Månguden

Månguden
Directed by: Jonas Cornell
Drama/Thriller, 1988
Sweden, 85min
Distributed by: Atlantic

My good buddy Stefan who runs the only movie magazine worth reading here in Sweden sent me a DVD of Månguden with the suggestion that I watch and write something about this little piece of Swedish TV history. Having seen it back in the eighties when it aired, I was up for the challenge as this is one of those movies that fans and fellow bloggers hold dear and still talk about. I actually remember seeing the programme back when it aired but it wasn’t a movie that grabbed me and had me stay tuned to the show. Although I did see parts of it and these partial images did stay with me. Especially the mask, the close-ups of the gloved hands and the most iconic images – the campsite massacre!

Jonas Cornell’s made for TV film Månguden (The Moongod) is one of those few Swedish movies surrounded by myths and legend of mystery and awe. For just over two decades the movie has been something of a holy grail amongst enthusiastic collectors and has been called everything from one of the bloodiest Swedish TV productions to the most nightmare inducing TV movie ever shown on the tube in this country. Supposedly it was so intense and haunting when it aired om the 23rd of September 1988 there where mass cancellations of camping holiday’s all over the country, the switchboards at SVT where blocked by agitated callers and after the re-run aired a week later SVT hid it way in the back of their vaults – not too unlike what happens to the rolls of film in the movie itself.

Månguden is one of those movies that time has been kind to as it is commonly remembered as being a lot freakier than it really is. But for the time it was made, it is pretty far out, and for a TV movie it does push into some new ground still making it quite eerie at moments. It’s not as bloody as its recalled being, and movies in the “Snutfilm” genre had gone much further years earlier, like Bo Widerberg’s magnificent Mannen på Taket (Man on the Roof) 1976 which has some extremely gory scenes for a Swedish movie of this time. Keeping in mind that it is a TV movie, pigeonholing a genre is pretty uncalled for, but its apparent that Månguden has more in common with American film noir than the genres one would like to compare it too. Sure there’s a couple of scenes in there that could be interpreted as Giallo traits, but it’s not a Giallo, even if we fans of that specific niche would love to stash it away there and add to the mysterious reputation that the movie has.

There’s a lot going on that doesn’t quite make sense at first but then reveals itself being part of a larger picture. Such as the sudden quick fix and apprehension of a suspect that is incarcerated and claimed being the killer. This is in some ways a direct critique towards the Swedish police force, and has some similarities to the way many of the larger cases in Sweden where solved. From almost out of nowhere an assailant was nabbed and placed behind bars, even if it seemed completely impossible that this was the murderer. Within the narrative of Månguden it’s a very important scene to solving the real killer’s identity, as the obvious forced closed case it a delicate red herring. The relationship between father and son – John and his dad – is interesting, and creates further depth in the John character, not to mention that the killer is targeting fathers as his trophy pieces... And I love the ending, with its ambiguity and partially unsolved mystery as it leaves a somewhat negative tone to the end of the film. It also introduces a possibility that there where two killers, and that there are further bond’s between then not yet discovered.

I can see why such attention is paid to detail when establishing the chain smoking, bourbon drinking, and jazz loving John, but it all falls flat for me when the Chet Baker album that he slips onto the turntable obviously isn’t Chet at all, but a sound-alike track by composer Jan Tolf. In all respect for the characters that they build through the early stages of the movie it pretty soon becomes apparent that the archetypes are more noir cliché’s than anything else.

Even though it is a darned slow mover, it is still a pretty entertaining little piece. Story wise it is quite interesting, there’s a lot of small subplots going on that help make it an interesting piece. In line with the semi open ending, this is also how many of the subplots are used, hence creating an image of simply gazing into a few intensive weeks of John Vinge’s life as a detective. We know that certain events and actions will continue to live on outside the movies timeframe. In many aspects Månguden could have acted as a pilot for a serial to follow. Then there’s the strange relationship between Erland and Rebecca. Why does he go to see her in the middle of the night, and what’s up with those strange glances at each other? Well my theory on that also has to do with the great celluloid reveal at the end, as the father figure looks at two directions before succumbing to his fate. And to capture the “Killer” on film, there has to be someone else behind that camera viewfinder.

