User reviews

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

The gorgeous nymph Christina Lindberg is a mute woman who is abducted, drugged and forced into sexual servitude by a slick criminal.

Notable for its hardcore sex sequences which, in my humble opinion, lend great gravity to Lindberg's unfortunate personal situation, this revenge drama has a measured, moderate pace and is quite compelling.

Titled THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE in some markets because our heroine does get her eye poked out by her captor, the film has rarely been seen uncut until the advent of Synapse Films' recent DVD.

Some scribes have complained that the hardcore sexual material ruins the film. I don't see any basis for this complaint. The hardcore honestly portrays the level of abuse Lindberg receives.

The revenge section of THRILLER is labored and stylized. There's no clear catharsis and there's no joy for the avenging angel.

Director Bo A Vebenius also wrote and produced.

Though called "the roughest revenge movie ever made" by Quentin Tarantino, it is not particularly rough compared to fare such as FORCED ENTRY, CAPTURED FOR SEX 2 or ZOOM UP: RAPE SITE.

It is an art-house revenge pic that is well worth seeing. I'm not sure I'd want to re-see it regularly, though. It does runs slow.

Complete with gratuitous hardcore insert shots and cadaver eyeball mutilation, 'Thriller–A Cruel Picture' certainly earns its reputation as a true exploitation classic. Unfortunately, a drawn out final third, featuring some clumsy action scenes and the occasional unintentionally funny moment, ultimately drains the movie of some of its power.

Beautiful Swedish star Christina Lindberg plays Madeleine, a young mute woman who is kidnapped, hooked on heroin, and then forced to work as a prostitute. After clawing her first customer in the face, she is punished by Tony, her sadistic captor, who, in a particularly nasty scene, uses a scalpel to blind her in one eye (this realistic moment was reputedly achieved with the use of an actual dead body!).

After her injury has healed, Madeleine returns to work, with an eye-patch to hide her injury, and reluctantly complies with Tony's demands, sexually satisfying a variety of sleazy clients (bonus sleaze points are awarded here for inter-cutting graphic penetration shots with those of Ms. Lindberg, to make it appear as though she took part in the adult action).

As a reward for her good behaviour, Madeleine is given two wraps of heroin a day, a percentage of her takings, and Monday's off (a pension plan is not offered!).

However, after the suspicious disappearance of her friend, fellow 'hooker' Sally (who vanishes, leaving behind a blood-soaked bed), the one-eyed, smack-addicted beauty decides to get even with Tony, her abusers, and anyone else who has given her grief. She spends her free days learning self-defence, extreme driving, and marksmanship, and, once she is proficient at all three, embarks on her mission to exact bloody revenge.

Everything that leads up to Madeleine eventually kicking ass is extremely well done and delightfully sordid, just as an exploitation film should be. The pace is leisurely at the beginning, but never bores, with the sex, drugs and violence all explicitly depicted. Plus, the delightful Lindberg spends a lot of her time naked.

Where Thriller does suffer is in its latter scenes, where a shotgun toting, leather-coat and eye-patch wearing Madeleine blasts her victims to kingdom come. Director Bo Arne Vibenius opts to film most of the shootings in such excruciatingly drawn-out slow motion that it's possible to pop out to the kitchen, fix a sarnie, make a pot of tea, and still get back to your seat before the body hits the floor. Imagine the gun-fights of Peckinpah or Woo at a quarter of the speed, but nowhere near as stylish, and you'll have an idea of what I mean.

A final act of revenge is set in a suitably bleak environment and ends the film as one would expect—with 'one-eye' settling the score with Tony, in a slow and painful manner. Madeleine is seen driving towards the horizon as the credits roll.

Thriller is not your average film. It wasn't in 1974 and it isn't in 2005 (31 years later). I must say, that I find it hard to describe the film, although the plot is relatively simple. What makes it difficult to describe this film is the way it is presented. First of all, despite not being an adult film, there are a hand full of penetration scenes which neither arouse nor sicken, which are thus basically useless for the plot or entertainment (if ANY elaborate penetration-scene can actually add something to ANY film is another question). On the other side though, this there is little action in this one to qualify as an action film and I must admit that most action scenes are badly executed (the spontaneous combustion of cars being one example). The exception to this is the hand-combat scene at the docks, which is excellent. The shoot-outs on the other hand however are at times excruciatingly long and useless. On top of that, the film also suffers a bit from the lack of dialog, although I must honestly say, that the acting (especially by Christina Lindberg) was of such quality that you didn't feel like turning the film off (which is strange for an adult film IF this qualifies as one).

