Thriller En Grym Film AKA Thriller, a Cruel Picture, They Call Her One Eye

Movie poster n°1.

After hearing all the hype about this film...the latest notorious Eurotrash cult film making the rounds...has to be seen to be believed...sex and violence, sex and violence, etc., I finally got hold of a copy of it and was almost afraid that with all the anticipation I'd just be disappointed. To add to that, the copy I got was of crappy quality as I discovered when I started watching it--the opening credits were so blurry I couldn't read them--and the whole affair started to look like nothing more than the chore necessary to get the idea of finally seeing this film out of my head.

All this apprehension disappeared quickly as I got sucked into this simple yet very engaging story. We all know it's about a chick with one eye who picks up a shotgun and exacts revenge on her abusers, another entry into a sub-genre that needs no introduction, and that's what I expected, just another entry into this sub-genre with maybe enough explicit footage to give it the aforementioned notoriety, which alone does not a good film make. What I didn't expect was the atmosphere, the occasional insight (witness an early semi-rape scene involving rape-by-camera), the genuinely creepy close-ups of leering, panting men and all the other quirks that make this such a neat little flick. There is a lot of experimental sort of storytelling in this movie, as I guess was the style of the time (early seventies), and some of it is neat and some of it is downright annoying. But the overall effect, aided in no small part by the music, and aided also by the main character's inability to speak (had to have influenced Ms. .45, which came later) as well as the fact that I don't speak Swedish and this film is neither dubbed nor subtitled, is one of being underwater in a very polluted river. And that seems perfectly appropriate, since figuratively that's the story of the protagonist's life.

Bang! you're dead fucker!.

The close-up hardcore porn footage is used to better effect than I've ever seen such footage used, as it is supposed to be disturbing and sickening (anyone who thinks about impersonal images like that when they think about real sex, the good kind, has got to be a few beers short of a case). However, it is somewhat over-used. There are some good scenes of drawn-out, methodical drug-administering, shotgun-sawing, martial arts training, etc. that give the film, at times, an edge of realism. This realism is shattered, however, by scenes of cars exploding at the slightest impact and the nails-on-a-chalkboard slow-motion shooting scenes.

However, the entire film was redeemed for me by the last couple of sequences...one scene of her walking, all clad in black with her eyepatch and shotgun, amidst some shacks by a pier was straight out of a very dark western. The whole look of the film, especially the outdoor footage, is stark and desolate. Makes me want to go to Sweden. I was not let down by the last killing...the guy deserved that and more...it's a testament to the sort of infectuous quality of this film and the surprising abilities of porn star Christina Lindberg that I cared that much and even savored what happens to this guy. I've never actually savored the film re-enactment of the torture of a human being before seeing this film. More important than that, though, were the stark landscapes and windy, desolate atmosphere of the whole last sequence. "One-eye"'s cold-as-ice serenity as she sits and waits for her macabre plan to take effect is more satisfying than any of what she's waiting for.

So, as a way of paying homage I'll try to include every detail I could find about the 1974 masterpiece, Thriller, A Cruel Picture.

This is the DVD version from which I am reviewing today.

Tarantino's Elle Driver inspiration from Frigga.

Marketed as the first Swedish film ever banned (not true as a movie called ‘The Gardener’ was in 1912) ‘Thriller: A Cruel Picture’ is just like its title suggests - an extremely cruel rape and revenge thriller that is a provocative cocktail of art house and exploitation filmmaking.

Previously little known even in its native homeland except to hardcore followers of all things grindhouse and drive-in it now has a higher profile since the turn of the century thanks to its most famous fan writer and director Quentin Tarantino. In Interviews promoting the releases of both volumes of ‘Kill Bill’ (2001 & 2002) the filmmaker sung its praises when citing ‘Thriller: A Cruel Picture’ as one of his main inspirations for the duology. The underground Swedish movie was particularly influential on the character of Elle Driver played by Daryl Hannah wearing similar attire to our heroine here - Madeleine aka One Eye played by the gorgeous sexploitation star Christina Lindberg. Hannah wore in both volumes like Lindberg an eye patch as well as a black outfit like hers in ‘Vol. 2’.

Another classic portrait from this swedish exploitation masterpiece.

Fortunately for those who weren't around in those years, or at least for those who want to get a decent copy of the movie, Synapse Films have re-released the movie in wonderful DVD format. The re-release movie it's available in two editions. The uncut edition is the "Red Limited Edition" (yeah, the one I'm reviewing) The edited edition is known as "Vengeance Edition" Some refer to the red edition as the complete version of the film, completely uncensored and the one version that adds the explicit sex scenes (two minutes or some, performed by doubles not Lindberg) so, I would say go for the red edition if you want the real thing, though the explicit sex scenes seem to have been added later to give the movie plot a more consistent meaning when it comes to the revenge issue. 

The uncensored/uncut edition of the film is widely known as  "Thriller, a Cruel Picture" while the censored cut is known as the "They Call Her One Eye" film so in case you do not have it that clear, the film title will tell you which version you're watching.

The version of the film being reviewed here, it's the original uncut Swedish language version (the 107 minute uncut Limited Edition). All the action sequences that were cut from the original theatrical release are restored as well as all the scenes of hardcore pornography that are missing from the 104 minute Vengeance Edition that just maintains the action set-pieces. Both versions are available on region 1 DVD from Synapse Films.

Awesome fan art.

Another promotional poster.

