Well, it warns you right in the title and this Swedish exploitation film is merciless in it's cruelty, and as it also states, has no limits to evil as we watch the disturbing story of Frigga unfold. This was the first half of my Saturday night double feature, after which I had to watch Star Wars for a much happier change of pace, but even that however will probably never erase some of the images Thriller burned into my retinas. Thriller is one rape and revenge story you won't forget, and as underground as it might be, it's influences are still visible in the mainstream today.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture opens with a scene in which a young girl is raped (thankfully off-screen) in a park after which the perverted man is dragged away by the police. If this few minutes doesn't give you a head up as to where this movie is heading I don't know what will. Next, the movie flashforwards to the girl, Frigga, who is living on a farm and is now mute do to the traumatic events of the opening scene. As much as we would just like to see the poor girl work on the farm for the next hour and a half, it looks like life isn't going to throw anything good her way as she is then abducted by another terrible excuse for a human being who proceeds to addict her to heroin and then act as her pimp as he forces her into the sex trade. In the end, no matter how violent and cold the revenge, it won't make up for anything that was done to Frigga and there won't be an once of pity in you for any of her victims.
The "rape and revenge" sub-genre was rather popular in the 1970's when this movie was released. Some of the more well known films include The Virgin Spring, The Last House on the Left, and I Spit On Your Grave. Strangely in the last decade there have been remakes of the latter two movies as well couple of new additions to the sub-genre, such as Run! Bitch! Run! and I Saw the Devil. If you want to get more mainstream you can also place The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in that category. I bet you didn't consider that did you? According to Wikipedia rape and revenge films are usually broken into three acts:
- Act I: A woman is raped and left for dead.
- Act II: The woman survives and rehabilitates herself.
- Act III: The woman takes revenge and kills her rapist(s).
Now, that already sounds brutal and terrible, but in Thriller's case, it stretches the first act straight threw into the second act while Frigga starts to train with weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and driving fast cars during her days off in preparation for her escape . However don't think just because she has days off things are going well, as the other 5 days a week she is still being sold to a number of perverted men and women while she try to stash enough money and heroin to make her escape. For those of you thinking this movie is rather extreme in these matters, the forced onto heroin and then the sex trade combo is a very true and disturbing reality, which has been shown most recently in Hollywood blockbuster Taken. But, Thriller isn't a recent Hollywood blockbuster, and "like most Swedish cinema, They Call Her One Eye is slow and depressing; unlike most Swedish cinema, this movie has XXX porno and shotguns." (The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide)
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That quote from The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide jumped out at me when I was reading the review afterword and it makes for an interesting segue. While on the one hand, Thriller is a depressing and slow movie, the revenge side of things are of course where it gets a little more
enjoyable(?). Although, I should point out that for some reason the director decided that he was going to shoot every action seen in slo-mo. I don't mean, it slows down for a few seconds during shootouts for a neat effect, I mean he literally just hit x0.5 speed or lower for minutes at a time whenever someone pulled out a gun. While this is interesting the first time, it really just drags things out towards the end, where we get our not so sweet revenge.
As for the hardcore porn scenes, it all depends on the version you are watching. For decades the main versions available were all heavily cut in terms of both violence and the hardcore sex scenes, but as Tarantino puts it, you don't want to see the cut-down version. If you are going to watch Thriller there is only one way to see it, in it's bare all uncut depravity, and this movie doesn't beat around the bush in terms of special effects. The sex/rape scenes are graphic, and the violence is gut churning. I learned the other day watching Zombi 2, that eyeball impalement will make my hardened stomach turn to jelly, and when Thriller decides to give us the scene explaining why "They Call Her One Eye", we watch as a scalpel is taking to the real eye of a cadaver. Turns out eye slicing scenes are even worse from the point of view of the victim.
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| Well, that is one hell of an outfit, and the eyepatch accessory... |
There is also the continuing debate over whether or not it is actually Christina Lindberg herself performing in the sex scenes. All I'll say is that the Swedish exploitation queen has more than bared it all in quite a few movies, and it wouldn't surprise me. Eitherway, seeing as it is her name that attracts most viewers to the movie, you won't be disappointed. As for the rest of her performance, it is pretty standout considering she doesn't say a word the entire movie. She does however convey the emotions of a cold and hard person victimized by the world rather well.
In regard to the aforementioned influences on mainstream films today I was of course mentioning Quentin Tarantino, who ranks this movie as 16th on his top 20 grindhouse movies and 4th on his top 7 exploitation movies. You can see his nod toward the movie in Kill Bill through the character of Elle Driver. Elle and Frigga are the only two characters I know to wear eyepatched that match their wardrobe. Of course, there are many other exploitation films to feature and eyepatch, and maybe Snake Plissken is responsible for them all, but who is responsible for his?
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| Because hopping in the car with this guy is definitely a good idea. |
So, while I can't safely say I enjoyed Thriller: A Cruel Picture, I do not regret watching it, and think that it is a very interesting piece of filmmaking. It is definitely one of the better movies in the exploitation sub-genre of rape and revenge stories as well as in the exploitation genre as a whole. While the movie is slow, depressing and genuinely uncomfortable to watch it's no restraints telling of such a brutal and cruel story that might not be as far from reality as you think definitely doesn't deserve to be lost in time. Luckily, film buffs who aren't afraid of being a bit uncomfortable still acknowledge the film today, and it is unlikely that Frigga's story will be forgotten by any who have seen it, and not just because half the movie is in slow motion.
Link:
Thriller - They Call Her One Eye IMDb
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