The film has other qualities as well though. I was especially baffled by the quality of the special effects and in some way I feel that the film actually deserves a spot in movie history. Despite being somewhat slow and really not action-packed, I feel that this film among the first female-lead action film ever made. I know credit is often given to Mrs. Weaver and Mr.Scott for that (Alien), but I think this one might be in for the race, don't you? Of course there are other films in that race as well, like Coffy, Foxy Brown and perhaps Cleopatra Jones, which I haven't seen, but this one ranks right up there as a female version of Death Wish. That fact alone and the fact that this is a cheap, slightly pornographic Swedish film make this one special - or maybe just a rarity. I just know what it certainly isn't, a must-see.

6,25 out of 10 (with a 6 given upon voting)

post scriptum: this film isn't cruel in any kind of way and really doesn't warrant a 20 minute cut to receive an R rating. The adult parts didn't last that long did they? If you're talking blood, Reservoir Dogs is much crueler if you ask me.

A first viewing of something as hopelessly over-hyped as "Thriller--A Cruel Picture" is a guaranteed setup for disappointment on some level--I'm just stunned that it failed to deliver on ANY level. In the opening scene, a little girl is raped by an oogy old man, is rendered mute by the experience, and develops into a Lolita-esquire teen living on her grandparents' farm; one day she misses a bus and is accosted by a well-dressed man who's really an upscale pimp; the pimp cuts out her left eye when she refuses a john, and then becomes compliant, saving up her cash for karate/shooting/self-defense lessons, weapons, and heroin (the pimp's got her hooked, you see). What should have been a rollicking descent into madness and bloody revenge is instead a film that can't decide whether it wants to play at the artsy art-house or the sleazy grindhouse. "Thriller"'s shootouts and fistfights are filmed in (extreme) slo-mo, scored to bizarre ambient music--this technique might have carried an effect if we could relate to the heroine, but since we can't, it remains a purely aesthetic device that's all about broken bones, blood spatters, and boring the audience. The characters are shallow contrivances of the plot--we are given no reason to relate to anyone, and even our heroine (despite her distinctive eye-patch and black-leather "Matrix" garb) is an empty, unlikeable cipher, which is probably "Thriller"'s greatest flaw: even the crudest of '70s revenge pics (the superior "I Spit on Your Grave" and "Ms. 45" come to mind) manage to put us on the victim's side, even if we cannot completely condone their actions. As directed by Bo A. Vibenus, "Thriller" is a film distinctive only for its heavily stylized look and emotionally detached tone; the flirtations with such outré content as drug addiction, prostitution (including some pornographic inserts), and eye-for-an-eye revenge fall flat as a result. Too bad--this really could have been something exceptional. Instead, it's the type of film '70s college students probably bragged to their friends about seeing in an attempt to look "cool."

THRILLER is a very well done rape/revenge film in the same vein as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. The storyline is different but the results are the same...

Girl is raped as a child which causes her to be mute. She is picked up by a slick-talking guy and taken out for dinner and drinks. Back at his house, he drugs her and shoots her up with heroin for several days, so by the time he allows her to wake up out of her heroin-stupor, she is an addict. At that point she is turned-out as a prostitute and given some cash and drugs as "payment". She is given some free time to herself, where she uses the money earned to take karate,shooting, and driving classes. Needless to say, when she becomes proficient enough in these disciplines, she uses her newly honed skills to go after those that did her wrong...

