Review of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) by Mark G — 21 Sep 2010

The movie opens with a shot of an empty road. No sound can be heard as the credits appear on screen, until , in the distance a police car approaches and it's sirens can be heard getting louder as it gets closer.

The police arrest an old man who has just raped a young girl.

Due to this traumatic event the girl, Madeleine, will spend the rest of her life as a mute.

15 years after that horrific event, Madeleine works on her parents farm and despite the trauma from her youth, life appears to be passing peacefully for her.

One day as Madeleine is going into town she misses her bus and ends up accepting a lift from a passing stranger.

Unfortunately for Madeleine her life is about to be ripped apart again.

The stranger, Tony, drugs Madeleine and while she is unconscious he injects her with heroin. Keepeing her as his prisoner and addicting her to heroin Tony turns Madeleine to a life of prostitution. Initially, Madeleine tries to resist but after she injures a client Tony puts out one of her eyes as punishment.

Seemingly trapped in a life of drugs and prostitution, Madeleine secretly has plans for retribution forming. She saves the extra money she gets from her clients and on the one day a week she is allowed out, she pays for lessons in martial arts, aggressive driving and shooting.

Finally, with her new talents mastered and with nothing to lose Madeleine heads out to find her clients and Tony and make these degenerates pay with their lives.

This is a damn fine piece of exploitation cinema.Well shot, with a fantastic lack of soundtrack and dialogue that mirrors how Madeleine is mute.

In fact the only real fault that you can pick with this is the cars that crash into each other and then explode for no reason. Hell, what looks like a mini explodes simply from going off the road, although thinking about it, perhaps that is realistic after all.

The movie has stirred up some controversy over the years due to the inclusion of a few xxx scenes, although these each only last for a few seconds and just highlight the horror of what is happeneig to Madeleine.

And of course there is the infamous 'eyeball scene' in which it is widely believed that the effect was achieved by filming a close up of a dead girl in a morgue and then stabbing her cadaver in the eye.

If you are a fan of exploitation movies and cult cinema then this one deserves to be in your collection.