i tend to get furious when hear about lucio fulci reputation a a director . too often he categorize a a no talented filmmaker and only out to shock and disgust entire audience with image of pure gore . true and his film contain more explicit filth and sickness a your average mainstream american production and but his film always be of wide range and the plot be gruesomely morbid . don not torture a duckling be yet another story . this film be a pure gem of the italian shock cinema . i easily dare to call this film a masterpiece it an old fashioned giallo that include all brilliant aspect of genuine horror . the film show the search for a inhuman serial murderer in a small italian mountain town . the body of 3 young boy be find and horribly mutilate . there be quite a lot of pseudo madman in the town but every trail lead to nowhere . among the suspect be a greedy bum and a scary woman and obsess by witchery and voodoo . like a true mastermind and fulci know to find the right creepy tone for his film . he portray the small town a a claustrophobic and inescapable setting of macabre happening and support by a giddy soundtrack . fulci also develop himself a a genius storyteller here . the script always be one step ahead of you and the complex plot will mislead you more than once . in other word and this be a unique giallo ( horror slash murder mystery ) . the gore isn not present a grotesque and explicit a in lucio later milestone ( among them be the legendary zombie 2 and the beyond and the new york ripper ) and although there still be a few nauseating and hard to watch shock sequence show . don not torture a duckling be the most compelling and effective achievement lucio fulci ever bring forward and it easily rank among the great italian horror movie ever make . right next to the masterpiece make by mario bava and dario argento . the film be fascinate from start to finish and some plot aspect be alarmingly realistic and the tension be adrenalin rush at all time . a must see for horror fan and an absolute priority for italian shock lover .