Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974) Thriller - en grym film (original title)

Director:

Bo Arne Vibenius

Writer:

Bo Arne Vibenius

Release Date:

5 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The first film, ever, to be banned in Sweden!

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 | Martial Arts | Heroin | Death | Brothel

Cast

Christina Lindberg	...	Frigga / Madeleine / One Eye
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 Madeleine
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 (in alphabetical order)
Bo Arne Vibenius

Produced by
Bo Arne Vibenius	....	producer

Original Music by
Ralph Lundsten

Cinematography by
Andreas Bellis		(as Andrew Bellis)

Film Editing by
Brian Wikström

Costume Design by
Anna Oskarsdotter

Production Management
Bo Lundqvist	....	unit manager

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

Special Effects by
Stig Limér	....	special effects

Stunts
Per Hessman	....	stunts
Jan Kreigsman	....	stunt coordinator
Dan Lindhe	....	stunts
Lars Lundgren	....	stunts
Bo Sunnefeldt	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Ted Lindahl	....	electrician

Editorial Department
David Block	....	colorist (uncredited)

Other crew
Anna Oskarsdotter	....	assistant to producer (as Anna Maria Anefelt)
Sture Åsberg	....	unspecified assistant

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)
• Brent Walker Film Distributing (1976) (UK) (theatrical)
• Synapse Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

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

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:

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

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:

Featured in Censuren - En thriller (2011) (TV)

Very Good Rape/Revenge Film

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.