The cast is great and really a showcase of new, old and current talents. Tomas Laustiola with his broken Finnish/Swedish accent brings the melancholic and troubled John Vinge to a level of realism that may not transfer to foreign audiences, but feels very authentic to Scandinavian viewers. The seductive and mysterious Rebecca played by Cornell’s real life wife Agneta Ekmanner is a believable leading lady but doesn’t make any major impression when she puts on her cryptic face. Although Heinz Hopf [Arne Mattsson's Ann & Eve 1970, Bo A. VIbenius Thriller - A Cruel Picture 1974, Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander 1983] as the sinister Andreas Gregor does his thing just like I want him to. If you put Hopf into a production I’m going to like it because that guy was always fascinating. Per Myrberg’s psychologist Erland Salander is interesting because he’s at first a sceptic. Initially he doesn’t want anything to do with the case, but an interesting piece of exposition reveals that he was once a former colleague to John’s terminally ill father and that he at one time was the greatest profiler on the job. It’s what we drama gimps call “the refusal of the call”. But obviously he does take the case after being asked by John’s father. Which creates a great tension between the two of them. Forced together to solve these intriguing and violent murders.

There’s a load of Swedish talent throughout the movie, both from the old guard and the new upstarts – now established actors and artists in their own right like Stig Ossian Ericson, John Harryson, Tomas Hanzon, Rickard Wolf to name a few - but perhaps most interesting is that the assistant director on Månguden was Mikael Håfström who these last few years has had a pretty good run with movies like Ondskan (Evil) 2003 and 1408 2007, but this still doesn’t help me forgiving him for the pretty cheesy Strandvaskaren (Drowning Ghost) 2003 that could only have been helped by casting Fred Andersson in a part.

Bringing a cultural aspect to the whole thing and searching for a reason why it evoked such strong emotions I would probably say that the Appojaure killings of 1984 had something to do with it. During the summer of ’84 two Dutch tourists where found stabbed to death in their sleeping bags, and the assailant had apparently attacked them through the tent canvas. There where no apparent leads or motive for the killings and still today nobody has been convicted of the crimes. Although self proclaimed serial killer, Thomas Quick did admit to the crime and was sentenced to lifetime, few actually believed that he was responsible. He has in he last few years proven to have lied about many of his supposed crimes blasting holes in many once again unsolved crimes.

Obviously the murders where big news and pretty shocking at the time, and when Månguden aired there was still no real solution to the Appojaure murders in sight. I’m sure that this played some part in the reception that the show had, and then the fact that SVT kept it from being available or aired since that last screening in 88, and quite possibly why it has been recalled in our collective cultural memories as something much more sensational than it is.

Being a fan of Italian genre films and watching this one there are several things that strike me, such as the apparent Gialli traits (though I still wont say that it is one) but I can also spot possible influences by Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man 1973, Richard Marquand’s The Legacy 1978, and the Friday the 13th movies. And then there are the hidden reels of film that are stashed away in the concealed secret vault in the basement of the Ethnographic museum. There are obvious associations to the footage of Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust 1980 as that film is projected, hence explaining the motivation for the killings, and just like many of Dario Argento’s films, the killer’s raison d’être stems from a childhood trauma. There are obviously no concrete claims to this being the case, but it helps grasp the mythical status that fans of genre films have created around the movie when possibly connections to movies within that sphere are noted.

All in all, Månguden is a good little movie well worth the watch both from an urban legend view and a narrative view. It’s understandable that the movie has been shrouded in such mysticism and fond memories, even though it clearly lacks many of the recalled traits that we so fondly project onto it. But it is an entertaining movie, a document of the time it was made, and also a rarity amongst Swedish cop movies as it sticks it neck out in a varied amount of ways which makes it live up to the great reputation that is still holds today.

