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Thriller: They Call Her One Eye
Hello fellow MoFos! It is once again time for At the Theater with The Gunslinger45! Only with this overdue review, I decided to trade the theater for the grindhouse. There are a few avenues of film I am trying to explore more. I am trying to explore more foreign films to expand my exposure to other cultures and cinematic masters and their art. But at the same time as much as I love high art, I also love sleaze. Put the two together and you have a quick way to my heart. Scorsese did it once and it is my favorite movie. And it is because of this love of gritty stories of crime, violence, and boobs; I am also trying to watch more exploitation movies. And this Swedish exploitation film counts as both. It is also regarded as one of the more exploitive grindhouse movies around. And when you consider what is released from the likes of Naziploitation, Sexploitation, and Italian Amazon Cannibal flicks that should say something. How does this film stack up? Well load your double barrel as we take aim at Thriller: They Call Her One Eye.
The film opens on literally one of the worst things to see. A young girl named Frigga (Madeline in the original Swedish) is playing in a park. She is sexually assaulted and this trauma causes her to go mute. She grows up on a farm in the country with her mother and father and remains very sheltered until she is a young woman (played by Christina Lindberg). On her way to town she is offered a ride by a smooth talking man named Tony. Being very naïve, she accepts the lift. Tony eventually slips a drug into her drink, knocks her out, and gets her hooked on heroin. She is then forced into a life of prostitution in order to feed her new addiction. A further unfortunate circumstance befalls Frigga (now nicknamed One Eye) and she sets into motion her plan for revenge. This requires training in firearms, hand to hand combat, and high speed driving.
The premise is a pretty straight forward vigilante film. Our female protagonist is wronged, and she must enact her revenge on those who wronged her outside of the law. The premise is pure grindhouse, but the execution has a bit of style and art to it. The violence is about as realistic as you can get for that age and the majority of the kills and violence are done in super slow motion. Which is really cool. In addition the fact that the film takes time to develop her character. From naïve girl to hardened killer, she goes through one hell of an arc in the film. Made all the more impressive that Lindberg the actress has not a single line of dialogue in the movie. Everything about Frigga is told through her expressions. Her pain, her sorrow, and her rage have to be expressed without dialogue. Not to mention the final scene of revenge was handled with such subtly you think that it might have been filmed by Bergman. Then again director Bo A Vibenus was taught by Bergman in film school. So maybe. But what really sets this apart is the time they put into her development. This is not a quick montage. You see her train with various people from old soldiers, current commandos, karate experts, and professional drivers. Each teacher slowly shows her progression from a beginner to a pro. But this training is also intercut with some of her customers. And Christina Lindberg is very naked throughout these scenes (and she is an absolute bombshell)! This is an exploitation movie after all. But in many ways it is not. Now with a similar exploitation movie like Death Wish, the set up is similar. Paul Kersey is wronged and he decides he is going to become a vigilante. In Death Wish Kersey goes full vigilante fairly early in the movie and spends a good portion of the movie killing street walking scum. Same goes for Coffy (which opens with a dope dealer getting killed) and so does The Exterminator. Thriller plays more like Taxi Driver or Mad Max. It is a slow burn and well into the movie before scum bags get killed. One Eye begins her mission over an hour into the movie. But once she arms herself with a double barrel shotgun and a pistol, the movie does pick up the pace. So compared to the more standard exploitation film, there is a great deal more art in it.
