User Reviews

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.

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 slo-mo shooting scenes (not just slo-mo, sloooooooooo moooooooooo). Comparing this to Peckinpah is like comparing Green Day to the Stooges.

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.

All this stark imagery, simplicity and symbolism, I think, makes this film more of a subversive feminist allegory than any other of its type that I've seen; because it is at times almost mythic, it doesn't have to be taken literally. It doesn't have to be about pimps kidnapping girls and force-feeding them drugs, it doesnt have to be about shot guns. It does make me wonder how Christina Lindberg felt about the film, and what she did after.

One more thing: does a black-leather-clad, shotgun toting avenger driving around in a cop car through barren countryside remind you of anything?

Definitely check this out if you're not squeemish.

Girls are kidnapped by a sadistic pimp,turned into heroin addicts and dumped into a brothel,there to suffer hideous mistreatment in the hands of sweating,overweight customers.A mute girl Madeleine(Christina Lindberg),escapes and finally exterminates her tormentors with a sawed-off shotgun."Thriller:A Cruel Picture" is a notorious Swedish exploitation film which has a strange,almost dreamy feeling.The killings are long and bloody,so I was enthralled.The use of extreme slow motion during death scenes is certainly impressive.Christina Lindberg is simply excellent as a mute girl who becomes a killing machine.The most controversial aspect about "Thriller:A Cruel Picture",aside from the bloody violence,is the presence of several ugly hard-core sex scenes that show the girl's prostitution work in graphic detail.So if you are a fan of grindhouse exploitation stuff give this film a look.Check out also "Breaking Point" by Bo Arne Vibenius which is even more pornographic and demented.7 out of 10.

You might ask yourself why there was a clause in the filmworkers contracts that they must keep the real director a secret. Well, it is on the surface a very provocative and nasty swedish film for its time and even by today's standards. I do however know a really disturbing reason, which was presented by one of the main workers on this film on a movie buff gathering in Sala (Sweden) when this cast or crew (I won't give the name) attended as a guest. The thing is, the scene with the eye, is real - performed on a fresh corpse (which was a suicide victim which gave automatic permission for an autopsy) at the Karolinska hospital supposedly, and the director had contacts who granted him to film the exercise on the eye in connection to the autopsy. This is gruesome stuff, and probably the real reason why the director still wants to remain obscure and doesn't give interviews. However, he wasn't alone, and in Spain they did several films with real gore due to the lack of a special effects talent. Javier Aguirre's "Hunchback from morgue" is one more known example, where the star Paul Naschy began severing a real head before he couldn't finish it - but they kept the frames where he cuts half-way, and they finished the scene with a prop head. This is described in Naschy's autobiography as well as his commentary track on the german special edition dvd. So, back to Thriller. It is indeed a shocking film and an admirable piece of film history - just see what has come out of it with Kill Bill and all. Worth mentioning is the beautiful score by Ralph Lundsten, which gives the film a dreamlike and surreal quality - and something you can see in all of Vibenius films is his great talent to direct dreamlike and surreal scenes. I have all of his films and I happened to see the first one when I was 4 or 5 something. His two following works however, I am happy to have seen later as a young adult. Gosh, you gotta be a special guy if you first do a movie for kids and then move on to Thriller and Breaking Point. We will never see an official box set with these three films, safe to say.

I love Rape Revenge films, call me sick, call me twisted, but there's something about them that just works. It might be the taboo subject or the fact that its the rare opportunity to see a decent strong woman on screen. (I'm not saying they have to be raped to be strong, but there is always that edge to these flicks).

They Call Her One Eye is no exception. I have managed, after several years of trying, to track down a fully uncut copy complete with the rather pointless hardcore inserts. For those of you who are interested it is not the actress, Christina Lindberg, in the hardcore scenes it was a random couple that was ordered from a lab!! The director didn't even shoot them, how weird is that? Having said that, Lindberg is very hot and I'm definitely digging the eye patch thing!

Here is the plot in basic terms ***contains spoilers***

. Girl goes to park . Raped by blood dribbling tramp . Loses voice . Girl grows up . Girl leaves home . Offered lift by creepy fella . Accepts lift, goes back to his place and gets drugged . Wakes up and gets drugged some more . She is now addicted to heroine and the creepy fella turns out to be a pimp . He forces her into prostitution . Atttacks the first man that comes to see her . Creepy fella takes her eye . She's raped several times by 'clients' . Creepy fella feeds habit . She learns martial arts, gun shooting and driving . Bides her time . Goes ape s**t in an orgy of violence, killing all her previous clients and finally strangling the creepy fella with a donkey!

This film is pretty crazy, but there are some outstanding scenes. The gouging of the eye (in true Fulci style) is sickeningly realistic and there is a big rumour that a real corpse was used for the shot. Robin Bougie in Cinema Sewer 15 asked the question of Bo Arne Vibenius and he flatly refused to answer!!?? Either way, it definitely worked.

The other notable moments for me where a chase scene in which Lindberg tries to escape the clutches of her pimp. He just drives along behind her as she plods along slowly running out of steam. He follows her into a park, driving along footpaths, before she falls into a pile of autumn leaves. The camera works well here, following her viewpoint we are left disorientated by the effect. He finally drags her back into the car in broad day light and not one person offers their help?

Towards the end of the film after she has killed a couple of hired thugs she is accosted by the police. Now I say police, but they appear to be wearing Thunderbirds suits???? No matter, they get their butts handed to them in glorious euro-trash slow mo.

The final scene of her tying the pimp by his neck to a horse and dragging him away is an unforgettable image. It really works.

There is a lot of gaff aspects to this film and it does have the usual budget constraints, but for a film of this era it is undeniably effective. I know Tarantino has banged on about this film a lot and at times it just about lives up to his love. However, don't go to this expecting easy viewing or the usual slickness of American productions, this is awkward, weird film making at it's very best.