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Full frame 4:3

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Dolby Digital 2.0

Ann and Eve

Ann and Eve
Original Title: Ann & Eve – De Erotiska
Directed by: Arne Mattsson
Sweden, 1970
Thriller/Drama, 105min
Distributed by: Studio S Entertainment

Arne Mattsson, in my opinion one of the finest directors ever to have come out of Sweden. Sure you have to acknowledge the genius of Ingmar Bergman, the wild psychotronica of Bo A. Vibenius and the eroticism of Torgny Wickman to give a full spectrum of Swedish genre directors, but when it comes to over all top marks the prize goes to Arne Mattsson.

Born in Uppsala, Sweden in 1919 Mattson directed near some sixty movies in his extensive career. The most of his movies work off a classic drama basis interweaving themes from other genres. Be it comedy, horror, thriller or eroticism, there’s more to his movies than what meets the eye. His love of his hometown Uppsala never faded and many of his movies where shot there at locations that still stand to this day.

Internationally Mattsson made a mark with the Swedish summer movie Hon dansade en Sommar (One summer of Happiness) 1951 which won the Golden Berliner Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival – Sven Sköld won for best music. Hon dansade en Sommar was THE flick that started the wave of movies referred to as the Swedish Sin films, as Folke Sundqvist and Ulla Jacobsson went skinny dipping one warm summer evening.

The movies that he’s mostly remembered for domestically are the Hillman movies – a series of five movies about the detective couple John and Kajsa Hillman [Karl-Arne Holmsten and Annalisa Ericson] who solve intriguing mystery cases with the help of Freddy [Nils Hallberg]. All five films are often argued to be forerunners and influences upon the Italian Gialli, a claim I feel is taking things a bit to far – even if they are great movies. They are instead heavily influenced by the movies of Alfred Hitchcock, who supposedly once presented Mattsson with two cigars after a screening of Manekäng i rött (Mannequin in Red) 1958 telling Mattsson that it was a wonderful and terrifying movie. There’s no real evidence of the actual meeting taking place, but it’s a great tale, and one that Mattsson’s legacy is worth containing. The only thing that actually does link the movies to the Giallo genre is their fantastic names. The movies all contain a clear colour code throughout, and this colour scheme is all determined by the movies title: Damen i svart (The Lady in Black), Manekäng i rött (Mannequin in Red), Ryttare i blått (Rider in Blue) 1958, Vita Frun (Lady in White) 1962 and Den gula bilen (The Yellow Car) 1963 certainly have a Gialloesque feeling to them as there are strong colour referents and plot themes in the titles. (Even though Damen i svart, Vita frun and Den gula bilen where shot in black and white) but that’s about as far as it goes, and the movies are definitely more Hitchcock than Giallo. But with Manekäng i rött and Ryttare i blått in mind, I can certainly see the line of thought and actually like the idea that Mattsson could have a thing or two to do with that fantastic Italian sub genre.

Ann and Eve is a trippy movie of required taste. Perhaps not something that the fans of the Hillman movies would appreciate, perhaps not something for the fans of Mattson’s comedic dramas either. But if you are into mind-expanding movies with soft bossanova scores, hot chicks and a somewhat confusing plot, then this is definitely something that you have to check out.

Starting off with a rock hard opening as misandric movie critic Ann [Gio Petré] shoots down a man, Amos Mathews [Birger Malmsten], in cold blood as he stands in the middle of a circus ring, the movie gets of to a terrific start that established characters and traits. Ann leaves the country and heads to Italy with her friend Eve [Marie Liljedahl] who is soon to be married to her boyfriend Peter - who we never see. But apart from being a cold blooded killer, Ann is also completely set on corrupting the young innocent Eve, and makes sure at each possible moment to point out just how shallow and single minded men are. During a trip out on the seas with two fishermen, Walter [Heinz Hopf] and some other bloke, Ann oozes sexuality and slithers around until the two men can’t resist the urge to lay the two women. The next morning Ann takes off leaving Eve to wallow in her remorse and guilt. After confronting Eve and taunting her for her unfaithfulness towards hubby to be Peter, she claims that all women should make a trip like theirs, a trip to explore their sexuality and freedom