But in addition to the art, there is still plenty of sleaze and exploitation. And this movie has a reputation for it. This flick rates up there with the likes of I Spit on Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, and Ilsa She Wolf of the SS with how renowned it is. Interesting thing about this film is it has a whole Blade Runner situation. Meaning the theatrical cut was considered not so great and was edited down significantly from the original form. Namely close to 20 minutes of footage which includes a lot of the sex scenes and slow-mo stylized violence. Said original footage was restored on DVD in multiple cuts. The first is Thriller: They Call Her One Eye. This cut has the majority of the violence restored, but still has three minutes of additional footage missing from it. The other cut is Thriller: A Cruel Picture which has more footage of nudity and a scene of eye gouging that was reportedly filmed using a human cadaver. In addition, the film originally had hardcore sex footage edited into the movie in the same manner Caligula did. None of the actors themselves were filmed mind you, a couple known only as Romeo and Juliet provided the explicit sex footage. Either way it really pushed the limits of what was deemed exploitation and what was obscenity. Hence why the film got edited down from a 107 minute movie to under 90 minutes for the theatrical release. And to be honest I am a tad conflicted on which cut I prefer. On one hand the use of a cadaver to get a shot is the kind of exploitation that can become legendary. Like when Deodato had to testify in court that he didn’t actually kill anyone when making Cannibal Holocaust or Divine eating dog s**t in Pink Flamingos. And that kind of a shot I think should be kept in the film. That being said, the edited in hardcore sex felt excessive. It did not serve a purpose, and I felt it was thrown in there for no real reason. And I know complaining about such things in an exploitation film is like complaining that horny teenagers are killed off in a slasher movie. What the hell was I to expect? So while I still think Thriller: A Cruel Picture is a good movie I tip my hat to the They Call Her One Eye cut. It still has all the slow motion fight scenes and the majority of the exploitation remains intact.
After watching both cuts of the film I really came to love this movie. It has a cool vigilante story line, plenty of sleaze, deals with crime, and it has plenty of gun play and some cool car chases. Now it will never hold up with the likes of say Taxi Driver or some of De Palma’s early work like Dressed to Kill and Body Double in terms of artistic merit and credibility. But then again, who cares? I don't watch these kinds of movies thinking they will be released on The Criterion Collection, I watch them to be entertained and for exploitation. But when I find one that has a bit of an artistic edge as well as exploitation, I take notice. And it is currently my favorite exploitation film. And I do not see it being knocked of that perch anytime soon. What more can I say other then this is a masterpiece of exploitation.
Thriller: They Call Her One Eye
Hello fellow MoFos! It is once again time for At the Theater with The Gunslinger45! Only with this overdue review, I decided to trade the theater for the grindhouse. There are a few avenues of film I am trying to explore more. I am trying to explore more foreign films to expand my exposure to other cultures and cinematic masters and their art. But at the same time as much as I love high art, I also love sleaze. Put the two together and you have a quick way to my heart. Scorsese did it once and it is my favorite movie. And it is because of this love of gritty stories of crime, violence, and boobs; I am also trying to watch more exploitation movies. And this Swedish exploitation film counts as both. It is also regarded as one of the more exploitive grindhouse movies around. And when you consider what is released from the likes of Naziploitation, Sexploitation, and Italian Amazon Cannibal flicks that should say something. How does this film stack up? Well load your double barrel as we take aim at Thriller: They Call Her One Eye.
The film opens on literally one of the worst things to see. A young girl named Frigga (Madeline in the original Swedish) is playing in a park. She is sexually assaulted and this trauma causes her to go mute. She grows up on a farm in the country with her mother and father and remains very sheltered until she is a young woman (played by Christina Lindberg). On her way to town she is offered a ride by a smooth talking man named Tony. Being very naïve, she accepts the lift. Tony eventually slips a drug into her drink, knocks her out, and gets her hooked on heroin. She is then forced into a life of prostitution in order to feed her new addiction. A further unfortunate circumstance befalls Frigga (now nicknamed One Eye) and she sets into motion her plan for revenge. This requires training in firearms, hand to hand combat, and high speed driving.
