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(aka 'Non si sevizia un paperino' or "Don't Torture a Duckling" aka "Don't Torture Donald Duck")
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Italy 1972
From Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore (The
Psychic,
The Beyond), comes one of the most powerful and unsettling
giallo
thrillers ever produced: his 1972 masterpiece Don't Torture a Duckling. *** The oddly titled Don't Torture a Duckling (taken from a minor plot point) is one of director Lucio Fulci's most linear and conventional narratives, relying more on story and mystery than on gore and atmospherics. In a rural Italian village, young boys turn up dead, and the authorities are stumped as to who the murderer is. A reporter lends his efforts to the hunt for the killer, many red herrings turn up, and more kids are murdered while the police search for the culprit. A sexually liberated young woman from Milan, a local witch, and the village idiot all fall under suspicion until the killer is uncovered. Gone is much of the director's trademark visual style, replaced with the blinding sunlight of an Italian summer for a hyperrealistic feel (though Fulci's affinity for the zoom shot and deep focus comes through). More tellingly, though, Fulci points toward the superstition and ignorance of the villagers as being as dangerous and destructive as the murderer himself. Also, the film's vehemently anti-Catholic sentiment had to have been controversial at the time of its release. Fans of the Giallo and Italian horror in general would do well to seek out this film for an example of Lucio Fulci at his most grim and serious. |
Posters
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Theatrical Release: September 29th, 1972
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD | |
Runtime | 1:45:07.926 | |
Video |
2.35:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,506,989,569 bytesFeature: 76,910,789,760 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.18 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate 4K Ultra HD: |
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Audio |
LPCM Audio Italian
1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit LPCM Audio English
1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit Dolby Digital Audio English 160 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 160 kbps / DN -31dB |
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Subtitles | English (translation), English (SDH), None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Arrow
2.35:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,506,989,569 bytesFeature: 76,910,789,760 bytes Video Bitrate: 88.18 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video
Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films • Giallo a la Campagna, a video discussion with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film (27:44) • Hell is Already in Us, a video essay by critic Kat Ellinger (20:29) • Lucio Fulci Remembers, a rare 1988 audio interview with the filmmaker (20:13 / 13:12) • Who Killed Donald Duck, an interview with actress Barbara Bouchet (18:31) • Those Days with Lucio, an interview with actress Florinda Bolkan (28:20) • The DP’s Eye, an interview with cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi (46:20) • From the Cutting Table, an interview with editor Bruno Micheli (25:38) • Endless Torture, an interview with makeup artist Maurizio Trani (16:03) • Theatrical trailer (3:56) Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and Howard Hughes
Black 4K Ultra HD inside custom Case Chapters 13 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
and
4K UHD
captures were taken directly from the respective
discs.
ADDITION: Arrow
4K UHD
(February 2025): Arrow have transferred Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture a
Duckling
to
4K UHD. It
It is likely that the monitor you are seeing this review is not an HDR-compatible display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider and notably granular range of color and light. Our capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more 4K UHD titles in the future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the 4K system at your home. But the framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by this simulation representation. NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution 4K UHD captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
We have reviewed the following 4K
UHD packages
recently:
The Lion in Winter
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Cruising
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Drugstore Cowboy
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Eyes Without a Face
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Winchester '73
(NO HDR applied to disc),
The Grifters,
The Mother and the Whore (NO HDR applied to disc),
The Devil's Girls
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Requiem For a Vampire
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Block Island Sound
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Bug
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
North By Northwest
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Paper Moon,
Bob le Flambeur
(NO HDR applied to disc),
Play Misty for Me
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Signs
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
A Simple Plan
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Fright,
The Tenant
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Gummo,
Demon Pond,
Happiness,
Cheeky
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Produced By Val Lewton
,
The Long Good Friday,
The Ladykillers
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Torso
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
All of Us Strangers,
Last Year at Marienbad
(NO HDR applied to disc),
Peril & Distress (And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror)
(NO HDR applied to disc.)
On their
4K UHD,
Arrow repeat the linear PCM mono track (24-bit) in the
original Italian language with the English version/DUB option as found
on their 2017
Blu-ray. Don't Torture a Duckling
has gore and aggression that comes through with authentically flat.
Most of the tension comes from the memorable, if minimalist, score by mondo, giallo,
horror, and 'pasta' film composer Riz Ortolani (Castle of Blood,
How
To Kill a Judge,
Lightning
Bolt,
Killer
Crocodile,
The
Pyjama Girl Case,
The
Valachi Papers,
Seven
Deaths in the Cat's Eyes, The
McKenzie Break,
Day
of Anger, Il
Sorpasso, Woman
Times Seven,
Cannibal Holocaust,
The Voyeur,
Mondo Cane) and it adds some
creepy
Giallo flavor including a haunting lullaby sung by Edda Dell’Orso. It's
an evocative blend that perfectly complements the film’s unsettling
atmosphere and psychological tension. Arrow offer optional English
(translation from Italian) and SDH (for the DUB) subtitles on their
Region FREE
4K UHD.
The Arrow
4K UHD
Lucio Fulci's Don't Torture a Duckling
revolves around a series of child murders that unravel a web of
superstition, hypocrisy, and repressed secrets among the townsfolk - set
in the fictional remote southern Italian village of Accendura. The plot
follows a journalist, Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian), and a wealthy
outsider, Patrizia (Barbara
Bouchet),
as they investigate the killings alongside the police. Suspicions
initially fall on local eccentrics, like the hermit-like “witch” Maciara
(Florinda Bolkan -
Lizard in a Woman's Skin,
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion), who’s blamed due to
the village’s deep-seated superstitions. Her voodoo-like rituals and
cryptic demeanor make her an obvious scapegoat. Don't Torture a Duckling
stirred controversy for its anti-clerical stance and graphic moments -
like a brutal chain-whipping scene - leading to bans in some countries.
Fulci prizes psychological depth over cheap thrills and its one of my
favorites of the
Giallo genre. Aside from the
Barbara
Bouchet
interview - no new extras but great artwork and a stellar image on Arrow's
4K UHD |
Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD Package
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Menus / Extras
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
1) Arrow (English SDH subtitles) - Region FREE - 4K UHD TOP 2) Arrow (English translation subtitles) - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
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1) Blue Underground - Region 0 - NTSC TOP 2) Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
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1) Arrow - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP 2) Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
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1) Blue Underground - Region 0 - NTSC TOP 2) Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD BOTTOM
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More full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K Ultra HD Captures for Patreon Supporters HERE
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Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Arrow - Region FREE - 4K UHD |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |