Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974)

Sadly Over-hyped

Expected more

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE is a notorious exploitation film from Sweden which has been championed by none other than Quentin Tarantino. It's a rape-revenge thriller that sees an innocent young girl forced into becoming a heroin addict before being sold into prostitution. However, she trains in the martial arts and also learns how to use various weapons, which allows her to take revenge on the men (and women) who previously abused her.I have to admit that rape revenge films aren't really my cup of tea as I find them far too sleazy to enjoy and THRILLER is certainly one of the sleaziest. It's a grim and slow-paced exercise in fear and humiliation that seems to reveal in violence meted out towards women in much the same way as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, for example. As a film, it's not particularly proficient, with the drawn-out pace making it tough to sit through and plenty of dumb dialogue to drag it down further.Christina Lindberg makes something of an iconic impression as the lead character although she plays it subdued for the most part, which I think works. The supporting cast are nothing to write home about. The violence, when it eventually arrives, is played out in extreme slow motion, which I thought was an effective way to do it. Unfortunately there's far too much in the way of depravity to get through first, including hardcore sex scenes and a scene involving a scalpel and an eyeball which I understand was performed on a real corpse. Yeah, it's not really the sort of film you can say you enjoyed, although you will want to take a cold shower afterwards.

A young woman (Christina Lindberg), muted after a sexual assault as a child, is trained to seek violent revenge on those who have wronged her after being kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute.In Daniel Ekeroth's book on Swedish exploitation movies, it is revealed that the producers took out a huge life insurance policy on star Christina Lindberg, as real ammunition was used in the action sequences, and that she was asked to inject saline solution during the drug scenes. A real corpse was also used for an eye-gouging scene, which continues to offend people. This is, without doubt, among the darkest, grittiest exploitation films ever made. It is easy to see how this was such a strong inspiration on Tarantino's "Kill Bill".If there is one thing I would change, however, it would be the removal of the pornographic scenes. They add nothing to the film, and because they were spliced in after the fact, really do not represent a true part of the original film.

Exploitation cinema in all its glory, or not, depending on your own personal peccadilloes! Directed, written and produced by Bo Arne Vibenius, Thriller - en grym film (AKA: They Call Her One Eye) is an infamous picture for a number of reasons, reasons that would take a whole page to write about. So use your mouse and google it because this review isn't interested in dabbling in such fare.Plot sees a young Madeline raped by a paedophile and rendered mute by the experience. Into early adulthood and Madeline (played superbly by soft core porn starlet Christinia Lindberg) unwisely takes up the offer of a lift from the odious Tony (Heinz Hopf). Pretty soon she's addicted to heroin and working as a prostitute. However, Madeline is biding her time, for she has plans, plans that spell doom for all her abusers.Does this film have artistic merit? Absolutely! In fact if you take out the inserted pornographic close-ups, which are pointless since we already know what Madeline is going through (a supposed marketing tool of the era apparently...) then this is a kick-ass film. It's a two parter, where the first half shows all of Madeline's misery, with sexual disturbance and body horror, then we switch to Madeline's fight back, where we get one of the coolest anti-heroines of 70s exploitation. She's sporting an eye patch, a glorious black trench coat, and weapons, oh yes! There are weapons, hands, guns and cars, oh my! It's here where Vibenius asks the question about justifiable revenge, whilst the super slow-mo approach to the violence will either be viewed as indulgent or classy (I'm with the latter camp).It is what it is, grungy and grimy, operating in a specialist niche of cinema, but worthy in that it didn't conform, and it has proved influential. It's just not a date movie or something to watch with you mom! Right, I'm off for a bath. 7/10

Both "Thriller a Cruel Picture", and "Ms.45", are female revenge films, sharing the basic theme of retribution. "Thriller"s vengeance is targeted at specific offenders, while "Ms 45 targets men in general. Both films contain slow motion kills, however "Thriller" overuses the effect, while "Ms.45" has one terrific slow motion scene. The heroines are both mutes, but the acting surrounding Zoe Tamerlis in "Ms.45" is superior to the porno-type characters that interact with Christina Lindberg. The graphic porno scenes in "Thriller" are overused, while "Ms.45" sticks to "R" rated material. The real deciding factor that elevates "Ms.45" to greatness compared to "Thriller" is the strategic use of black humor, completely missing in "Thriller" - MERK