Review of Don't Torture a Duckling

In the backward village of Accendura, the boy Bruno Lo Casio goes missing and the police inspector and the local commissioner and the village Captain Modesti (Ugo D'Alessio) investigate the case. When his father receives the request of a ransom, the police arrest the local Giuseppe and realize that he is innocent. Then the boys Michele and Tonino are also murdered and the police suspect of the local witch Maciara (Florinda Bolkan), who practices black magic, might be the killer but they find she is also innocent. However the superstitious and ignorant locals brutally kill her. Meanwhile that village is crowded of journalist, including the experienced Andrea Martelli (Tomas Milian) from Rome. He befriends Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet), a daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur that is living in the village after a drug scandal. They meet the village priest Don Alberto Avallone (Marc Poreli), who has a group of boys that plays soccer at the church and is the son of the weird Dona Aurelia Avallone (Irene Papas) that raises her slow six year-old daughter. They believe the child has witnessed the murders and might know who the killer is.

"Non si sevizia un paperino" is a violent giallo bu Lucio Fulci, with a story with perversions that are sort of taboo in Hollywood. The three boys and Giuseppe are voyeurs; Patrizia is drug addicted and pedophile; Don Alberto is a serial-killer that wants to keep the innocence of the boys. The graphic violence of the four men against Maciara is impressive. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Estranho Segredo do Bosque dos Sonhos" ("The Strange Secret of the Woodland of the Dreams")