Review of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) by Carl M — 17 Jun 2013

After being kidnapped, drugged, and forced into prostitution, Frigga uses what few resources she has left to plot her revenge in THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE! Swedish director Bo Arne Vibenius creates what many consider to be the perfect Exploitation film, parading images of sex, drugs, and violence in a cavalcade of perversion. Adult film star Christina Lindberg plays Frigga, who is pushed over the edge by a group of disgusting men who use and abuse her in the most unimaginable ways possible. When first he finds that she is being "uncooperative" with the clientele, the sadistic Tony cuts out her eye as a means of persuasion. Unbeknownst to him, however, Frigga has been saving her meager earnings to hone her driving skills, weapons proficiency, and martial arts training as she prepares for an all-out assault against her aggressors. Lindberg is as beautiful as she is deadly as Frigga, a role that single-handedly transformed her from a sexy starlet in to an action icon as she dons her trenchcoat and eye-patch before heading out for revenge with a sawed-off shotgun. The raw and gritty action sequences recall Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS from just two years prior, while the hardcore sex scenes are as shocking as they are graphic. One can't help but rejoice as Frigga rips in to each of her enemies after having every last shred of her humanity stripped away. An undisputed classic in Exploitation cinema.

-Carl Manes.

I Like Horror Movies.