Christina Lindberg is excellent as the beautiful and seemingly innocent looking mute girl. She is a real pleasure to look at, and the fact that she's naked through a good portion of the film doesn't hurt either. There is some "controversy" surrounding this film due to a couple of hardcore sex scenes (obviously not Ms. Lindberg, unfortunately...) that appear to be cut from a bad European porno. The scenes are not necessary for the film but were obviously added to heighten the shock value of the film overall. Other than those few scenes, and the famous scalpel-in-the-eye scene, the violence in THRILLER is relatively tame by exploitation/horror standards. Overall a really good film, if you are into the rape/revenge genre - I think it's always cool to see a strong, sexy, female lead who kicks ass, one of the reasons that I gravitate toward this type of film. The eyeball and sex scenes may be a little much for the casual movie-goer, more "extreme" fans should like this one. Recommended...8.5 out of 10

NOTE: Synapse films now has a "Vengeance" addition in a yellow box (original cover is red) that is the same film minus the XXX scenes.

I have by accident found this movie, and I saw Tarantino was inspired by this movie. I have to say for the most part, the movie was pretty fun. I was looking for something goofy and fun as HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, MACHETE, and PLANET TERROR, and this movie fits into that boat easily.

However, i got one negative for this movie; and that's the pacing. My God, the killing scenes (except the last one), are for whatever reason so prolonged it's really annoying. It completely pulls you out of an interesting movie. They really didn't need to add the slow mode effect so many times. :P

What makes this movie so awesome is the fact that our main hero, she's a mute. So everything seems way more awesome cuz you do not hear a single word from her, and she's a badass. I was NEVER really bored during the movie, except for the killing scenes, which is a huge plus.

If you are into goofy movies like Planet Terror and Hobo With A Shotgun, you must add this to your collection.

I glanced at a couple of Bergman films the other day, but couldn't get into them. This film shows that there is something other than Bergman out of Sweden.

I heard that this was a predecessor to Baise-moi, and I wanted to see Christina Lindberg, who I watched recently in Sex & Fury. If you are not looking for a Baise-moi type movie, then there is a R Rated version of this film called They Called Her One Eye.

I thought for a moment I was watching Bergman's The Silence, as there was no dialog. Madeliene (Christina Lindberg) never does talk in this film. Things don't move very fast either. It is excruciatingly slow.

She is taken by a scumbag (Heinz Hopf) that hooks her on heroin and has her prostitute herself after he stabbed one of her eyes out.

She gets Mondays off, and apparently, she manages to use them to learn karate, driving and shooting. Of course, she is still hooked while doing this, which stretches credulity.

The sex scenes are raw, and you do not know if she is using a double. Maybe they were just porno clips spliced into the film.

Once she is ready, she gets a shotgun, saws it off and seeks revenge. The blood effects were really pathetic. Some of the things just didn't make sense along the way. I guess that is why Bo Arne Vibenius only had a three-film career.

This film's subject, violence on females, lives on for the way it is presented: very directly.

Not holding back on anything, the viewer is confronted with hardcore porn and sadistic violence. Such as a close-up of deliberately destroying one's eye with a small knife.

All this cannot disguise that "Thriller" is a bad film. Its picturing, acting and plot could have been done much better. Should have been done much better in my view, due to the human & social sensitivity of its subject.

Nevertheless, this film primarily lives on for its pretty original main icon: the one-eyed 'pirate' Christina Lindberg. Showing herself in all stages of dress and undress.

THRILLER: THEY CALL HER ONE EYE (Bo Arne Vibenius - Sweden 1974).

This is pretty dark and distressing stuff. Apparently Sweden does have some other cinematic export products besides Ingmar Bergman and Bo Widerberg. This strange and quite original exploitation gem by Bo Arne Vibenius recently got a little more attention (if only a little) because of Quentin Tarantino, who paid homage to this film with KILL BILL and called it "the roughest revenge picture ever made". For an exploitation-flick, it's not that rough at all, but it definitely has some very potent scenes but nothing really gory, and most of all, the blood and the fighting look so deliciously fake, I doubt anyone could take it as very disturbing. Most of the time, nothing really happens at all, but there's a certain atmosphere that makes the film strangely compelling.

A young girl (Christina Lindberg) is growing up mute after a childhood sexual assault and spends years working on a remote farm. After missing the bus one day, she is picked up by a seedy well-dressed man who kidnaps the girl, gets her addicted to heroine, cuts her left-eye out, and forces her into slavery and prostitution. Any other girl would give in, but not this one. She seeks vengeance, and, fortunately, has the weekends off, so she can learn martial arts, race-driving and military weaponry.

