Thriller - en grym film (1974) - Bo Arne Vibenius
Parent category: 1974 films - Sweden
Related: Bo Arne Vibenius - Christina Lindberg - cruel - exploitation film - heroin - Kill Bill - mute - prostitution - rape/revenge trope - white slavery trope
In which the villain has his head torn off by a noose tied to a horse's reins
American poster for Thriller - A Cruel Picture (1974)
Thriller - A Cruel Picture (1974) - Bo Arne Vibenius [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Description
Thriller - en grym film (Thriller - A Cruel Picture), aka "They Call Her One Eye", "Hooker's Revenge" etc., is a Swedish movie from 1974 written and directed by Bo Arne Vibenius. The original length was 104 minutes, but in the USA it had been cut to 82 minutes. The movie is in the "rape and revenge" genre. It has received a cult following and was also one of the inspirations behind Kill Bill. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_-_en_grym_film [Aug 2005]
The story is about a girl, Frigga/Madeleine (Christina Lindberg), who is sexually assaulted during her childhood and the trauma makes her mute. When she becomes older she accepts a ride from a man who makes her a heroin addict, and then becomes her pimp. At one point she is stabbed in the eye (a scene for which the director, to much controversy, used an actual cadaver) for refusing a client. She starts saving up money to buy weapons and take classes in driving, shooting, etc. to finally take revenge. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_-_en_grym_film [Dec 2005]
IMDb entry http://us.imdb.com/Title?0072285
Notes:
Rape and revenge (genre)
For better or worse, Boarne’s Vibenius’ 1974 film THRILLER-EN GRYM FILM ushered in the "rape and revenge" genre to the grindhouse circuit (albeit in a cut drive in release under the title THRILLER-A CRUEL PICTURE). Regardless of one’s personal reservations on the subject matter, it is impossible to deny this quaintly produced film’s influence on the genre’s prototype. Although director Vibenius openly admits he constructed his film with an exploitative rigor (and the film does function best as pure spectacle), the resultant film is an unlikely prophetic one, certainly to the surprise (and dismay) of Vibenius himself.[T]his shortcut of audience manipulation proved so successful that it would again be used in two subsequent pictures in the genre: Abel Ferrara’s MS. 45 (1981) and Meir Zarchi’s I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978). Ferrara’s film sports a remarkably similar protagonist, the mute Thana (played by the late Zoe Tamerlis), used for largely the same effect. Zarchi’s features a beautiful, naïve young woman (Camille Keaton). Although she has no malady similar to Ferrara’s or Vibenius’ leads, her naïve disposition performs the same task: building the audience’s sympathy, only to tear it down in the rape sequences. --Stephen Gladwin via http://pages.cthome.net/puppylove/thriller.html [Dec 2004]
Ralph Lundsten
Ralph Lundsten is Sweden's best known composer of electronic music, as well as being a film creator and artist. He was born in 1936 in Ersnäs, in northern Sweden, and now lives on the outskirts of Stockholm, still close to the forest and the sea. His home is Castle Frankenburg, dating from 1878, a wooden fairy-tale mansion which also houses his famous picture and electronic music studio ANDROMEDA.Since 1959 he has lived an independent life in this "institution" of his own, ignoring all "isms" creating his own personal musical language, and preparing original films and exhibitions. With his wide-ranging, cross-cultural artistic activities, Ralph Lundsten has had - and still has - considerable cultural significance. Every day his music is played all over the world. It serves as the signature for Radio Sweden International broadcasts - a sort of "national anthem" - making Ralph Lundsten more than ever Sweden's musical voice out in the wide world! --http://www.vaarboda.se/andromeda/pres-av-ralph-english.html [Dec 2005]
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