They call her One Eye, I call it well worth a watch!

As an avid lover of 70s Exploitation cinema I was quite excited to finally see "Thriller - en grym film" (aka. "Thriller: A Cruel Picture"/"They Call Her One-Eye") of 1974, as it is a film that enjoys a certain cult-status among many exploitation lovers. Not in my book, however, as "Thriller" turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments of recent months. I am an enthusiastic fan of ultra-violent and sleazy exploitation, so I'm not criticizing the film for being 'sick' of anything. On the contrary. the film isn't nearly as shocking or disturbing as it's hyped to be, but what really makes it disappointing is the fact that it lacks the slightest logic.

Frigga (Christina Lindberg) is a young girl living on a farm with her parents. After she was raped by an old man as a little girl, Frigga has ceased to talk and become a mute. In spite of the traumatic events in her childhood, she blindly trusts a sleazy guy named Tony, who offers to give her a ride into town, and henceforth forces her into prostitution. Tony writes letters to Friggas parents in her name, explaining that she doesn't love them any more. And her parents immediately believe the lies, and subsequently kill themselves - now that makes a lot of sense. But that's not all: Tony makes Frigga a heroin addict (in this film, heroin addicts die when they don't get a shot), he forces her into prostitution and even stabs one of her eyes out when she refuses to have sex with a customer. Yet, he never rapes her himself, he gives her a percentage of the money she earns him, and he even gives her a day off a week, on which she can do what she wants - and the day off as well as the money give her the opportunity to do karate- and shooting classes in order to plan her revenge...

I admit that the film has some strong points, but the storyline is about as illogical as it gets. Christina Lindberg became a minor sex-star in Exploitation cinema, but I'm not one of her fans. While some people find her hot, I think she just looks like a 15-year-old girl (which is too young for my tastes at least). This makes her quite predestined for her role here, however, as what makes this film interesting is Frigga's conversion from an innocent child-like young woman into a merciless, blood-thirsty avenger. Also, the idea with the eye-patch was pretty cool. So the film has its qualities, but it has at least as many faults. The supposed shock moments are in no way spectacular, and the (extremely) slow motion in any action sequence is more than tiresome. The (crappy) hardcore porn sequences, which were obviously done with other people, seem superfluous and terribly out of place. I have no problem whatsoever with porn sequences in non-porn films, and I do not find such sequences offensive or anything, but they simply don't fit in here, and they furthermore give the impression that director Bo Arne Vibenius saw no difference in making exploitation cinema or plain pornography. The 70s spawned quite a number of rape and revenge flicks, and while this is one of the most overrated ones it is also one of the dullest. The film has many similarities to Meir Zarchi's "I Spit On Your Grave" (aka. "Day Of The Woman", 1978), which is often bashed, but a deeply disturbing and great film that is a lot more recommendable than this one. It is also sometimes compared to Wes Craven'S 1972 revenge classic "The Last House On The Left", but these comparisons are not really justified, since it's the parents, not the victims, who take revenge there.

Overall, "Thiller" has its qualities, and it may be worth checking out for my fellow exploitation fans, but I advise to keep your expectations low, since the chances for being disappointed are high. I sure was.

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.

Yes, this is an ugly film. Yes, it has all the earmarkings of trash. But beyond the obvious violent, rape/revenge exterior, lurks a truly thought provoking film. I recently rented the "uncensored" DVD, and I'm glad I did. Seeing this without the controversial hardcore shots would be a totally different experience. We've all seen nudity or sexual scenes used to "spice up" a cheesy film. This is obviously NOT the case here. When you have a beautiful lead actress, you could certainly make her abusive plight more attractive and titillating than what was done here.

***SPOILERS********

When you are confronted with the explicitly ugly closeups of penetration, you cannot simply look away, or laugh away, what you are seeing. The unexpectedness of these (few) jarring shots cannot be denied. They are meant to disgust and shock you, but not in a gratuitous way. When you compare the "in your face" directness of these shots to the extreme slow motion killing sequences, you can appreciate the directors intent. The very "slowness" of the violence the heroine exacts has only one effect: it takes you out of the moment, making her revenge, which should be the cinematic high point, seem meaningless and ineffective. The point is being made, I believe, that no amount of revenge can balance what has been done to her. Consider that the pimp's final moments are not even displayed! Wouldn't you expect to see some gory end to such a heinous character? By not even letting us see it, we are made to feel it is unimportant to what has preceded it. And what about her forcing seemingly innocent drivers off the road? Are we made to believe that she viewed all of society as guilty? Obviously this is not a perfect film, or necessarily even a GOOD film, but it is, IMHO, much more than just a "video nasty."

I don't think it is necessary for us to see an anal cumshot for us to comprehend the abuse she suffers. In fact, the focus on the genitals is more likely to excite the viewer than align him/her with the suffering.

The porn in this film is the only shocking aspect and probably the only reason the film has any notoriety. If you were a mainstream viewer, it may be shocking, but if you have ever seen a porn film (if you haven't go watch one now for educations sake), then you will see immediately how unnecessary those scenes are. If I wanted to see porn I would have gone to a porn site instead of watching the movie. It is so pathetic that the producer had to resort to this to get ratings. Absolutely pathetic.

Every action scene is filmed in mind-numbingly slow slow-motion. Was the effects board stuck on this setting or something? The effects are really bad. I mean, really really bad. The blood looks like paint, the wounds look like someone spilled their spaghetti on their shirt. I think small children could come up with more realistic effects.

Everything about this movie is stupid.

Honestly, don't waste your time watching it. I did, and I regret it. I'm not even entertained by how crap it was.