Eve’s initial bout of unfaithfulness sets a tone that will be played seductively throughout the movie, as the two women taunt and torment each other to the very end. An ending that in many ways is a dark and disturbing climax with out actually resolving any of the arc’s that have been building during the movie. But that works in favour of the movie, as I feel that an ending that resolves everything and ties the bow nicely would have been a lesser ending, and a more unbelievable ending.

In some screwed up way the movie is kind of a feminist movie. Ann is in all respects a radical feminist, who constantly proclaims her hatred of the opposite sex, and obviously prefers keeping her eye on the innocent Eve. She has a clear agenda to corrupt the Eve and trash the relationship she has with Peter - to give the young Eve the power to control men through her gender, or sex if you like. Each time Ann makes out with a bloke it’s on her initiation, she calls the shot’s and she lures them in like the simple-minded beasts she claims that they are. Unfortunately the ending I mentioned above breaks that line of thought and at the climax, the women are merely regressed to objects of desire and makers of fatal decisions. But my line of discussion doesn’t end there, as there are many ways to bend and twist that ending into a pinnacle of liking.

But even if Ann has a fixed agenda for Eve, be it plunge her into depravity or simply make her aware of her own sexuality before getting married, there’s complexity to Eve’s character, as she on one side is repulsed by her own hedonistic actions, and screams that she’s disgusting to her own mirror image, only to suddenly make a move on, and steal Ann’s preferred courter from right under her nose. The student becoming the master. The last scenes with Eve are pretty intense, and somewhat grim, but at the same time she shows no sign of rejction and could easilly escape her assailants if she really wanted. It’s quite possible that Ann has succeeded in her feminist agenda and that Eve walks away a stronger woman. I'll leave that decision with you, the viewer.

There’s a splendid power struggle going on between the two women as Ann constantly provokes, manipulates and teases Eve about her at first dedication to Peter, and later unfaithfulness to him – which constantly brings Eve to gut churning angst. But in her defence Eve is constantly stabbing Ann emotionally for her murder of Amos Mathews, which induces guilt ridden and harrowing flashbacks for Ann. It’s a great little interaction and it builds some great tension between the two leading ladies.

Gio Petré is always fascinating in roles where she get’s to play complex, cynical and nasty, which she often did in the many roles she did with Mattsson, but I always feel a huge weight of melancholy when watching movies with Petré, as she certainly led a hard and tormented life. I won’t get into that here, but the sadness that I feel shining though her eyes isn’t only great acting but also a deep-rooted sorrow. Something that makes her somewhat of a hard character to not empathise with – at least for me, but I’m sure that the emotion will differ with each individual viewer.

There’s no apparent linear plot to Ann and Eve, but it sure is an interesting movie that indices, provokes and perhaps poses more questions than answers. I’m quite sure that Mattsson knew exactly what he wanted to say with the film, even if the audience perhaps doesn’t. I’ll return to that line of though in a short while. Although while there is a fair bit of nudity, and some light eroticism in the movie, the film is unjustly referred to as an erotic thriller, which I fail to see the film as. Instead the movie walks more in the realms of the art movie, which causes some confusion, as you would expect a movie with the reputation that this one has to be more of one or the other.

The movie features a whole bunch of classic Swedish actors and actresses who still to this date are among the finest artists to have been put on the big screen, Petré had previously starred in seven movies for Mattsson, - among them three Hillman movies and the splendidly surreal Vaxdockan (The Doll) 1962 where she plays a live mannequin against Per Oscarsson’s delusional postman. Also the great Heinz Hopf in his ninth supporting role for Mattsson is in the movie, although I feel that his character Walther is terribly underused and there’s a sub plot that could have gone much further, and I though it would. But instead Hopf and his sinister sneer are merely reduced to a character arc that feels more like filler than anything else. The record for collaborations with Mattsson is held by Erik Hell, who with Ann and Eve included, starred in fifteen movies for the great director.

