Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Exploitation flicks don’t get any nastier than this!  You've been warned.  If there is any thread of humanity left within you, you'll just stop reading now and go about your day.  Nothing to see here.

Still here?  Goooooood.  Then you already know just how absolutely AWESOME this film is and, yeah, there's plenty to see.  I don't know how many times Christina Lindberg can be thrown down topless onto a bed, but it never gets tiring - especially when you know that live ammunition is being used in the scenes coming up.  Just what the hell was this director thinking?!  Oh, yeah.  He wanted to make money.  Well, along the way to making grindhouse history, he also made one of the most interesting and influential films ever to come from the stickier side of the SINema.

"Exploitation flicks don’t get any nastier than this!  You've been warned"


Opening with a very uncomfortable scene in which a little girl is sexually abused (thankfully off-camera), Thriller: A Cruel Picture (also known as They Call Her One Eye) is a revenge thriller like few others.  Think it won’t go THERE?  Think again, podna!  Thriller holds nothing back from the viewer and, mixing buckets of gore with real sex scenes, the result is a one-of-a-kind flick that was famously banned and edited for its explicit content, and, surprising no one, absolutely cherished by Quentin Tarantino for its explicit content.  Ellie Driver in Kill Bill anyone?

Well, now, thanks to Synapse Films, this cult classic can FINALLY be viewed in its uncensored form on blu-ray.  Praise the Maker indeed!  Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Stripped of all humanity, this is what happens when Frigga (a 23-year-old Christina Lindberg) finds herself drugged, raped, and pimped out by all sorts of disgusting men.  She even gets her eye gouged out in a very realistic scene of violence - which, for a long time, was rumored to have been conducted on a cadaver.  With no home to return to, Frigga turns to a life of violence as a one-eyed killing machine, complete with a sawed-off shotgun, and goes after the pigs who did this to her.

Directed by Swedish director Bo Arne Vibenius and filled to the brim with disturbing images of abuse and violence, Thriller: A Cruel Picture is damned unforgettable.  Yet, there’s no escaping its influence either.  Once this film has you in its grip, there’s no letting go.  You want to see this screen siren do some real damage to the men who endlessly abuse her and she does it with martial arts stylings!  

While still a bit rough around the edges, there is no doubting the overall PUNCH this grindhouse cult classic still delivers.  Thriller: A Cruel Picture is one of the toughest narcotics out in Cinema Land.  I dare you to say otherwise.

5/5 beers

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

Blu-ray Details

Home Video Distributor: Synapse Films
Available on Blu-ray
- March 8, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.66:1
Subtitles
: English
Audio:
Swedish: LPCM 2.0English: LPCM 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Synapse Films is proud to present the uncensored version of THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE on Blu-ray. This cult-classic is widely considered one of the holy grails of pure exploitation cinema, and one that Quentin Tarantino (director of PULP FICTION, RESERVOIR DOGS and ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD) calls "the roughest revenge movie ever made!" Originally released in the U.S. in a heavily truncated version called THEY CALL HER ONE EYE, THRILLER is presented here with over 20 minutes of restored footage deemed too sexually explicit and graphic for 1970s general audiences. You have been warned!

Video:

The Uncut and uncensored high definition 1080p (1.66:1) presentation might not be the prettiest of transfers, but that’s to be expected considering the film’s tortured and very edited history.  What we do have here is a fine-looking HD transfer that adds textures to clothing, tightens up some of the visuals, and adds definition to some of the dark interiors and night scenes.  Is it perfect?  God, no.  But the flesh on display is supple and some of the colors absolutely pop as Frigga learns to defend herself from all manner of male attack.

Audio:

While you get the original Swedish track and a dubbed English track, both are presented in Mono.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • none

Special Features:

Think the guns in this flick are loaded?  You haven’t seen a thing until you get blasted in the face with what Synapse Films offers with their supplementals here!

  • Uncut and uncensored high definition 1080p (1.66:1) presentation
  • Original Swedish language version with newly translated removable English subtitles
  • Alternate English dub soundtrack with newly translated removable English subtitles
  • Multiple still galleries including rare behind-the-scenes images and nude photos of Christina Lindberg on set
  • Theatrical trailers and TV spot
  • Outtakes
  • Alternate Harbor Fight Sequence
  • THRILLER: A Cruel Lab Mistake-Rare photos from an unused fight sequence ruined by the film lab during production
  • THRILLER: The Story in Pictures
  • Reversible cover art from Wes Benscoter

Blu-ray Rating

  Movie 5/5 stars
  Video  4/5 stars
  Audio 3/5 stars
  Extras 4/5 stars

Composite Blu-ray Grade

4/5 stars


Film Details

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)

MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime:
104 mins
Director
: Bo Arne Vibenius
Writer:
Bo Arne Vibenius
Cast:
Christina Lindberg; Heinz Hopf; Despina Tomazani
Genre
: Thriller | Crime
Tagline:
Meet One Eye, the Swedish Vice-Girl. They forced her to learn the twisted side of love.
Memorable Movie Quote: "I like women who don't talk too much... but you set a new record!"
Theatrical Distributor:
American International Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date:
June 5, 1974
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
March 8, 2022.
Synopsis: Growing up mute after a childhood sexual assault, a young girl (Christina Lindberg) spends years working on a remote farm. After missing the bus one day, she is picked up by a suave young man who takes her out to dinner, drugs her and forces her into a life of prostitution. Torn away from home, she rebels against her captor, only to have one of her eyes gouged out as punishment. After learning of the death of her parents, she secretly trains herself in martial arts, defensive driving and gun use! Transformed into a one woman killing machine with a sawed-off shotgun, she uses her new skills to enact bloody revenge on those who've done her wrong.

Art

Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)