A giallo on the countryside

Don't Torture a Duckling (1972)

This is one of the most notorious giallos, right up there with Lucio Fulci's other sleazy “stab” at the giallo genre, The New York Ripper (1982). Though this time it's not the brutal and graphical murder scenes, but the targets of the murders which makes this one infamous. In a rural town somewhere in Italy someone is killing the children of the village. There are plenty of suspects, a weird mentally disabled man, a woman who's believed to practice black magic and an ex-drug addict woman who has just moved there from a big city. Maybe the murderer is none of the above, but the villagers want justice to be served so they take the law in their own hands as the police are too slow at solving the case. I must say this movie has one of the most memorable murder scenes I've ever seen, it was actually the only scene I remembered since the last time I saw it over 10 years ago. It involves chains and most memorable music switch I can think of and it will imprint itself into your mind forever. Speaking of the music, apart from that one absolutely brilliant scene the music didn't really impress me that much, it's not bad but nothing to rave about either. The cinematography wasn't bad either, but nowhere near the better ones of the genre. The ending was just hilariously over the top which kind of turned the otherwise quite intriguing thriller into a comedy, but other than that it keeps it's form nicely. So all in all this is a good giallo with some memorable moments.

73%

Cursed New Yorkers

Manhattan Baby (1982)

Another Fulci movie that tries to shine out with other abilities than just gore. An archeologist discovers an ancient Egyptian tomb and ends up blind by the "curse" of the tomb. At the same time his daughter gets a strange medallion from a creepy blind old lady. The two incidents seem to be connected somehow and as they return to Manhattan things start going crazy. Even though the story was thin, the movie started off nicely with some very good looking scenes and the style was quite great. But then it kind of stalls and doesn't really move anywhere. Sure enough this movie did have some great looking scenes, but other than that it had very little to offer. It felt like it was trying to copy every horror hit out there but not being able to fit them all into the small script. Hell it even copies Fulci's previous movies as well, though that might have been a joke as I bet he knew this movie was as far from original as a movie can be. The biggest problem in addition to the thin script is that this is not what Fulci does best and you can almost see that he's uncomfortable with this material, kind of like not sure where to go next and which point to focus on. Though I read that the funding for the movie was cut heavily, so maybe that also effected how uneven it ended up to be. The cast is not great either, so that didn't help either. One thing I really loved, in addition to the few stylish scenes, was the soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi, absolutely brilliant as always, but even there I could hear quite a many recycled ideas from his other soundtracks. So it looks good at parts and the music is brilliant, but unfortunately it wasn't a good movie.
35%

Fulci on Poe

The Black Cat (1981)

When you think about Lucio Fulci doing an adaptation of an Edgar Allan Poe story, what this movie ended up being isn't surely the one you'd first think would spawn from that combination. Funny thing that this movie is one of my favourites from Lucio Fulci even though it's not even close to what he's usually known from. I mean sure it's horror and it does have some gruesome scenes, but nothing like the brutal and sadistic gorefests the man is known for. It's not even the best adaptation of Poe's story, but still it has it's own unique feel to it which I like. So it's really more in the Edgar Allan Poe side of things. The biggest thing is that Fulci is actually taking some proper time for suspension building and not just feasting on the murders. And it seems that when he can focus on something else than the gore there's a very stylish film maker underneath. This movie looks, sounds and feels quite brilliant, even so much that it's quite close to the masters of the genre, Argento and Bava. Sure it has it's flaws like the bad acting and some of the dialog is quite corny, but still the mood saves a lot from the campy side of it. Actually about the acting, the cat itself is the best actor in this one, scary as hell. Well worth watching even if you're not a fan of Fulci.
83%

The duck that hates women

New York Ripper (1982)

Well if I had to name an infamous movie this would be one of the first that comes to mind. Though as always the rumours you hear about it are way worse than the movie itself, but that doesn't mean this is an easy movie to watch. It's the most nihilistic, sadistic and brutal giallo ever made. Lucio Fulci has never shyed away from violence and shocking gore effects, but on this one he goes totally over the top. A killer who speaks like a duck stalks women in New York and makes fun of the police who seem to be quite incapable of doing anything to stop the killer. So a basic giallo plot and while there are many typical giallo moments, it's not a typical giallo in any means. It's not exactly stylish, it's gritty and aiming for brutal realism, something not common in giallos. The main thing in this one seems to be the violence and the sheer hate towards women. I really wonder what the director tries to say with this movie as I didn't understand the point. Unless the point was that it's cool to brutally cut up women in graphic closeups. So it's basically nothing but a brutal sleaze fest dressed as a giallo with a bad script and below average acting. Friends of sleaze should get their fair share of entertainment, but giallo fans should maybe look elsewhere. Horror fans with weak stomach might want to pass this one all together.
40%

Crime is brutal, in this case maybe a bit too much

Contraband (1980)

Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore goes for a poliziotteschi, Italian crime movie, that surely sounds interesting if nothing else. The thing is that Fulci is categorized as just a gorehound and his artistic talent doesn't really get any recognition even though he has done some quite a brilliant movies in middle of all the blood and guts. Too bad this wasn't one of them and surely didn't help that categorization. I mean the movie had tons of potential and some brilliant scenes but in the end it focuses too much on the gruesome shock effects and neglects the good ideas the plot had to offer. It's a story about a smuggler called Luca whose brother is killed by a rival drug gang and as he goes for revenge he stumbles on to a mafia war that doesn't shy on bodycount. Despite the slow and quite promising start the movie soon takes a turn to focus brutal violence and forgets the context in middle of the mess. As typical for Fulci, the women get the worst share of the violence in a few scenes where even the most hardened gorehound will have hard time watching. The cast is fairly good with Fabio Testi as the most notable of course. The dubbing is probably the worst I've heard in an Italian movie, so watch the movie in it's original language with subtitles or it'll just seem unintentionally funny. I was quite disappointed in the music, Fabio Frizzi is one of the greatest composers from Italy, right after Ennio Morricone, so I was expecting a lot more from it than this. So the movie had potential, but unfortunately it's not used that well. Gorehounds will get their fair share of blood and guts, the rest get just an average eurocrime movie with too much focus on the violence.
56%

Fulci on western

Four of the Apocalypse (1975)

Lucio Fulci is more known from his ultra violent horror movies and giallos, but he has done a wide variety of movies ranging from comedy to westerns. His take on the spaghetti western is surely interesting. The movie tells a story of four people driven on the run from a small town after a very violent "clean up" by the town officials. On their journey they meet a man called Chaco, played brilliantly by Tomas Milian, who turns their lives into a nightmare. Surprisingly this movie is quite dramatic in emotions, something not common in the usually muted spaghetti westerns. Sure there is the usual vengeance theme and all of the basic ingredients, but it also has a bit of a romance and lots of drama. At first it seemed like a good thing as it raised the potential quite a lot, but unfortunately it doesn't really work out in the end. Fulci seems to take the focus into the wrong things and missing quite a bit of the juicy setup the script would have provided. Also the look of the movie is not what one would expect from the visually praised spaghetti westerns as this one is quite plain in the company of it's kind. Sure there are some individual shots that are quite brilliant and even some very nicely crafted scenes, but still it's a bit too straight forward. The cast is quite great with Tomas Milian shining above others but Fabio Testi and Lynne Frederick do a great job as well. The music was from quite ok to absolutely horrible, another thing that other of it's kind do aeons better. All in all it had lots of potential, some of which was unfortunately lost and even though it does many things right it still has so many things wrong it falls just below average in it's genre.
55%