In an extraordinary way the movie’s lead protagonist, or rather antagonist, Ann and her mental conflict with Amos Mathews acts like a metaphor for Mattsson’s career. In the opening scene, where Ann shoots him down – a critic's slaying of a director. His name later produces some strong emotions each time she hears it – guilt of trashing his movies - and finally when she learns that he’s “taken his own life” (even though she symbolically kills him in the opening) she admits that she may have been responsible due to the fact that she and other critics had determined that they would trash his new movie “the emperor’s new clothes” upon release. Instead of taking more criticism the director took his own life. It’s an obvious metaphor for how Mattsson felt that the critics where acting towards him and his movies, especially considering how they praised him during the start of his career. Now Mattsson obviously didn’t take his own life, but going from the successful movies of his early career, there was no real acceptance of his exploration of dramas with subgenre traits and his movies where never as appreciated as those early mainstream pieces. Just like a few other Swedish directors before him Mattsson fled Sweden and it’s ignorance towards its native sons and moved to Spain during the late sixties where he would continue to produce movies for the international market. But the irony of it all is that the movies subtext was only realised in the frame of the movie. Ann and Eve obviously didn't become the last masterpiece as Amos Mathews' movie within the movie became after Ann made him a martyr for his art, instead Mattsson was once again hounded by the critics for his vision as the metaphor apparently was lost on them.

Fate works on strange ways, and Mattsson’s Ann and Eve actually did become one of the most successful Swedish movies ever at the American box office, helped on by the controversy of being seized by the US customs due to it’s erotic content. The movie also has its fair share of problem in the UK where it became the first ever movie to receive an X-rating. Keep in mind that this was still only the very early seventies and porn chic was still a thing of the future, so the soft erotica the movie portrays and the knowledge that it came out of Sweden made it a definitive threat to American and British moral values. but for Swedish cinema audiences it didn’t make much of an impression either as they the previous year had experienced Torgny Wickman’s documentary/sexploitation classic Kärlekens språk (Language of Love) 1969 showing in graphic detail what Mattsson only suggested. Trapped in between Swedish erotica and the forthcoming pornography explosion, Mattsson’s Ann and Eve made no major impact on Scandinavian audiences and critics called it a tragic, pathetic pornographic mess. Hard words for a movie that soon would be extremely tame considering what Swedish directors like Mac Ahlberg and US import Joe Sarno would be unleashing upon Scandinavian audiences, not to mention what was about to happen in the States.

Mattsson followed up Ann and Eve with the excellent thriller/drama Smutsiga Fingrar (Dirty Fingers) 1973 and only directed eight more movies up to 1989 when he decided to retire and leave us with the sixty something movies that are his legacy. A legacy that contains some of the greatest movies ever made in Sweden.

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Audio:

Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo – English Dialogue, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish subtitles are optional

Extras:

There’s a reproduction of the Promotional brochure, film trivia and biographies for Mattsson, Liljedahl, Petré and Hopf (all in Swedish) and a whopping twenty-two trailers for other movies released by Studio S. But for some strange reason there isn’t a promo for Ann and Eve.

Ann and Eve (1970) US Theatrical Trailer
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Thriller - a cruel picture

Thriller – a cruel picture

Original title: Thriller – En grym film

Directed by: Bo Arne Vibenius

Thriller /Sexploitation, 1974

Sweden, 104min

Distributed by: Synapse Films

Sweden, Sweden, Sweden… What ever happened to the movies of Sweden. This country produced some of the most interesting directors, movies and actors ever, and then it all went to the shitter. Swedish movies of today have no edge, no charm, they are all either detective movies with the same five actors over and over again, shitty comedies trying to recapture some of the brilliance of the seventies cuteness – unfortunately with the same actors of then too, debut features focusing on immigrant culture clashes or disturbed abstract art fuck too dark and introvert to ever gain wider recognition or make an impression as on lee the director has an slight idea of what the heck he’s trying to say. Who actually green lights these films, and where's the gambles?