In some earlier comments I noticed people were put off by some hardcore pornography, which there was in the earlier DVD-release under the title THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE. Distributor Synapse decided to release the tamer, but still quite brutal, American version THRILLER: THEY CALL HER ONE EYE, which is the only version I have seen. I cannot imagine hardcore pornography would improve the film, so I suggest watching this "softer" version instead.

This is not a film for those who want fast-paced action, snappy dialog or basic storytelling and since the main character is a mute girl who doesn't have a single line in the entire film, it does require some patience. And don't expect any ingenious fight scenes because the girl learned martial arts. The fight scenes are filmed in extreme slow-motion, quite tedious. The film also bares distinction in having a very strange sound mix by Ralph Lundsten, who composed a very memorable music score that one distinctly associates with this film, quite unique. Needless to say, the film was made on a shoestring, but Vibenius does show cinematic flair in the use of locations (on Öland) and some truly magnificent shots. What about that shot with the camera on top of a police car between the two sirens? Sheer beauty!

Hard to compare this film to anything I've seen. Well, it's a Swedish revenge-flick, so how many of these are there? It's unlike anything made before at the time (and up till now, supposedly). A film with some - mostly budget-related - shortcomings, but by any means, a genuine original.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

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.

I picked up the Vengeance Edition of Thriller today and watched it pretty much right after I got back from the store. While I enjoyed it, and think there's a lot to offer in this low budget film, I am a little confused about people talking about gore and brutality. I can only assume there must be quite a bit cut from this version other than the before-mentioned hardcore sex scenes, like him actually cutting out her eye, where in this version, you only see him with the blade right up at her eyeball and then it goes to the next scene. I'm curious to see a more complete version of the movie now, as this version seems to be very hacked and re-pieced together to make a more "U.S. Friendly" release. If not, I'm even more surprised that it's as tame as it is. Regardless, it stands on it's own as a good movie with a little cheese and too many slo-mo scenes during the gun and other fights (not too mention the girly-man screams of those being shot as they fall). Clockwork Orange it ain't, but I'm still glad I watched it.

The poster says it all: "The movie that has no limits of evil." When people talk about grimy, evil pictures, this is the one they're talking about. Quentin Tarantino called this "the roughest revenge movie ever," and that's including I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left, one would suppose. After all, Elle Driver in his Kill Bill directly takes her look from this film, with outfits that match her eyepatch.

Frigga (Christina Lindberg, Teenage Playthings, Exposed) is a simple farm girl who's been silent since she was a kid, thanks to being raped. Her loving parents spend all of their money to try and get her voice back with speech therapy. One day, she misses the bus and ends up going on a date with Tony, who seems like a real ladykiller. Turns out he is — he gets her hooked on heroin, telling her that she needs it every 48 hours if she wants to live. To pay him back, she has to become a prostitute for him.

Frigga — possibly named for Odin's wife (and Odin is one eyed, after all) — cannot be tamed. She escapes twice and scars the face of the first john who tries to sleep with her. As punishment, Tony takes her eye — a scene shot with the cadaver of a young girl who had committed suicide. Remember what I said above — this film takes no prisoners.

Tony has sent a letter home to her parents, telling them she hated them and would never be back. In answer, they both commit suicide. Add in the death of Frigga's only friend, fellow prostitute Sally, and it's time for revenge. She starts charging more for whatever her clients want to do to her, all so that on every Monday, she can learn the skills she'll need to kill everyone and everything.

What follows is a leather overcoat clad Lindberg — a gorgeous creature of pure hatred and violence — destroying everything. Even two cops who try and take her out are decimated in slow motion in a tour de force scene that Rob Zombie could only dream of shooting — sound dropped out, violence given to full display. The film flirts with art while keeping both feet mired in exploitation — there's a lesbian scene and in some versions, a hardcore insert — but gorgeous shots of police sirens with electronic music droning mark this as just as much masterpiece as masturbatory fodder.

