Review of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) by Alex C — 10 Aug 2010

70s exploitation flicks always seem to fool me. At first I will always wonder "why is this so freaking BORING?!" And then the director usually redeems himself in the last half hour of the movie or so. This film is brilliant. For a piece of 70s exploitation cinema, this one is a rare gem. Made in an era where skin flicks were becoming highly popular, this film is one of those T&A violence-fests that influenced revenge cinema. Along with Get Carter (1971), Fist Of Fury (1971), The Street Fighter (1974), Mad Max (1979), Thriller [They Call Her One-Eye] (1974) fits perfectly along these films.

Made in Sweden for a really low budget, filmmaker Bo A. Vibenius set out to direct the next best action movie. Maybe if he did not get suppliers to turn it into a hardcore action-porn film, then he probably would have accomplished this feat in small-scale. This film was censored many times and only recently received its just due with two released versions: One being the version I am reviewing, the version without the hardcore sex scenes (mainly due to the fact that these scenes were added in by a distributor and not the actual director), and the other being an "uncut" porn film. Vibenius may have gotten screwed over back in the 70s but many revenge films that came after this definitely borrow heavily from this film, especially the slow-motion action sequences. The biggest influence of all of course comes from Quentin Tarantino, who based at least one of his characters from Kill Bill on the main female protagonist of this film.

The story is part typical exploitation story, part really great story. A young girl who had suffered a sexual molestation at a very young age is rendered mute from the trauma (this was shot almost Bergman-style, interestingly enough). Years later, she is told by her farmer father to take some time off and go to the city to have some fun. Unfortunately for her she misses her bus, but is picked up by a young charmer. Thus begins the emotional and scarring journey of Madeleine, who is forced into a life of prostitution and rendered a cyclops by her "benefactor" to keep her in line. Knowing the female role in exploitation cinema (especially following Russ Meyer's example), women don't take much shit for very long and soon Madeleine starts to practice everything from shooting, karate, and even extreme driving in order for her to get her revenge.

Of course there is way more to the story than all that, but why spoil it for you? This film must be seen. Of course it is not everyone's cup of tea. It is slow and the violence is scarce and kitschy (especially by today's standards) but that is what made it so good in my opinion. For all the sleazeballs out there who would rather get their rocks off, go ahead and watch the hardcore version, but anyone studying cinematic style in 70s cult film should definitely check out the "Vengeance Edition" of this film.

The directing is typical 70s B-movie style. Zooms, shaky cameras and guerrilla-style filmmaking tactics run rampant throughout. But once again, these things add to the flavor of the film. The slow-motion shots can tend to be long, being that they occur any time violence is shown onscreen, but in a couple of instances, this technique is brilliant and totally balls-to-the-wall awesome (if you catch my drift). The writing probably could have been done by any 15-year-old in his mother's basement, but that could possibly have been intended being that the main character has no lines whatsoever. The bad guys are portrayed as total scum and no sympathy is felt when Madeleine corners them with her massive shotgun. The only characters I had problem with are Madeleine's parents, who have to be the two dumbest people on earth, but they were a plot device that would help fuel her rage later on in the film.

This film is notorious for being controversial even back in the 70s. The over-the-top violence was cut out of most cinema reels and the oft-mentioned "eyeball scene" (which could rival the "ear scene" in Reservoir Dogs) was very well done. This film is full of gems that can be spotted in recent films.

Add all this with a weird GTA-style joyride later on in the film and you get a 70s action movie worthy of its title as a cult legend. Great film.