I have news for all of them; it’s all been done so much better some twenty-thirty-forty years ago. There’s an ignorance among the young audiences of today that is disturbing. People do not know their own celluloid inheritance, they sigh at Bergman’s name, calling him boring, they have no idea of directors like Arne Mattsson, Torgny Wickman, Bo Arne Vibenius, Bo Widerberg, Gunnar Höglund, Jan Halldoff, not forgetting our own flock of low budget exploitation masters Mats Helge Olsson, Peter Borg and many others.

Yeah I keep going back here and saying the same thing, many directors where lost in Bergman’s shadow, but it’s important that we always push forth these guys because they are the alternative directors, the directors that need to be profiled here in Sweden. I can’t understand when I meet who say that love the American and European Goth, Crime, Sleaze and Sexploitation flicks but haven’t even seen the Swedish pieces. The ones we need to embrace…

Most audiences of today don’t know shit. They go to the cinema, eat their fucking popcorn and all become professional movie critics, not knowing anything of the astonishing movies shot in and around Stockholm. If you don’t know background, then you really shouldn’t try to shoot your mouth of, if your frame of reference only goes as far back as the last Ulf Malmros/ Kjell Sundvall / Josef Fares flick. (Decent enough directors, but not my cup of tea)

One of my ambitions in life is to somehow establish a Swedish film museum that isn’t all about the great Ingmar Bergman (with no sarcasm attached – Bergman was the greatest and there’s no denying that and he would be featured), but also showcase these other fantastic craftsmen and artists in the light that they need to be exposed in. Even if it’s only a six-month exhibition in town, it needs to be done. Every country should have it’s own movie museum to enlighten those with an interest for trivia and facts. Yeah, a shrine to domestic cinema geekness.

Thriller - A cruel film directed by Bo Arne Vibenius under his Alfred Fridolinski pseudonym – and most of the crew used pseudonyms on this one too - is a provocative, wonderful example of the golden age of that genre warping period during the seventies. For sure, this movie wouldn’t ever be made today, and considering that Sweden has the oldest board of censors in the world, established already in 1911 – give a man a break will you! They just invented cinema and some beurocratic sod wants to review everything that is shown already… it says a lot about Sweden – it’s no wonder that Thriller ran into trouble for it’s violent and sexual content. When it was screened to the board on the fourth of April 1973, they banned it there and then. It’s often it’s claimed that Thriller was the first movie to be completely banned in Sweden, but that’s not entirely true, as this honour goes to Arne Ragneborn and his 1957 film Det Händer I Natt (It happens tonight). Ragneborn was so outraged by the decision that he never directed another movie again. Just over a year later Thriller was up for review again, this time in shorter form, with a new English dialogue soundtrack, and once again they hammered a no go ban on the movie. But Vibenius, being the clever guy that he is, had already set about selling the movie overseas with the moniker ”Banned in Sweden” a genius stroke as Sweden was supposedly the most sexually liberated place in the world, and a movie banned there... The cunning promotion would eventually pay off and the film would hit the States right in the gonads. Supposedly it’s this shorter overseas version, under the name They Called her One Eye that was submitted to the board a third time mid 1974. (The English dialogue version was also the second one presented to them) With a whole suggestion of scenes to be axed from the film (the infamous eyeball scene, two of the revenge/murders and the strangulation of Heinz Hopf in the final reel – the hard core sex scenes where all ready out. And no, that's not Lindberg getting porked, but frequently hired adult actors of the time who Vibenius brought in for the parts.) and somewhere near 22minutes shorter than that initial version the movie was finally released with the highest age limit possible to the theatres. It only played for about a week before disappearing from the screens. Although the movie did return during the video boom, and it did have some success overseas in the States as They Call Her One Eye. A movie that is among one of Tarantino’s favourites and his affection for Lindberg hasn’t gone unnoticed over here.

