Thriller - A Cruel Picture
aka Hooker's Revenge
aka They Call Her One Eye

Well, it certainly was a cruel picture.

In some circles this is considered one of 'the' revenge movies of all time, so I picked it up.  Interestingly enough, the DVD I own is 107 minutes, while the original US release edited to an R version was 80 minutes.  The version I'm reviewing is the uncut and rather explicit version.

Basically, it stars Christina Lindberg as a young farm girl who, after being raped by an old man, is left mute because of the psychological trauma.  Years later, as a teenager, she is picked up by a pimp who gets her hooked on heroin and forces her into prostitution.  When she rebels, he cuts her eye out (a scene which, I will warn, actually shows a CU of a scalpel piercing an eyeball).  Slowly, she saves the money to train herself in the ways of killing, and then takes bloody revenge on those who have done her wrong.

Sounds like a classic exploitation flick, yeah?  Well the interesting part is that, in a way, it's like there's no exploitation.  There's everything from brutal violence to hardcore pornography to full frontal nudity, but at the same time, it seems as though the use of each of these things is deliberately thought out and used to an intended effect.  The sex is filmed as being repulsive and horrific rather than erotic, and the nudity is much the same, in a way.

The violence is interesting.  Most of the revenge kills are filmed in such super slow motion that a fight scene of three moves takes up a good two or three minutes.  With the same sound effect each time, this gets a little wearing...but there is a moment when Lindberg is fighting two policemen that has one of the best slow motion shots I have ever seen.

The film actually seems to be made with a great deal of thought and a lot of work on its thematic elements.  The violence is never totally senseless and the acts of revenge are always carried out with a certain somber sadness.  The acting is, frankly, pretty strong on the whole, and it certainly doesn't look like a B movie in many ways.

There is a great deal of experimentation with filming techniques, from looping and echoing audio to bizarre POV shots to...well, it's just all very creative.

Anyway, if you have the stomach for it, and you're not put off by hardcore pornography, this is a pretty interesting watch...if you can find it.  It wasn't enjoyable, exactly, but it was fascinating.

Tarantino buffs can take note that Darryl Hannah's eye patch in Kill Bill, which always matches her clothes, is an homage (or rip off, however you want to look at it) to this film.  Also, Tarantino refers to this as the "roughest little revenge film ever made".

I've been wanting to buy this film for awhile, it's just really hard to find on my side of the tracks. Freaking Ontario.

I don't have any money in my paypal account to buy off of ebay right now, takes 7 days to transfer as well which is stupid.

I spent like 300 plus on ebay just a few months back and finally got all my stuff this week ha-ha so I'm staying away from online buying for a little while anyway.