The premise is a pretty straight forward vigilante film. Our female protagonist is wronged, and she must enact her revenge on those who wronged her outside of the law. The premise is pure grindhouse, but the execution has a bit of style and art to it. The violence is about as realistic as you can get for that age and the majority of the kills and violence are done in super slow motion. Which is really cool. In addition the fact that the film takes time to develop her character. From naïve girl to hardened killer, she goes through one hell of an arc in the film. Made all the more impressive that Lindberg the actress has not a single line of dialogue in the movie. Everything about Frigga is told through her expressions. Her pain, her sorrow, and her rage have to be expressed without dialogue. Not to mention the final scene of revenge was handled with such subtly you think that it might have been filmed by Bergman. Then again director Bo A Vibenus was taught by Bergman in film school. So maybe. But what really sets this apart is the time they put into her development. This is not a quick montage. You see her train with various people from old soldiers, current commandos, karate experts, and professional drivers. Each teacher slowly shows her progression from a beginner to a pro. But this training is also intercut with some of her customers. And Christina Lindberg is very naked throughout these scenes (and she is an absolute bombshell)! This is an exploitation movie after all. But in many ways it is not. Now with a similar exploitation movie like Death Wish, the set up is similar. Paul Kersey is wronged and he decides he is going to become a vigilante. In Death Wish Kersey goes full vigilante fairly early in the movie and spends a good portion of the movie killing street walking scum. Same goes for Coffy (which opens with a dope dealer getting killed) and so does The Exterminator. Thriller plays more like Taxi Driver or Mad Max. It is a slow burn and well into the movie before scum bags get killed. One Eye begins her mission over an hour into the movie. But once she arms herself with a double barrel shotgun and a pistol, the movie does pick up the pace. So compared to the more standard exploitation film, there is a great deal more art in it.
But in addition to the art, there is still plenty of sleaze and exploitation. And this movie has a reputation for it. This flick rates up there with the likes of I Spit on Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, and Ilsa She Wolf of the SS with how renowned it is. Interesting thing about this film is it has a whole Blade Runner situation. Meaning the theatrical cut was considered not so great and was edited down significantly from the original form. Namely close to 20 minutes of footage which includes a lot of the sex scenes and slow-mo stylized violence. Said original footage was restored on DVD in multiple cuts. The first is Thriller: They Call Her One Eye. This cut has the majority of the violence restored, but still has three minutes of additional footage missing from it. The other cut is Thriller: A Cruel Picture which has more footage of nudity and a scene of eye gouging that was reportedly filmed using a human cadaver. In addition, the film originally had hardcore sex footage edited into the movie in the same manner Caligula did. None of the actors themselves were filmed mind you, a couple known only as Romeo and Juliet provided the explicit sex footage. Either way it really pushed the limits of what was deemed exploitation and what was obscenity. Hence why the film got edited down from a 107 minute movie to under 90 minutes for the theatrical release. And to be honest I am a tad conflicted on which cut I prefer. On one hand the use of a cadaver to get a shot is the kind of exploitation that can become legendary. Like when Deodato had to testify in court that he didn’t actually kill anyone when making Cannibal Holocaust or Divine eating dog s**t in Pink Flamingos. And that kind of a shot I think should be kept in the film. That being said, the edited in hardcore sex felt excessive. It did not serve a purpose, and I felt it was thrown in there for no real reason. And I know complaining about such things in an exploitation film is like complaining that horny teenagers are killed off in a slasher movie. What the hell was I to expect? So while I still think Thriller: A Cruel Picture is a good movie I tip my hat to the They Call Her One Eye cut. It still has all the slow motion fight scenes and the majority of the exploitation remains intact.
After watching both cuts of the film I really came to love this movie. It has a cool vigilante story line, plenty of sleaze, deals with crime, and it has plenty of gun play and some cool car chases. Now it will never hold up with the likes of say Taxi Driver or some of De Palma’s early work like Dressed to Kill and Body Double in terms of artistic merit and credibility. But then again, who cares? I don't watch these kinds of movies thinking they will be released on The Criterion Collection, I watch them to be entertained and for exploitation. But when I find one that has a bit of an artistic edge as well as exploitation, I take notice. And it is currently my favorite exploitation film. And I do not see it being knocked of that perch anytime soon. What more can I say other then this is a masterpiece of exploitation.