Thriller is a fascinating movie, and there’s no way you can get around it. Being a rather uncomplicated rape-revenge movie it see’s Christina Lindberg [Gustav Wiklund’s Exponerad (Exposed) 1971, Torgny Wickman’s Anita – ur en tonårsflickas dagbok (Anita: Swedish Nymphet) 1973 and Norifumi Suzuki’s Sex and Fury 1973. Lindberg also reprised her role as Frigga in the underground classic Sex, Lögner & Videovåld 2000] as Frigga - Madeleine in the English Language version – who’s been mute since her uncle molested her as a child. The choice of keeping the character a mute was a brilliant decision as Lindberg’s delivery of dialogue wasn’t her greatest skill. She lives with her parents on their farm and as she one day stands looking when the next buss to town goes by the sleaze-bag Tony (Heinz Hopf – Arne Mattsson’s great Mördaren – En helt vanlig person 1967, and Smutsiga Fingrar (Dirty Fingers) 1973 – Where’s the friggin' DVD release of that one? Also in Wicklund’s Exponerad against Lindberg and Bergman’s Award Winning Fanny and Alexander 1982, to name a few of the many fantastic movies he starred in.) offers her a ride into town. He takes her to his pad, and after getting her drunk to the point where she passes out he gets her addicted to heroin. Frigga tries to escape on several occasions, only to have Tony scar her for life, and in the process create one of the most fantastic iconic images ever; after stabbing her in the eye with a scalpel (supposedly the eye of a real corpse, hence the nauseating realistic scene) Frigga takes to wearing that hot eye patch over the gaping hole that once was her eye. Tony the creep now has leverage over Frigga as he forces her into prostitution in return for each day’s fix of smack. A variety of sordid customers come and go after having their way with Frigga, who is all alone in this dark world of extortion and grimy sex. Her only friend Sally [Solveig Andersson – from Torgny Wickman’s films Skräcken har 1000 ögon 1970 and Eva – den utstötta 1969] tells Frigga of the vile letter that Tony has sent to Frigga's parents telling them that she wants’ nothing to do with them anymore. This letter led her parent’s devastated and committing suicide. This is the spark that is needed for Frigga to start planning her revenge. As each customer pays her, she pockets a small percentage of the cash herself and pays for karate, driving and shooting lessons. As each day goes by she’s one step closer to taking her revenge, and after Sally dies it’s payback time. One by one she tracks her exploiters down and kills them with that fantastic stone cold look on her eye patched face, and yes, even the hot lesbian [Despina Tomazani - who is also in Singapore Sling 1990 director Nikos Nikolaidi's The Sweet Bunch 1983] gets a shotgun to the gut. Even the cops try to stop this one-woman murder machine culminating in that amazing eight minute slow-motion sequence of carnage. Finally after asking a hot dog vendor [Vibenius in a cameo] for directions, Frigga stands face to face with the fiendish Tony who first is shot in the kneecap, an IRA favourite, and then slowly decapitated in an ingenious device consisting of a rope, a horse and a bucket of apples.

There’s no way around it, Thriller is an amazing and impressive movie, that definitely stands out like a sore thumb in the eye of every cineaste – in a masochistic and pleasurable way that is.

The slow pace, the sparse use of dialogue, that stunning eye gouging, the sleaziness, the graphic hardcore inserts that leave nothing to the imagination, the gritty violence and the overall cynicism of the movie make it a masterpiece unlike any other. It’s simply one of those must see movies, and I still find it entertaining upon each revisiting – Christmas day night, a perfect ending to a stressful day. It was quite a while ago I last saw it before that, back in 2004 when it resurfaced on DVD, but back in the nineties I saw it quite a few times after a true cineaste I know (It’s you again Stefan) actually spent time with Vibenius reassembling Thriller, and his third feature, the completely insane and splendid Breaking Point 1975, to their original form. Needless to say many party nights ended up as movie nights watching old Swedish psychotronica – Thriller and Breaking Point being the new found lost treasures. Like a modern day ring virus, You have to see this film! was probably one of the most common drunken slurs when meeting fellow friends of mind-expanding movies out on the town. I’m almost certain that the Synapse DVD is from the same source as that was the version they assembled on VHS. I also received an original Swedish poster, which still is one of the most cherished entries in my movie poster collection.

