Thriller – A Cruel Picture AKA They Call Her One Eye Review

Synapse Films, along with Blue Underground, are the two greatest DVD labels out there…not only re-releasing the best of cult and mondo films from the past but also delivering them with beautiful transfers, lots of extras…basically lots of love.

Synapse Films released this last year… a Swedish exploitation film from 1974 starring the soft core starlet Christina Lindenberg. This is a revenge picture that obviously influenced a string of films…Ms. 45, Death Wish, Kill Bill, etc. (Especially Kill Bill) Synopsis – A mute girl is raped, kidnapped and forced in to heroin addiction and prostitution. When she protests, the evil pimp stabs out her eye. After her parents kill themselves in grief, she trains herself in the use of weapons, martial arts and car driving, then seeks out her enemies for a cruel revenge.

European trash cinema has so much more artistic merit than its American counterpart. There are moments in this film that are Bergman-esque. Actors talk directly to the lens, composition is strong and intentional, and the death scenes…wow. SLOOOOOO-mo…..slower than Peckinpah. Extremely slow. Over a minute to flip over a bad guy. You don’t have that sort of artistic decisions made in your average exploitation film.

Another weird thing…they cut in hardcore inserts in to the sex scenes. It is a body double…not Lindenberg. I guess that many Euro 70’s productions made a XXX version.

See this film for a couple of reasons… some sequences are actually quite beautiful… a true sense of another era….obviously an influential film… and support Synapse releases!!!