Non Si Sevizia Un Paperino (aka Don't Torture A Duckling) (1972)

A series of child murders occurs in a small Southern Italian village. The locals are rather ignorant and suspicious people and innocent people get accused before the real killer is exposed. Directed by Lucio Fulci (LIZARD IN A WOMAN'S SKIN). This giallo is very disturbing on several levels. Fulci does an expert job at keeping the tension quotient high and casts a cynical eye on the villagers who are portrayed as uneducated and mistrustful and in their own way, as guilty as the psycho who's killing the village's young boys. It's pretty easy to identify the killer from the first shot but Fulci attempts to throw us off the scent with several red herrings but it doesn't work, the killer is that obvious. But Fulci seems almost gleeful in the violent aspects of the movie. Florinda Bolkan's murder is done slowly with the camera lingering on her suffering and so graphic that I had to turn my eyes away. The killer's death is also graphic but he's the killer so who cares. There's also a scene with a nude Barbara Bouchet taunting a little boy that would never get the greenlight today, at least in the U.S. The underscore is by Riz Ortolani (YELLOW ROLLS ROYCE). With Irene Papas and Tomas Milian.