DON'T TORTURE A DUCKLING (L Fulci)

( Non si sevizia un paperino / Lucio Fulci / 1972 )

As entertaining as Fulci can be when he's commanding an army of flesh eating zombies his command of the language of cinema itself is rudimentary and somewhat awkward. Thus this giallo, about a rural police force and a journalist trying to track down a child killing serial killer before superstitious villagers lynch another innocent weirdo, exposes his weaknesses in handling a film that relies on developing a narrative and creating suspense and intrigue rather than films - like his fine GATES OF HELL trilogy - which can sustain themselves by merrily chugging along from one gory splattering to the next.