The opening credits in English read, 'Thriller: A Cruel Picture' not whatever nonsense IMDb chooses as its title.If there was ever one single film Quinton Tarantino based his 'Kill Bill' series on, it was this.There is VERY little dialogue. The Swedish film doesn't even need subtitles. The entire story is told through character actions which involve slow paced scenes showing in detail simple actions like walking from one place to another without any musical score.It's also important to note that the American DVD release is the "Vengeance Edition" which I suspect is the censored version. The version I watch was on YouTube which includes HARD CORE porn scenes! How "hard core?" Well, it not only shows real intercourse but actual ejaculation. Amazing the stuff they allow on YouTube without any warning.Just to be clear, this isn't a porn film.The plot: After being raped by a homeless man as a child Madeline is left mute and lives on a farm with her elderly parents.She's picked up by a scumbag whom kidnaps her and gets her addicted to heroine to force her to prostitute.At first Madeline resists the customers and her pimp gouges out one of her eyes as punishment. Won't that harm his investment in her earnings? Madeline eventually saves up thousands of dollars in tips and spends all her spare time learning martial arts, to shoot, and to race car drive. All this is a buildup to her final fury of hunting down her pimp and all her clients with a sawed off shotgun. Each of the shooting deaths are shown in extreme slow motion.As I said, all of this is explained through actions with hardly any dialogue at all.The similarities between this and 'Kill Bill' are overwhelming.It's good film making for Giallo and Euro-grindhouse fans.Just be prepared that the film isn't anything more than the brief plot I described and each scene is very slow moving.

The best thing about this movie is how Tarantino made it better... by dressing up Darryl Hannah like the character. Other than that, this is a true grind house flick filled with the usual excess amounts of sex, blood, and violence. Funny thing is how this movie was made by the Swedes and this must have been revenge for the Orson Welles 'Cuckoo Clock' monologue from The Third Man, because this is as sadistic as it gets. Not even Bergman's The Virgin Spring was this cruel from it's fellow countryman (but Craven's Last House on the Left is a nice counter piece). Tough it is a satisfying rental (or to own for true exploitation bluffs) as mentioned before the strength is actually Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2. Watch this movie as a double-bill with I Spit on Your Grave and see how much man hating can ensue, or if you're a guy, how much you hate to have a penis at that time.

Both "Thriller a Cruel Picture", and "Ms.45", are female revenge films, sharing the basic theme of retribution. "Thriller"s vengeance is targeted at specific offenders, while "Ms 45 targets men in general. Both films contain slow motion kills, however "Thriller" overuses the effect, while "Ms.45" has one terrific slow motion scene. The heroines are both mutes, but the acting surrounding Zoe Tamerlis in "Ms.45" is superior to the porno-type characters that interact with Christina Lindberg. The graphic porno scenes in "Thriller" are overused, while "Ms.45" sticks to "R" rated material. The real deciding factor that elevates "Ms.45" to greatness compared to "Thriller" is the strategic use of black humor, completely missing in "Thriller" - MERK

I glanced at a couple of Bergman films the other day, but couldn't get into them. This film shows that there is something other than Bergman out of Sweden.I heard that this was a predecessor to Baise-moi, and I wanted to see Christina Lindberg, who I watched recently in Sex & Fury. If you are not looking for a Baise-moi type movie, then there is a R Rated version of this film called They Called Her One Eye.I thought for a moment I was watching Bergman's The Silence, as there was no dialog. Madeliene (Christina Lindberg) never does talk in this film. Things don't move very fast either. It is excruciatingly slow.She is taken by a scumbag (Heinz Hopf) that hooks her on heroin and has her prostitute herself after he stabbed one of her eyes out.She gets Mondays off, and apparently, she manages to use them to learn karate, driving and shooting. Of course, she is still hooked while doing this, which stretches credulity.The sex scenes are raw, and you do not know if she is using a double. Maybe they were just porno clips spliced into the film.Once she is ready, she gets a shotgun, saws it off and seeks revenge. The blood effects were really pathetic. Some of the things just didn't make sense along the way. I guess that is why Bo Arne Vibenius only had a three-film career.