So how come Bo Arne Vibenius, who had worked on several award winning movies; with Ingmar Bergman - Persona 1966 and Vargtimmen (Hour of the Wolf) 1968, Kjell Grede’s Hugo och Josefin 1967, Gunnar Höglund's Raskenstam 1983, Bo Widerberg’s Mannen på Taket (Man on the Roof) 1976, Vilgot Sjöman’s Tabu 1977, - all very good and respected productions - become the man responsible for one of, if not THE most renown Swedish exploitation flick ever?

After writing and directing his debut feature, the children’s movie Hur Marie träffade Fredrik, åsnan Rebus, kängurun Ploj och… (How Marie met Fredrik, Rebus the Donkey, Ploj the kangaroo and…) 1969, the anticipated success failed to come even though the movie received decent reviews at the time. The movie, in many ways before it’s time as it’s narrative is told from the children’s point of view, and features a fabulous sequence where during a high speed police chase on go-carts, Marie and Fredrik along with the police officers in pursuit take a break to eat cakes and drink pop before resuming the chase, is great stuff indeed and would probably work better today… Frustrated and disappointed he decided to make a movie that would appeal to all, and bar nothing from the process. Vibenius is often quoted as saying “I’m going to make a super commercial piece of shit movie”, and the results talk for themselves, Thriller is still talked about in pop culture, and being acknowledged by Tarantino as an inspiration for Kill Bill Vol. 1 2003 you know it made an impression.

I just wish that the stars could align correctly at one point in time and present a complete Vibenius Collection, because all three movies of his films to date (never give up the faith!) are all stunning pieces of craftsmanship. Hur Marie Träffade Fredrik is hilarious, like mentioned previously has a unique narrative, and I’d love to re-watch it with my own kids as I enjoyed it myself that one time I saw it ages ago on video. I’d almost kill for a decent release of Breaking Point as the memories I have of it are that it’s completely surreal, even more provocative than Thriller and was shot in the area of Stockholm where I used to live. Actually the video society Art Video Club that I worked for had our premises on the other side of the street to the school where Bob Bellings kidnaps a child in the movie. We freaked when we realised that we where a step from the location.

Thinking of the irony of Vibenius' “I’m going to make a super commercial piece of shit movie” statement made after the first film, it’s easy to feel its the kind of quote that makes legends, as this commercial piece of shit movie is the one that Bo A. Vibenius will be forever remembered for…

Until he releases some new piece of celluloid fury upon us that is, and that isn’t completely impossible, as there are frequently rumours of new films in the works. All from Thriller 2 – were Frigga is hired by a and of guerrilla soldiers in South America to start a revolution, and eradicate Drug lords and the CIA, to the futuristic Z-Rider (I have had the fortune to read a synopsis that was one of those, I have to see this, moments.) Whatever Vibenius comes up with, I'm sure it would definitely be a movie that all the fans of the masterful Thriller – a cruel film would line up to see, or buy when that desired DVD box set finally materialises.

The version that Synapse Films have released is the complete long version that all those years ago was submitted to the censors in all its gritty, sleazy grandeur…

Image:

1.78:1

Audio:

Dolby Digital Mono - Swedish or English dialogue is optional, and English subtitles are available

Extras:

Where as I complained the other day that the Synapse release of Jesus Franco’s She Killed In Ecstasy was lacking, this one is filled to the brim. An extensive gallery of stills, original TV-spots and theatrical trailers, outtakes, the story in pictures, an alternative harbour fight sequence, and a photo document on that unused fight sequence that the lab accidentally destroyed in post.