't Torture A Duckling being a frequent impulse purchase for the curious and bringing giallo to a new generation. Despite the rather low number of tortured ducklings in the film (none), Don't Torture A Duckling is a disturbing thriller containing everything fans have come to expect from giallo. Though Lucio Fulci is perhaps best known for going all out with gore, this film minimizes the amount of viscera displayed on-screen such that when it does rear its head, it's all the more disturbing. Children from a small town are continually turning up dead, and the superstitious townspeople are becoming increasingly agitated, and as is often the case with giallo, no one -- not even the viewer -- is privy to the identity of the killer until the end of the film. Although the effects in Don't Torture A Duckling will probably inspire more giggles than gasps nowadays, Don't Torture A Duckling is an excellent thriller and is certainly the finest of Fulci's films.
Video: From the opening shot, Don't Torture A Duckling exhibited a fair amount of grain, although it varied from scene to scene. This widescreen anamorphic transfer is certainly the best the film has ever looked, and considering the age and relative obscurity of the film, I was pleased overall.
Audio: There's not much to say about the mono soundtrack aside from that it is free of hiss and distortion, a problem I've had with a number of films with mono sound. Anchor Bay has consistently done a great job of providing stellar mono soundtracks, and Don't Torture A Duckling is no exception.
Extras: The only extra is a set of notes about Fulci. Not even a trailer, unfortunately. Considering what Anchor Bay has done with its Dario Argento Collection, the lack of extras is a bit disappointing.
Conclusion: Don't Torture A Duckling, despite the low quality of its effects, is still disturbing and powerful enough to make it a worthwhile purchase for giallo fanatics. For those new to giallo, I'd recommend Dario Argento's Tenebre (which I consider to be a better film as well as having the advantages of a slew of supplements and a lower price) over Don't Torture A Duckling. It's hard to recommend this bare-bones disc to anyone but established fans of the film. I certainly consider it worth a rental or a purchase at a very low price.
Video: From the opening shot, Don't Torture A Duckling exhibited a fair amount of grain, although it varied from scene to scene. This widescreen anamorphic transfer is certainly the best the film has ever looked, and considering the age and relative obscurity of the film, I was pleased overall.
Audio: There's not much to say about the mono soundtrack aside from that it is free of hiss and distortion, a problem I've had with a number of films with mono sound. Anchor Bay has consistently done a great job of providing stellar mono soundtracks, and Don't Torture A Duckling is no exception.
Extras: The only extra is a set of notes about Fulci. Not even a trailer, unfortunately. Considering what Anchor Bay has done with its Dario Argento Collection, the lack of extras is a bit disappointing.
Conclusion: Don't Torture A Duckling, despite the low quality of its effects, is still disturbing and powerful enough to make it a worthwhile purchase for giallo fanatics. For those new to giallo, I'd recommend Dario Argento's Tenebre (which I consider to be a better film as well as having the advantages of a slew of supplements and a lower price) over Don't Torture A Duckling. It's hard to recommend this bare-bones disc to anyone but established fans of the film. I certainly consider it worth a rental or a purchase at a very low price.
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