To quote the tagline of ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ the film it inspired ‘Thriller: A Cruel Picture’ will be a slow burn for anyone looking for “A roaring rampage of revenge”. Frigga (or Madeleine depending on which version you're watching) does not start dealing out the pain on the scum until about the hour mark. However, it sure is worth the wait as writer and director Bo Arne Vibenius subjects us to the cruel nature of this movie. Our poor victim/protagonist is violated in all the unspeakable manners described in the synopsis. It just makes it even more satisfying when it finally gets to the third act.

Bo A. Vibenius who wrote the script for the film, had a masterstroke casting Christina Lindberg in the lead role as our luckless heroine. Beautifully innocent looking with a slim slight tiny body she is completely vulnerable. The writer and director also made her character a mute to escalate that vulnerability; completely robbed of speech she is even more helpless. We can do nothing but sympathize with her and we cannot take our eyes off the mesmerizing Lindberg. However, her role is the complete opposite of most of her films where she's depicted as a nymphomaniac who's always looking for a sexual adventure.

When we see her training to fight back, we are really rooting for her. When she finally takes her revenge without mercy, we are cheering her on with our fists in the air. Hopf is also convincingly excellent as the scumbag pimp Tony and we long for him to get his comeuppance.
 

Frigga, on her classic shots.

Another promotional poster.

As above mentioned, the footage of hardcore pornography used in the "Red Edition" is not remotely erotically raunchy as it is there to show the vileness of Madeline’s tragic ordeal as her body is used against her will. Forced to sell her body or die from heroin withdrawal constitutes forcible penetration not consensual sex. The shots are inserts of clips filmed elsewhere by body doubles and I am not going to beat around the bush here (excuse me) as the genitalia on display is so unattractive it is cringe making. Nevertheless, the porn inserts do help people understand Frigga is not a nymphomaniac slut who rejoices whenever she gets to swallow a sticky cum load. Actually, she's more like a victim who's relying on her forced work talents to get what she really wants: revenge.

Bo Arne Vibenius also employs an excessive amount of slower than slow motion when it comes to the action sequences. On my first viewing I just found this annoying, but going back, I sat up and took into account the visceral intensity on display here. Vibenius prolongs our experiences in the sheer brutality of the violence stretching it out to show us the grim nature of Madeline’s revenge. We have been patiently waiting a good hour for it having to witness the horrific plight of this poor little farm girl. Now satisfyingly that patience has paid off as she has turned into an arse kicking vengeance machine and we drown in the shower of delights of seeing these awful human beings that caused her misery get what they unquestionably deserve in glorious long spells of time.

And so begins the one eyed revenge.

Forced to be a hooker.

The film does have its plot holes. Traumatized by her rape as a child why would Madeline get into a stranger’s car considering her state of mind? Why does Tony give her Monday’s off when he has gone out of his way to abduct her, get her hooked on heroin and forced her into prostitution? Although the martial arts training is feasible when it comes to her lessons in the dojo, when she is kicked out by her instructor when he catches her about to take a fix of heroin how does she have the connections to get training from the military in hand to hand combat? How does she get an army officer to train her in rifle shooting before that? In addition, how does she find a stunt driver to give her driving lessons? Saying all this though, these scenes are entertaining and Tony’s freeing of Madeline one day a week only serve the purpose as a plot point to get her quest of revenge off to a start. There would not be much of a revenge movie otherwise. 

Something that does not sit well with me is the execution of the scene of Madeline losing her eye. Used for the extreme close-up shot of the scalpel going into the eye was the real corpse of a recently deceased girl who had committed suicide. Filmed in the hospital keeping the body applied to the eye was makeup before the scalpel went in. All this confirmed by Christina Lindberg. Bo Arne Vibenius has a stylistic eye and employs a lot of strange art house cinematography throughout with the odd choices of POV shots and off beat camera angles and beautifully shot Swedish landscapes mixed in with all the gratuitous exploitation shots. Therefore, is this purpose of execution striving for great art or just vulgar sensationalism? Either way I find it to be in very bad taste as it is disrespectful to the poor young girl who tragically took her own life and to her grieving loved ones.

Her only friend.

She was even forced to serve for Dykes.

Thriller, a Cruel Picture is a one of a kind film. There are many rape/revenge films out there but this one has a taste for crafted cinematography. If someone was to be introduced to Christina Lindberg, this would be the go to film. If someone was to be introduced to European sexploitation genre, this would be the go to film. If someone was to be introduced to a graphic revenge film, beautifully executed, this would be the go to film. If someone was to be introduced to Christina Lindberg's best film, yep, this would be the one movie to pick. 

Christina Lindberg filmography is comprised of approximately 24 films. Most of them weren't as intense as this one. In fact, most of her roles were that of a young swedish girl looking to get laid while looking innocent. Also, she posed naked for many magazines, since her undeniable beauty was something she wasn't afraid of sharing she became the ultimate Swedish sex starlet although she never did porn (she quit filming Flossie when she was told there would be hardcore scenes. After a while, Lindberg grew tired of her over sexualized image and decided to move on to something else)

Suffering the unbearable.

Exhausted after a working shift.

Anyways, Christina  Lindberg's legacy as a sexploitation starlet lingers on and the growing fandom (thanks to the internet for that) will keep her amongst the biggest exploitation stars of all times. Now, all we're left to do is hope for a DVD/Blu Ray release of the films that still haven't become officially available: her actual debut Rotmanad, Sex At The Olympics, Young Playthings and many other sexploitation films where she had minor but significant roles.

Here's the official movie trailer: