SHAM033 – Don’t Torture a Duckling: The Archive Conversation
 

Once again, you have requested a title and Shameless have responded! It’s been cropping up in suggestions threads for years and it’s even been mentioned in the speculation over SHAM031, but Shameless can now announce that SHAM033 will be none other than a Fan Edition release of Lucio Fulci’s masterpiece, Don’t Torture a Duckling for the first time on UK DVD!


For those of you not entirely familiar with the film, here’s a bit more about it:

In a small village in southern Italy, young pre-adolescent boys are turning up dead from strangulation. Evidence points to a number of possible suspects, especially the local "witch," Martiara (Florinda Bolkan), whose voodoo practices and possible insanity make her a likely candidate. But what about Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), the bored city girl hiding out after a drug scandal, who now passes the time by flaunting her naked body in front of children? The local Catholic Church, headed by young Don Alberto (The Psychic's Marc Porel) and his mother, Aurelia (Irene Papas), tries to keep the population under control, but even the local police are baffled by the case. A reporter from the north, Andrea (Tomas Milian), comes to investigate and recruits Patrizia to discover some genuinely ugly truths about the quiet provincial town.

Don’t Torture a Duckling is the acknowledged Lucio Fulci masterpiece – it is the all time 1st position rating for the director on IMDb.

For those of you more familiar with Fulci’s zombie and gore films, Don't Torture a Duckling will come as a pleasant surprise: a giallo thriller which contains one of Fulci’s most brutal and haunting scenes ever filmed.

10Kbullets: ”Don’t Torture a Duckling is a perfect showcase for those who are only familiar with Fulci’s effects and gore films to finally see his masterpiece.”


The Fan Edition DVD will be released 29 August 2011.

Please note: Images are for illustration only and are not representative of the finished product.

I guessed this for SHAM031 - can I still win a copy? :pray:

Seriously though, good announcement. Haven't seen this film for quite a while and don't own a copy so am very excited for this release. Great stuff!

FAN-Tastic news One of Fulci's finest. I know this movie inside out, but i'll still buy it!

More lesser seen Fulci please!

Ooh very nice. I shall certainly be making a purchase :)

Very good news - a superb film. Fulci's best, I reckon.

I've not seen this film, but I just had a quick look at the trailer on YouTube and it looks great.

I just wish I wasnt so broke, and could get in on all of this new Shameless action.

Oh yeah!

I watched this not long ago. Great great film. A Fulci classic

WELL DONE AGAIN SHAMELESS!! :rockon:

Fantastic news It's one of Fulci's best films...please please please have Italian lang/English subs (if so this will be a BIG seller worldwide) :)

It may not be my favourite Lucio Fulci film, but Don't Torture a Duckling is probably his best and most narratively competent with some striking imagery and a really nice reveal at the end. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Shameless have in mind in terms of extra features. Great choice, but now to clear up the mystery of ShAM031!

You certainly did, it was post #148:cool:






























...but I'd already said it in post #82:tongue1:

Prizes are only for correctly guessing SHAM031 I'm afraid, guys

:focus:

Absolutely! The worst thing about the film is the unsympathetic English dub which makes it sound like a Spaghetti Western! Totally inappropriate voices are used for the non-leads. The Italian audio track is a must.

Agreed!:nod:

The other reason why the Italian soundtrack is a must is there are around four/five different dialects spoken in the film (all Italian of course but variations from other regions) this adds to the film with the mistrust from the villagers to any outsiders (the huge bridge of course leading more outsiders to the closed knit community)...times are changing!

Don't Torture
 

Absolutely great news! Contains (for my money) Fulci's greatest moment - a scene that is simultaneously shockingly violent and utterly heart-breaking.

Also Florinda Bolkan is fantastic in this (has she ever been anything but?)

I completely agree about Florinda Bolkan and am jumping on the Italian soundtrack bandwagon. I really don't understand people who won't watch a film in a foreign language with subtitles so, although an English dub is bound to be included, most 'aficionados' would prefer to watch the film in its native tongue; I know I would.

Sarah, any news on when you will find out about extra features, a reversible sleeve or anything like that?

No news yet but I'm sure there will be lots during the next five months or so until release!

Whilst I already have this on DVD I would definitely pick up the Shameless release if it had the Italian soundtrack, English subtitles and was uncut. Oh, and if the compression was handled with the competence of the BU release.

Fantastic news; one of my favourite gialli. :woot:

Is it really that far away? Oh, the agony of waiting begins again but it is fortunate that there are so many titles from Shameless and Arrow to fill the void and numb the pain a bit!

Amazing film, great news!

It's one of my favourite gialli too and a film that I considered one of the five titles that are 'essential viewing' when I wrote my What Is a Giallo? article.

Excellent news! :clap:

I have the old ABUS dvd but I'll be buying the Shameless release without a doubt! :nod:

Can we expect BBFC trouble with this title? :censored:

Especially the "Orange Juice" scene?

Fingers crossed :pray:

EEK!...there may also be a second "Lizardgate" :lol:

This is terrific news :clap: - I was thinking about importing the BU disc, but now I'll wait. Great choice, Shameless :woot:

As well as the Italian track, a blu of this would be even better ;)

Very nice announcement. Easily the best Fulci effort I've seen. I was blown away when I watched this years ago so it'll be lovely to revisit the film. I'm sure it'll do very well.

Same here although the Anchor Bay one will do me for the next five months!
I can't imagine the BBFC will object to the title -- its not likely early 1980s when anything with 'cannibal' or 'torture' was immediately banned all subject to scrutiny by Thatcher's government.

As for the more contentious scene, I don't think there'll be too much trouble getting through Soho Square as times have moved on and it really shouldn't be against any of their policies and guidelines. I hope I'm right as it would be terrible to have this in a cut form, given how popular it is likely to be.

A persoanal fave of mine, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity for an upgrade from the BU disc.:)

I know, the amount of my mates who have refused to watch a film because it's subtitled.
It's different if your one of them types that take ages to read something, you know like when you was at school and had to read aloud, there was probably at least one kid in every class going "W-W-W-W-One day I w-w-w-went f-f-f-f-fo-for a wa-w-wal-wal- walk" and you used to sit there thinking "**** sake just read it" and it wasn't even like they stuttered or anything.

I've never seen this. :o Yes, I should be ashamed. After watching Footprints, Flavia The Heretic and Women In A Lizards Skin though, I can't go wrong watching anything with Florinda Bolkan!

As good as those three films are. I think you may be in for something of a revelation when you see ...Duckling!

Yes, it really is that excellent.

Fantastic. Looking forward to it very much.

You are indeed in for a treat as I rate Don't Torture a Duckling above Lizard in a Woman's Skin, several steps above Flavia The Heretic and it is easily on a par with Footprints. It is up there with The Beyond as Fulci's best film but it is much more narratively coherent and with arguably better performances.

My order of best are:

Duckling
Lizard
Flavia
Footprints

Great choice and one of Fulci's best films, I hope the dvd will include the deleted scene from the Italian dvd and possibly both English and Italian audio tracks.

Let's hope for Seven Notes In Black next!

Cool! Looking forward to artwork ;)

Mine would be:

Lizard
Duckling
Footprints
Flavia

Super super scoop Shameless!!!! Terrific film and at last a UK release. Only watched my ABUS release of couple of weeks ago and it really is a good movie. Highly recommended guys. I will only buy again though, if someone wants to buy or trade my ABUS disk!!! This should be a great release though. Brave of Shameless to take this up though, especially with the subject matter.