Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) Thriller - en grym film (original title)

Director:

Bo Arne Vibenius

Writers:

Bo Arne Vibenius (screenplay) &
Bo Arne Vibenius (an original story)

Release Date:

5 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Sweden's sensational Christina Lindberg as the working girl they pushed too far! (US 1975 release)

Plot:

A young woman, 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.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Heroin | Martial Arts | Brothel | Death

Cast

Christina Lindberg	...	Frigga
Heinz Hopf	...	Tony
Despina Tomazani	...	Lip-stick lesbian
Per-Axel Arosenius	...	Frigga's Father (as Per Axel Arosenius)
Solveig Andersson	...	Sally
Björn Kristiansson
Marie-Louise Mannervall	...	Woman in village
Hildur Lindberg	...	Mother's Friend
Stig Lokrantz
Olle Nordlander
Marshall McDough		(as Marshal Mc Donagh)
Gunnar Palm
Pamela Pethö-Galantai	...	Young Frigga
Lennart Robertsson
Hans-Eric Stenborg
Stig Ström
Lars Sääv
Bruno Sörwing
Gunnel Wadner	...	Frigga's Mother
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lars Lundgren	...	(uncredited)
Bo Arne Vibenius	...	Hot Dog vendor (uncredited)

Directed by
Bo Arne Vibenius		(as Alex Fridolinski)

Writing credits
Bo Arne Vibenius		(screenplay) (as Bo A Vibenius)
Bo Arne Vibenius		(an original story) (as Alex Fridolinski)

Produced by
Bo Arne Vibenius	....	producer (as Bo A Vibenius)

Original Music by
Ralph Lundsten		(music composed by)

Cinematography by
Andreas Bellis		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Brian Wikström

Production Management
Bo Lundqvist	....	unit manager

Sound Department
Dennis Hennicks	....	sound
Bengt Kåring	....	sound

Special Effects by
Stig Limér	....	special effects

Stunts
Per Hessman	....	stunt man
Jan Kreigsman	....	stunt coordinator
Dan Lindhe	....	stunt man
Lars Lundgren	....	stunt man
Bo Sunnefelt	....	stunt man

Camera and Electrical Department
Henri Alexander	....	assistant cameraman
Ted Lindahl	....	electrician
Sture Åsberg	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Anna Oskarsdotter	....	costume designer: Miss Lindberg

Other crew
Anna Oskarsdotter	....	assistant to producer (as Anna Maria Anefelt)
Bo Arne Vibenius	....	presenter (as Bo A Vibenius)

Production Companies

• BAV Film
• United Producers

Distributors

• BAV Film (1974) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• American International Pictures (AIP) (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (edit) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1974) (Canada) (theatrical) (heavily cut) (dubbed)
• United Producers Releasing Organization (1975) (USA) (theatrical) (as 'Hookers' Revenge')
• Brent Walker Film Distributing (1976) (UK) (theatrical)
• Synapse Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• GSP Studio  sound (as GSP studio)

Also Known As:

"Thriller - en grym film" - Sweden (original title)
"Hooker's Revenge" - USA (reissue title)
"They Call Her One Eye" - USA (censored version)
"Thriller: They Call Her One Eye" - USA (DVD box title)

Runtime:

104 min | UK:80 min (heavily cut) | USA:82 min (R-rated version) | Australia:92 min (R-rated cut)

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R (heavily cut) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Finland:(Banned) (cut) (1975) | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating: 1973) | Sweden:15 (re-rating: 1974) (heavily cut) | UK:R (original rating: 1974) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | UK:X (re-rating: 1976) (heavily cut) | Australia:R (cut) (1976) | West Germany:18 | Italy:VM18

Filming Locations:

Drottningholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

BAV Film

Trivia:

Bo Arne Vibenius made this film to cover up the financial failure of his first film. His intention was to create "a commercial-as-hell crap-film". The actors had a clause in their contracts to ensure that they would not reveal who the director of the film really was.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the police car runs over a piece of grass between two roads, you can clearly see tire tracks from earlier takes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Benefits from director's previous work with Bergman

As part of the 'rape and revenge' exploitation sub-genre that cropped up in the glory days of 70's grindhouse, Thriller - A Cruel Picture (aka They Call Her One-Eye), stands out amongst the rest due to the fact that it's actually bloody good. Frigga (played by exploitation regular and occasional porn-star Christina Lindberg) is mute due to being sexually assaulted as a little girl. On her way to the doctor she is offered a life by sleazy rich-boy Tony, (Heniz Hopf) and wined and dined before being drugged in his apartment. She wakes up to be told she's been hooked to heroin, and is forced into prostitution as Tony becomes her pimp.

When Frigga begins to show resistance, Tony reacts badly and stabs her in the eye, causing her to wear an eye-patch. After months of being forced into sex by her strange and abusive clients, Frigga uses her savings to plot a deadly and bloody revenge against the people that caused the misery in her new life. The film was banned in Sweden, and only received a heavily-censored release in the U.S.A., mainly due to the notorious eye-popping scene in which director Bo Arne Vibenius used an actual dead body for a close up of the eye being stabbed.

Quentin Tarantino frequently refers to this as one of his all-time favourites, and although hardly a masterpiece, you can kind of see why. Also, Frigga is an obvious inspiration for Daryl Hannah's sadistic assassin Elle Driver in Kill Bill, and possibly for Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken in Escape From New York. Frigga is a very interesting character. One half an innocent, shy girl that seems to accept her new situation with sad resignation. The other, a silent, patient killer-in- waiting. Lindberg pulls it off admirably, even though never speaking a word during the whole film.

When the film threatens to become monotonous with the scenes constantly drifting from a scene of heroin abuse to a scene of sex, the second act kicks in as Frigga begins weapons training, drag racing lessons and martial arts. And when the revenge comes, it's as stylish as a film of this budget could possibly be. Frigga mows down her victims in super slow motion, as bullet shells fly gracefully through the air, and objects explode into pieces in vivid detail. It's a style mirrored in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, although it's much more effective in this film. It is, however, also one of the films negatives as it highlights how low the budget actually was, as fake, brown-looking blood erupts on the victims' torso's. It is also way overplayed in a scene where she uses her martial arts skills to fend off two policemen.

It clearly benefits from a director who had the honour of working with Ingmar Bergman earlier in his career as the film transcends similar films to the genre (such as Wes Craven's Last House On The Left). I would possibly urge you to watch the censored version if you can, as the unnecessary hardcore sex scenes bring the film down a level. A virtual classic in it's genre and compulsive viewing for exploitation film fans.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com