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Thriller: A Cruel Picture (aka Hooker’s Revenge, They Call Her One Eye, Thriller en Grym Film) movie review

by Chris   ⋅   May 12, 2005   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE, THE MEANIES
MAY 11, 2005
Directed by Bo Arne Vibenius
Starring Christina Lindberg
Not Rated

I’d heard Thriller, AKA: They Call her One-Eye mentioned off and on the past few years in the elitist cult-film circles. Joe-Bob Briggs discussed it in his I Spit on Your Grave commentary. Quentin Tarantino claimed it was one of his favorite films ever, and even “modeled” Darryl Hannah’s character in Kill Bill after Thriller’s main character. Harry Knowles put it on his top 10 unsung films list, right next to The Iron Giant, if I recall correctly. It even got a nice little plug in Fangoria. I figured with this many high profile degenerates raving about this film, it had to be worth checking out.

Well, with Synapse Film’s DVD release I finally had my chance. A restored, limited edition uncut version of the film, complete with the original Swedish and original American dubbing tracks. I was jazzed.

The story of thriller is one of a mute girl named Frigga (played by Christina Lindberg), who gets picked up by a handsome, man named Tony while walking to school. He wines her and dines her, and then takes her back to his house, where he gives her a roofie and injects her with heroin. A month or so later, Frigga regains consciousness and finds she is addicted to heroin. Her handsome Tony is actually a pimp, and she is now working as one of his girls! Frigga tries to rebel, attacking her first customer, but Tony, as punishment, gouges out her eye in one shocking extreme closeup (the director actually used a medical cadaver). Without her eye, Frigga resolves to perform her newfound job, but train in the art of killing in her spare time. Once her training is complete, she will Kill Tony!

With that setup you’d think you were in for one dark, demented ride.

The truth is, Thriller is one of the most absurd and uninteresting revenge flicks I’ve ever seen. Frigga exacts revenge on damn near anybody that crosses her path, though the only people that really wronged her were a violent anorexic lesbian customer (actually listed in the credits as Lip-Stick lesbian), her pimp, Tony, and the two hitmen he sends after her. And even then, compared to other filmic pimps, Tony’s actually pretty easygoing. After hooking Frigga on smack and starting her career in prostitution, he lets her come and go of her own free will, facilitating her training as a stone-cold killer, and racecar driver. Tony never bothers searching her room, so Frigga is able to keep the money she earns performing extra services for her five or six actual customers in a little tin box she keeps hidden under, and sometimes on, the bed.

And then there’s the lapses into the ridiculous. In one scene, while attending a Karate lesson, Frigga gets the itch for some heroin. She grabs her gym bag and tries to shoot up in the middle of the dojo. Her sensei looks at her sternly and points out the door. Looking sad and dejected she exits the dojo. Apparently mute prostitute assassins in training aren’t born with common sense. And then there are the superfluous training scenes. For example, Frigga spends countless hours training on a rifle range, only to later equip herself with a double barrelled shotgun. Why train to be an expert marksman when you’re just going to use a gun you don’t really have to aim?

Yet, the aforementioned gripes could be overlooked if the action sequences were any good. Sadly, the hand to hand combat looks like it was choreographed by third graders, and all gunfights are executed in a rip-off Peckinpah fashion, only overcranked three times as much. This results in some slower-than-slow-mo shots that last almost 15 seconds. To give you an idea how slow this is, using my DVD remote I used 4x fast forward, and the action still occurred in slow motion. They are the most boring gunfights I have ever seen. Except for the aforementioned eye gouging, and some completely unappetizing hardcore porn, there’s no real reason for this film to have achieved the status it has.

Thriller has to be one of the most disappointing purchases I have made in the past year. I didn’t really even bother with the extras. The action was uninteresting, the story unblievable, and the reputation unwaranted. If you are one of the unlucky souls who has bought this film, keep your fingers crossed and hope it goes the way of Salo on eBay.

-Chris Nelson