Exploitation cinema in all its glory, or not, depending on your own personal peccadilloes! Directed, written and produced by Bo Arne Vibenius, Thriller - en grym film (AKA: They Call Her One Eye) is an infamous picture for a number of reasons, reasons that would take a whole page to write about. So use your mouse and google it because this review isn't interested in dabbling in such fare.

Plot sees a young Madeline raped by a paedophile and rendered mute by the experience. Into early adulthood and Madeline (played superbly by soft core porn starlet Christinia Lindberg) unwisely takes up the offer of a lift from the odious Tony (Heinz Hopf). Pretty soon she's addicted to heroin and working as a prostitute. However, Madeline is biding her time, for she has plans, plans that spell doom for all her abusers.

Does this film have artistic merit? Absolutely! In fact if you take out the inserted pornographic close-ups, which are pointless since we already know what Madeline is going through (a supposed marketing tool of the era apparently...) then this is a kick-ass film. It's a two parter, where the first half shows all of Madeline's misery, with sexual disturbance and body horror, then we switch to Madeline's fight back, where we get one of the coolest anti-heroines of 70s exploitation. She's sporting an eye patch, a glorious black trench coat, and weapons, oh yes! There are weapons, hands, guns and cars, oh my! It's here where Vibenius asks the question about justifiable revenge, whilst the super slow-mo approach to the violence will either be viewed as indulgent or classy (I'm with the latter camp).

It is what it is, grungy and grimy, operating in a specialist niche of cinema, but worthy in that it didn't conform, and it has proved influential. It's just not a date movie or something to watch with you mom! Right, I'm off for a bath. 7/10

The gorgeous nymph Christina Lindberg is a mute woman who is abducted, drugged and forced into sexual servitude by a slick criminal.

Notable for its hardcore sex sequences which, in my humble opinion, lend great gravity to Lindberg's unfortunate personal situation, this revenge drama has a measured, moderate pace and is quite compelling.

Titled THEY CALL HER ONE-EYE in some markets because our heroine does get her eye poked out by her captor, the film has rarely been seen uncut until the advent of Synapse Films' recent DVD.

Some scribes have complained that the hardcore sexual material ruins the film. I don't see any basis for this complaint. The hardcore honestly portrays the level of abuse Lindberg receives.

The revenge section of THRILLER is labored and stylized. There's no clear catharsis and there's no joy for the avenging angel.

Director Bo A Vebenius also wrote and produced.

Though called "the roughest revenge movie ever made" by Quentin Tarantino, it is not particularly rough compared to fare such as FORCED ENTRY, CAPTURED FOR SEX 2 or ZOOM UP: RAPE SITE.

It is an art-house revenge pic that is well worth seeing. I'm not sure I'd want to re-see it regularly, though. It does runs slow.

THRILLER is a very well done rape/revenge film in the same vein as LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT or I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. The storyline is different but the results are the same...

Girl is raped as a child which causes her to be mute. She is picked up by a slick-talking guy and taken out for dinner and drinks. Back at his house, he drugs her and shoots her up with heroin for several days, so by the time he allows her to wake up out of her heroin-stupor, she is an addict. At that point she is turned-out as a prostitute and given some cash and drugs as "payment". She is given some free time to herself, where she uses the money earned to take karate,shooting, and driving classes. Needless to say, when she becomes proficient enough in these disciplines, she uses her newly honed skills to go after those that did her wrong...

Christina Lindberg is excellent as the beautiful and seemingly innocent looking mute girl. She is a real pleasure to look at, and the fact that she's naked through a good portion of the film doesn't hurt either. There is some "controversy" surrounding this film due to a couple of hardcore sex scenes (obviously not Ms. Lindberg, unfortunately...) that appear to be cut from a bad European porno. The scenes are not necessary for the film but were obviously added to heighten the shock value of the film overall. Other than those few scenes, and the famous scalpel-in-the-eye scene, the violence in THRILLER is relatively tame by exploitation/horror standards. Overall a really good film, if you are into the rape/revenge genre - I think it's always cool to see a strong, sexy, female lead who kicks ass, one of the reasons that I gravitate toward this type of film. The eyeball and sex scenes may be a little much for the casual movie-goer, more "extreme" fans should like this one. Recommended...8.5 out of 10

NOTE: Synapse films now has a "Vengeance" addition in a yellow box (original cover is red) that is the same film minus the XXX scenes.