Finally, after killing all of her clients, Frigga challenges Tony to a duel. Getting the better of him, she buries him in a hole, ties a rope around his neck and like some cowboy in a spaghetti western, makes a horse run away, killing him. She watches, mute, as the man who ruined her life finally dies. What can be left after this? She has become Shiiva, Death, the destroyer of worlds. Her family destroyed. Her friend dead. Even the police, who could not help her, dead at her hand. She drives the cop car into the distance, sirens blaring as wind and sound fills the soundtrack.

This isn't a movie for everybody. But it's why I love movies — it's an experience. I can't recommend it to everyone, but if you're here and reading this, you know that you'll probably love it. Heck — you've probably already seen it.

Lindberg — who claims herself that she was a horrible actress — goes all in here. She injected water and saline into her veins for the heroin shots. She learned how to fight. Hell, she got arrested after practicing shooting her shotgun — in public no less. She owns the screen in this.

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What can I say I loved the movie. It's one of the best revenge flicks ever. Shot beautifully. Some scenes seem to take on a some what dreamy quality yet still seem grounded in reality. The fact that there is basically no music seems to kick up the realism a notch or two. Basically what I'm driven at is, see the damn movie. However, be prepared for the horrific porn inserts. I don't care what anyone says, it does not heighten the drama of the scenes. It merely takes away from them. Making the film seem like a big joke. They don't feel right in the movie, the movie seems classy in a way and those scenes lack class. The way the rape scene in the beginning of the film was handled makes it seem like someone else put those porn scenes in. The rape scene in the beginning was done artfully and tastefully. They could of did the later rape scenes more artfully and that would of elevated the drama in those scenes. Those porn shots seem like they were some sort of a gimmick to get more publicity because we all know any publicity is good publicity. It's an amazing film if you can get around the porno. Don't get me wrong I like my porn as much as the next guy maybe even more but keep it out of my films. Movies are meant to be art and porn is just...well, porn. Oh yeah, there is no need for the love butter. Utterly disgusting.

AKA "They Called Her One Eye" in the USA (personally I think that's a way cooler title), "Thriller" is one rough, brutal tale of revenge. One that never skips on the details.

An attractive mute girl is picked up by a polite stranger and goes out for a drink or two. She has the unfortunate luck of ending up at the strangers house, where she is forcefully injected with heroin and abused into submission. As time passes she becomes addicted to the drugs and is used for prostitution by her sadistic host. Not until she has suffered every indignity a person would be asked to suffer through does she decide to rid the world (and herself) of some desperately un-needed human garbage.

The tale stays the strait and narrow in the revenge-story department. The plot points will be instantly familiar to anyone that's seen the likes of "Death Wish", but the comparisons end there. As soon as our lovely lead has her eye cut out of her head, you know you are in for something different.

That brings up a note on the films violence. This is a really violent film. From the afore mentioned eye-gouging to the super slow-mo shotgun blasts, there is some very graphic bloodletting. On top of the more traditional violence, there is a fair amount of sexual violence involved. The poor girl is subject to numerous (and always uncomfortable) sex scenes with clients for her boss. Most note worthy of this is one set-up that includes some X-rated inserts. While fully explicit sex should suggest misogyny and exploitation, it never feels that way here; the sex in this film is just, in short, not right. There is nothing erotic of enticing about it.

So why would one want to watch such a graphic picture? Because it's an entertaining film, simple as that. A revenge piece is the ultimate form of the underdog story, and everyone loves an underdog.

8/10

He must have, and more than once, because I spotted at least three elements in "Thriller - En Grym Film" that has resurfaced in his movies - Elle Driver, the eye patch woman from "Kill Bill," the sawed off shotgun Butch used to kill Vincent Vega with in "Pulp Fiction" and the long trench coat Christoph Waltz wore in "Inglorious Basterds." I wish I'd seen the Swedish-language version of "Thriller" as I have no aversion towards foreign films; still, I did see the uncut dubbed version in all its pornographic glory. Were those explicit bits necessary? Nope. Movie would've worked fine without. Also, the slow motion kills could be grating on the nerves. This flick is recommended only to see how far filmmakers went vs the timidity they have today.