Thriller - en grym film (1974)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Bo Arne Vibenius

Writer:

Bo Arne Vibenius (writer)

Release Date:

5 June 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

The first film, ever, to be banned in Sweden!

Plot:

A young woman, muted after a sexual assault as a child, is trained to seek violent revenge on those who have wronged her after being kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute.

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Heroin | Martial Arts | Death | Brothel

Cast

Christina Lindberg	...	Frigga / Madeleine / One Eye
Heinz Hopf	...	Tony
Despina Tomazani	...	Lip-stick lesbian
Per-Axel Arosenius	...	Frigga's Father
Solveig Andersson	...	Sally
Björn Kristiansson
Marie-Louise Mannervall	...	Woman in village
Hildur Lindberg	...	Mother's Friend
Stig Lokrantz
Olle Nordlander
Marshall McDough
Gunnar Palm
Pamela Pethö-Galantai	...	Young Madeleine
Lennart Robertsson
Hans-Eric Stenborg
Stig Ström
Lars Sääv
Bruno Sörwing
Gunnel Wadner	...	Frigga's Mother
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lars Lundgren	...	(uncredited)
Bo Arne Vibenius	...	Hot Dog vendor (uncredited)

Directed by
Bo Arne Vibenius		(as Alex Fridolinski)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bo Arne Vibenius		writer

Produced by
Bo Arne Vibenius	....	producer

Original Music by
Ralph Lundsten

Cinematography by
Andreas Bellis		(as Andrew Bellis)

Film Editing by
Brian Wikström

Costume Design by
Anna Oskarsdotter

Production Management
Bo Lundqvist	....	unit manager

Sound Department
Dennis Hennicks	....	sound
Bengt Kåring	....	sound

Special Effects by
Stig Limér	....	special effects

Stunts
Per Hessman	....	stunts
Jan Kreigsman	....	stunt coordinator
Dan Lindhe	....	stunts
Lars Lundgren	....	stunts
Bo Sunnefeldt	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Ted Lindahl	....	electrician

Other crew
Sture Åsberg	....	unspecified assistant
Anna Oskarsdotter	....	assistant to producer (as Anna Maria Anefelt)

Production Companies

• BAV Film
• United Producers

Distributors

• BAV Film (1974) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• American International Pictures (AIP) (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (edit) (dubbed)
• Astral Films (1974) (Canada) (theatrical) (heavily cut) (dubbed)
• Brent Walker Film Distributing (1976) (UK) (theatrical)
• Synapse Films (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Hooker's Revenge (USA) (reissue title)
They Call Her One Eye (USA) (censored version)
Thriller (Sweden) (short title)
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (USA)

Runtime:

104 min | UK:80 min (heavily cut) | USA:82 min (R-rated version) | Australia:92 min (R-rated cut)

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (cut) (1975) | Sweden:15 (re-rating: 1974) (heavily cut) | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating: 1973) | UK:R (original rating: 1974) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | UK:X (re-rating: 1976) (heavily cut) | Australia:R (cut) (1976) | West Germany:18 | Italy:VM18 | USA:R (heavily cut) | Canada:18+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Drottningholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

BAV Film

Trivia:

Swedish censorship banned the film in April 4, 1973. Despite the tag line, this is not the first Swedish film to be banned in Sweden, that was Trädgårdsmästaren (1912).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the police car runs over a piece of grass between two roads, you can clearly see tire tracks from earlier takes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hell Kittens (2009)

OK, it's different.....

This is a Swedish exploitation film that goes a bit further than I really expected, and while that's not a bad thing I guess I was rather surprised at some of what I was seeing. So beware, like don't let the kids hang out while you're watching this? A young girl is molested by an old man in the park and she is so affected by the incident she becomes mute. One day she is going for her therapy treatment & misses the bus, only to accept a ride from a "nice" man, who is by no means nice, and she's hooked on heroin and made to turn tricks in return for her fixes. A real eye-opener here were the sex scenes, because they're not exactly tame or apparently faked. Maybe some of them are just "stock footage" but holy cow...! Anyway this young girl has also lost an eye as punishment for clawing a customer's face, to teach her a lesson. The lucky thing for her though is that she's accumulating a large box full of money under her bed and that she has days off (Mondays) where she can go train to shoot guns, drive cars, and practice martial arts. Not bad for a heroin addict, eh? So yes, there are probably a few things here and there in the film that are highly improbable. When she reaches the point where she's had enough, that is, when one of her fellow junkie/whores is killed, she gets a car, and an arsenal, and takes revenge on her customers & tormentors. Overall this has a good cheap 70's feel to it, and the revenge scenes are mostly in show motion so there's not constant gunfire like in the movies of today (which really bugs me) so I kind of liked this for that too. Yeah, this has plot holes & some pretty far-fetched stuff but manages to still be interesting and I liked it a lot. 8 out of 10, but bring your sense of adventure.