Buy Thriller: A Cruel Picture on DVD | Mr. Skin's Celebrity Nudity Movie Reviews

SKINOPSIS

Normally when we're looking at an exploitation film (or any film for that matter,) we don't give a fuck whether it's a "good" movie or not. Hell, the actresses could have all the line delivery of a politician trying to be funny on "Saturday Night Live" for all we care, as long as they're exposing their boobs on a regular basis. Well, Christina Lindberg doesn't deliver any lines in this one (she plays a mute chick,) but goddamn is this a good movie.

Don't worry kids, we haven't gone soft or anything like that. We're not going to start talking about how well-filmed and edited this movie is and it's not like we're trying to talk up some flimsy bag of artsy goods that doesn't deliver the only goods necessary. Shit, once they've forced the insanely hot Lindberg to become a whore, we probably get a half hour of boobs and great shots of her furpatch and sweet ass too. Granted, the graphic penetration shots that pepper her sex scenes probably aren't of her poon getting so roughly entered, but the way it's edited into the scene along with phenomenal shots of her tits and her utterly anguished face, it doesn't fucking matter. Hell, we had no intention of spanking it to this movie (and, frankly, after a day of alternating between fat chick porn and nurse porn, we were pretty much on empty in the ball juice department) but by the third sex scene of Lindberg getting treated like a filthy, baby-faced whore, we were so goddamned turned on that we found ourselves commiting vile acts of self-abuse and loving every minute of it.

So, you're probably wondering why we began this little rant talking about quality. Who gives a fuck? Normally, we agree, but here it makes a difference. See, the whole thing is put together so well, that we really believe Lindberg is an innocent country girl. We really believe her rage and her anguish while she's getting photographed nude or slapped around by a sadistic lesbian or getting fucked as roughly as possible. We believe she's a real person crying over her parents while she's topless. And we, horrifically, believe the moment when she's stabbed in the eye. All of this "believeability" makes all of this fucked up shit all the hotter and that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

With all of the ample footage of Lindberg's ample endowments, her delicious fur patch, rough sex, hardcore penetration shots, eyeball gouging, graphic violence and a decapitation set-up that had us muttering "God damn that's fucked up..." over and over again, this isn't just one of the most fucked up movies of the '70s, it's also one of the best.

-- Rick Stanko

3 REASONS TO BUY THIS FILM

Christina Lindberg is just so damn cute.
It's one of the stated inspirations for the Kill Bill movies.
Hardcore sex and extreme violence.

REVIEW
For his two-part female revenge magnum opus Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino could likely claim that he was influenced by virtually every exploitation thriller ever made, but it’s worth pointing out that the 1974 Swedish shocker Thriller – A Cruel Picture, which QT labels “the roughest revenge movie ever made,” is – along with the Japanese swordplay epic Lady Snowblood - clearly a major component in the Kill Bill universe (Daryl Hannah’s Elle Driver eyepatch being the most obvious nod). But those who have come to the world of 70s exploitation cinema only recently should perhaps be cautioned: Thriller is rough stuff indeed, and not a film likely to be embraced by more squeamish casual viewers. Originally released in the U.S. in cut form as They Call Her One Eye, this DVD presents the full-strength, uncensored version, complete with hardcore sex inserts alternating with surreal explosions of hardcore violence.

The story is standard archetypical revenge fare: naïve farm girl Christina Lindberg (one of the most beautiful actresses to appear in exploitation films) is seduced by a man who forces her into a life of drugs and prostitution, even taking one of her eyes when she dares to protest. But, fetching eye patch covering her injury, she decides to fight back, schooling herself in martial arts and the fine art of handling a sawed-off shotgun, triggering a wave of bloody vengeance against her tormentors.

The hyperbolic DVD cover notes, emphasizing the restored sex and violence, might lead newcomers into expecting a slightly more over-the-top exercise in excess than they will receive here: while Thriller certainly doesn’t skimp on the hardcore sex inserts and slow-motion blood squibs, the overall tone is oddly hypnotic and almost dreamlike, with director Bo Vibenius (who, some of you might wish to be warned, does not approve of this DVD release), a former Bergman disciple who worked on the set of Persona, giving the film a strangely spare, stark quality – which, in turn, makes it more uniquely shocking than the more obviously visceral exploitation films being crafted in America during the same era. As for the striking Lindberg: she doesn’t exactly emote much as an actress, but she’s never less than captivating to watch, and the slow-motion imagery of her eyepatch-covered visage twirling around to fire off shotgun shells is appropriately iconic to have understandably burned itself into the brain of America’s most famous former video store clerk. Recommended.

-- Travis Crawford

PRODUCT FORMAT INFORMATION

DVD Widescreen: $22.99 (Uncensored Version)

Availability: In stock and ready to ship

Region Code: 1

UPC: 654930303498

Studio: Synapse

Languages: English (Primary)

Aspect Ratio: Widescreen, 1.78

Extras: Trailers

Features:

Extensive Still Galleries of Rare Behind-the-Scenes Photos, Including Many Candid Nude Photos of Christina Lindberg on the Set!
Alternate Harbor Fight Sequence Reconstructed from Rare Vault Materials
THRILLER: A CRUEL LAB MISTAKE – Rare Photos Detailing an Unused Fight Sequence Ruined by the Film Lab During Production
Thriller: “The Story in Pictures”
Actor/Director Filmographies