One of the most notable directors of giallo films, Lucio Fulci first touched on the genre with 1969's One on Top of the Other. However, he made his biggest impact on the format three years later with 1972's Don't Torture a Duckling.

In the small Italian town of Accendura, someone murders a young boy named Bruno Lo Cascio. Initially the residents suspect local oddball Giuseppe Barra (Vito Passeri) of the crime.

However, Giuseppe's innocence soon becomes apparent and more dead youngsters turn up in the area. This leads to an additional investigation, one that seems to point toward Maciara (Florinda Bolkan), a strange woman the residents regard as a witch.

Though I knew of Fulci's giallo efforts, prior to this screening of Duckling I'd only seen 1982's New York Ripper as a representative of his work in that domain. I did view some of his horror movies such as 1979's Zombie and 1980's City of the Living Dead, however.

None of those worked for me. Really, the only generally satisfying Fulci film I'd seen came from a Western, 1975's Four of the Apocalypse.

Hope does spring eternal, though. Would Duckling deliver another Fulci flick that I liked?

Nah – not really. While Duckling occasionally scores points, too much of it seems oddly slow and aimless.

As a thriller about a serial killer, the movie fails to provide a tense experience. We never get a sense of urgency or much real drama as the police pursue the culprit.

Admittedly, this appears to come by design, as Fulci shows much more interest in a view of society than in a brisk murder mystery. From the flick’s very start, Fulci paints the residents of Accendura as generally cruel and depraved.

We meet pre-teens who torment animals and smoke cigarettes. We encounter pervy Giuseppe and sexy heiress Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), a woman who romps nude in front of a young boy and taunts him sexually.

And then there’s Maciara, who the movie portrays as disturbed, to say the least. However, rather than paint her as insidious, Fulci gives her a backstory that leads the viewer to feel compassion toward her and understand her mental issues.

As a study of society, Duckling scores some points, mainly because Fulci offers such an unsentimental view. Accendura really seems like a pretty close-minded place, and Fulci hits those notes fairly well.

However, Duckling tends to seem too lethargic and scattered too much of the time. The story just doesn’t click in a particularly positive way.

Because Fulci seems so focused on a view of small town “morals”, he kind of forgets to build a compelling story. This means Duckling ambles from one red herring suspect to another without a lot of substance.

In terms of the murder mystery, it doesn’t help that the culprit feels pretty clear from close to the start of the movie. As much as Fulci tries to fool us, these attempts don’t work, so when we get the identity of the killer, it comes as no surprise.

I do like aspects of Duckling and respect Fulci’s attempt to create something more socially ambitious than just a simple thriller. Nonetheless, the end result fails to really connect in a consistent manner.

Don’t Torture a Duckling appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The film brought a solid Dolby Vision presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine. Some softness materialized along the way, but the movie generally seemed pretty accurate.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects appeared, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural as well, and I saw no source defects.

Duckling opted for a palette that usually seemed natural. The colors came across as well-rendered within those choices, and HDR added impact to the tones.

Blacks felt deep and tight, while shadows were positive. HDR contributed punch to whites and contrast. Overall, I thought this ended up as an appealing presentation.

As for the film’s LPCM monaural soundtrack, it seemed decent and nothing better. Like pretty much all Italian movies of the era, it featured looped dialogue, and that meant the lines could sound less than natural and integrated.

Nonetheless, speech appeared reasonably concise, albeit with some edginess and a metallic vibe. Effects followed suit and seemed thin but not problematic.

Music fared best, as the score showed adequate range and verve. Nothing here impressed but the mix worked better than many of the movie’s genre/era mates.

A mix of extras appear, and we launch with an audio commentary from film historian Troy Howarth. He brings a running, screen-specific discussion of cast and crew, story and characters, genre domains, some production elements and his thoughts on the movie.

Usually paired with someone else, Howarth does fine on his own, even if he occasionally tends to simply narrate the film. Nonetheless, he offers a largely positive examination of Duckling.

Various programs ensue, and Giallo a la Campagna goes for 27 minutes, 44 seconds. It features film historian Mikel J. Koven.

“Campagna” covers movie release patterns in Italy of the 1970s amd their cultural impact as well as gialli and "vernacular cinema" and his interpretation of Duckling. Koven offers good insights.

Hell Is Already In Us provides a “video essay”. It spans 20 minutes, 30 seconds and offers notes from critic Kat Ellinger.

She examines Fulci's themes and use of graphic content as well as his cinematic techniques and interpretation of Duckling. Some of this repeats thoughts from other pieces, but Ellinger nonetheless provides some useful material.

With Lucio Fulci Remembers, we get two separate segments that occupy a total of 33 minutes, 25 seconds. Audio-only affairs, both give us comments from director Fulci recorded in 1988 in response to written questions from journalist Gaetano Mistretta.

Via “Remembers”, Fulci examines a mix of elements related to his life and career. While the topics tend to veer all over the place and can change at the drop of a hat, "Remembers" nonetheless provides a pretty good look at the filmmaker.

Who Killed Donald Duck? lasts 18 minutes, 31 seconds. Here we discover remarks from actor Barbara Bouchet.

She looks at her memories of the Duckling shoot. Bouchet provides a nice collection of notes.

Next comes Those Days with Lucio. A 28-minute, 20-second reel, it involves Florinda Bolkan.

Here we learn about Bolkan's work with Fulci in Duckling and other films. She provides a frank appraisal of the director's pros and cons - and we also get to observe as she watches her Duckling role's demise for the first time ever.

The DP's Eye goes for 46 minutes, 21 seconds. As the title implies, we hear from cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi.

Via "Eye", D’Offizi gets into his relationship with Fulci and their collaborations as well as his work on Duckling. Expect an informative chat.

After this we move to From the Cutting Table. This one runs 25 minutes, 38 seconds and brings notes from editor Bruno Micheli.

He lets us know how he got into the film industry as well as his work on Duckling and other movies. This becomes a moderately engaging discussion.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we conclude with Endless Torture. A 16-minute, three-second reel, it gives us comments from makeup artist Maurizio Trani.

“Endless” covers what brought Trani to movies along with his efforts on Duckling and other flicks. Except a decent overview.

While I enjoy the manner in which director Lucio Fulci depicts the movies rural Italian society, Don’t Torture a Duckling sputters too much in other ways to really succeed. It comes with a mix of ups and downs that leave it sporadically involving but inconsistent. The 4K UHD offers very good picture and a nice array of bonus materials along with dated but adequate audio. Expect a quality 4K for a sporadically intriguing movie.