Arrow Video Announces Release of Fulci’s ‘Don’t Torture A Duckling’

Arrow Video just unveiled a handful of new Blu-ray releases for their August lineup and damn, is it an incredible lineup! There is one specific UK/US release that I want to bring to your attention. The film I want to mention is Lucio Fulci’s (The Beyond, City of the Living Dead) Don’t Torture A Duckling, which is one of the two giallo’s he has ever done and is also possibly one of the best films in his library. Check out the trailer from Blue Underground’s DVD release below.

From Arrow Video’s Facebook page comes this press releasing:

Pre-order in the UK via Arrow. Pre-order in the UK via Amazon. Pre-order in the US.
Release dates: 14/15 August

From Lucio Fulci, the godfather of gore (The Psychic, The Beyond), comes one of the most powerful and unsettling giallo thrillers ever produced: his 1972 masterpiece Don’t Torture a Duckling.

When the sleepy rural village of Accendura is rocked by a series of murders of young boys, the superstitious locals are quick to apportion blame, with the suspects including the local “witch” Maciara (Florinda Bolkan: A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin). With the bodies piling up and the community gripped by panic and a thirst for bloody vengeance, two outsiders – city journalist Andrea (Tomas Milian: The Four of the Apocalypse) and spoiled rich girl Patrizia (Barbara Bouchet: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times) – team up to crack the case. But before the mystery is solved, more blood will have been spilled, not all of it belonging to innocents…

Deemed shocking at the time for its brutal violence, depiction of the Catholic Church and themes of child murder and pedophilia, Don’t Torture a Duckling is widely regarded today as Fulci’s greatest film, rivaling the best of his close rival Dario Argento. Arrow Video is proud to present this uniquely chilling film in its North American high definition debut.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations

• Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)

• English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack

• New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films

• The Blood of Innocents, a new video discussion with Mikel J. Koven, author of La Dolce Morte: Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo Film

• Hell is Already in Us, a new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger

• Interviews with co-writer/director Lucio Fulci, actor Florinda Bolkan, cinematographer Sergio D’Offizi, assistant editor Bruno Micheli and assistant makeup artist Maurizio Trani

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Timothy Pittides

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet with new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw and Howard Hughes

As a collector of obscure horror and a huge fan of Italian cinema, this will be a certain purchase for me. If you are anything like me, I highly recommend getting your pre-orders in!