Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Bezenby No wonder this was Lucio Fulci's personal favourite out of everything he directed. This is just about the darkest giallo you'll ever see, as it throws out all the kitsch, quirks and style and replaces it with social commentary, rage, and genuine emotion. (some spoilers ahead, but I don't reveal the killer)First off, the film is set out in rural Italy, swapping luxurious apartments for rocky hills and shepherds, and it's not sexy models being murdered, but a group of young pre-teen boys who are turning up strangled around the town. It's a strongly religious town where the boys are part of a youth club run by a young priest, but there's also an old magician living in the hills, with Florinda Balkan as his acolyte.Florinda sets the tone of the film as we see shots of her digging up a child's skeleton cut with that of three young boys taking the pish out of the town idiot. One of these boys encounters a totally naked Barbara Bouchet, who is new in town, and winds up the young guy by pretending to seduce him.*One of the boys goes missing and soon the town and land are full of Italian policemen with dogs. An mystery person claims to have kidnapped the boy and blackmails the family, only for it to turn out to be the town idiot who found the body and buried it. The cries of horror from the townspeople as the body is uncovered and their continual invading of scenes raises the tension throughout this film, as they turn on any suspect and bay for their blood - especially that of 'local witch' Florinda Balkan, whom we see doing voodoo on some child like dolls!Most of the cops aren't used to dealing with these mountain folk, and the only voice of reason seems to be journalist Tomas Milian, who is very restrained here. He seems to be the only one with any chance at all of figuring out the case, as he's the only one who seems to take a step back from the mounting hysteria. Unlike other gialli, Fulci really seems to have something to say here, and goes on to attack organised religion and its affects on sexuality, how it controls the masses, and the general ignorance of rural communities and the mob mind. No one in the film is entirely likable at all, and there's a whole vibe of alienation throughout the whole film, punctuated by an unidentified woman who sings, somewhere out in the hills.Of course the most famous scene of this film is where Florinda Balkan is cornered and beaten to death with chains by the murdered kid's fathers. With a car radio blasting inane tunes, Florinda is gorily ripped to shreds by chains and left to die. Except she doesn't. She crawls painfully to the highway (the only modern thing in the film) as happy families in cars blissfully drive by, and dies looking on a world she was never allowed. Fulci lingers on her corpse for a painful amount of time afterwards. The man was no hack and it's easily one of the most emotionally effective scenes in giallo.There's many other themes at play here, but I can't touch on them as they'll reveal the killer. This is a truly great giallo and just a plain great film. Viva Fulci!*Fulci got hauled over the coals for a lot of reasons because of this film, but he was brought to court for using a child in the nude scenes with Barbara Bouchet. Fulci had to reveal he actually dressed a dwarf in the kid's clothes for the scenes they appear together on screen. He also got blacklisted for having a go at the Catholic Church!

christopher-underwood This really is a most impressive giallo from Lucio Fulci. The distinctive but odd title seems to distract somewhat from what is one of the director's finest. There is a Donald Duck toy in the film and while we have no reason to believe it was tortured it does lose its head. Even so, the more vicious 1982 outing, New York Ripper is only hampered by a Donald Duck voice in the taunting killer phone calls, so maybe that could have had this title instead. In any event here, Florida Bolkan, Barbara Bouchet and Tomas Milian turn in top notch performances and indeed even all the lesser parts are well accounted for and what with all the, presumably, local extras involved Fulci does a brilliant job in ensuring very believable performances from everyone. There is a strong sense of nastiness and hypocrisy running throughout and the film is racing non-stop from the very off with some worrying concerns for the many children involved.

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) Note: no ducklings were harmed in the making of this film. In fact, there are no ducklings; the title is figurative. What we have here is a fine mystery coated with a sleek veneer of horrific blood, from one of the Italian masters, Lucio Fulci.In this movie, a series of child murders has a small town in a tizzy - they blame the local witch, but the constabulary believes someone else is behind the mayhem. A reporter named Martelli (Tomas Milian), with sharp eyes and keen insight, lends support to the police, who are uncharacteristically receptive to his opinions. In any event, though, the killer remains at large, even when the citizenry has run out of obvious culprits.The local witch, Magiara (Florinda Bolkan), is seen creating three dolls out of clay and inserting multiple pins into them. Is she behind the murders? What about dim-witted handyman Guiseppe (Vito Passeri), who had been relentlessly mocked by three of the boys? What about cosmopolitan Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), who's hiding out in the village thanks to drug charges she encountered in Milan? None of these three are paragons of Catholic behavior, and of course the Catholic Church is, shall we say, Almighty.There be blood in this movie that's not about ducks at all, and that's what Fulci's known for, anyway. It'd be much more shocking if there were no gore, really. But although the blood is anything but subtle, it is parceled out as if there were a national shortage. (Come to think of it, there's always a shortage of blood, according to the Red Cross.) Not only that, but much of the bloody violence occurs late in the movie, as the mystery is wrapping up. And it's a pretty suspenseful, too, as long as you don't ponder the possible suspects too long.Milian is very good, as are Bolkan and Irene Papas (as the mother of the village priest), although the fact that the version I saw was dubbed into English, rather than subtitled. But the words and the facial expressions seemed to match, so it was a darn good dubbing. There was occasional histrionic overacting, but overall this hit the mark.

JasparLamarCrabb Despite some frequently slow pacing, this gaillo is among the best. Lucio Fulci's gruesome thriller about the murder of a several little boys in the Italian countryside is probably the director's best. The plot combines supernatural elements with a traditional murder mystery. Tomas Milian is a reporter investigating the case and the supporting cast includes Barbara Bouchet, Irene Papas and Marc Porel. Florinda Bolken, in a performance that has to be seen to be believed, is a crazed mountain woman who may or may not be the killer. Riz Ortolani, who would score over 200 films in his more than 50-year career, did the chilling music. Frequently cut for its content, the 102 minute version is the most complete.