Don't Torture a Duckling

1972

★★★★

Hooptober 11 #32

Having heard that this was a giallo film (and pretty much nothing else) I was expecting it to be gruesomely fun like the other movies from the genre. Instead, though, I was treated to a film that wallows in the ugliness of violence. This movie is deeply upsetting, showing the darkness of human nature, not just in the killer but the world surrounding them as well. We get an incredibly derisive depiction of conservative Italy. The killer's motivation is outlandish, but unlike other insane killers, the deranged psychology carries thematic weight with it.

It's just a shame about a really creepy introduction to our female lead and a really bad dummy at the end.

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