Don’t Torture a Duckling

For April we’re examining the work of the notorious Italian director Lucio Fulci. Fulci had a career that spanned five decades, wherein he tackled disparate genres—comedy, Spaghetti Westerns, musicals, erotic thrillers—but he remains best remembered for his horror films and gialli. His are not just any genre entries, but some of the most shockingly gory to ever induce a seasoned horror fan to wince at the mayhem. A cited influence on filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, Fulci’s fanbase has only grown as horror fans have spent decades proselytizing his body of work.

April Fulcis is sponsored in kind by Messed Up Puzzles and Left Bank Books. All who register and attend an event will be entered to win a registration prize: we have two Fulci puzzles in the Messed Up Puzzles line and one copy of Kea Wilson’s novel We Eat Our Own from Left Bank Books to give away. You’re entered once for each night you attend, so any one person can be entered up to five times if they attend all five April Fulcis events. (Current Webster University faculty and staff are not eligible to win. Prizes will not be shipped outside of the United States.

Each film is available to watch on streaming services or VOD. Watch each film ahead of time and then join us every Thursday evening for an in-depth discussion. 

On Thursday, April 29th, at 7pm, Troy Howarth, author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films (Midnight Marquee Press, 2015) will discuss:

Don’t Torture a Duckling

(Lucio Fulci, 1972, Italy, 102 minutes)

Chronologically the first of the five Fulci films we’re presenting, Don’t Torture a Duckling has gained esteem when looking at Fulci’s career in total, and is often cited as his masterpiece. The film starts with an M-like jumping off point of a town plagued and made paranoid by a killer of children, this time specifically young boys. Chief among the suspects are a local witch and a rich city girl interloping on the close-knit community in which the murders are taking place, but of course the town’s problems run deeper than what can be pinned to just one person.