Anything new on THRILLER-A CRUEL PICTURE / THEY CALL HER ONE EYE makes me smile and puts a spring in my step usually reserved for getting Halloween Costume Sex! Thanks to Genre Archivist and all around UberTrashFan William Wilson, here is a piece that features not just a mention of the film, but quotes in English from Bo Arne Vibenius. This was in VARIETY in May, 1971.
AMAZING!!
Click. Read. Enjoy!
And just because…Here is Christina!
Yes indeed…just when you think you have seen it all, the Holecheck Archive arrives! Here are a few newspaper ads that are for re-issues of THEY CALL HER ONE EYE / THRILLER A CRUEL PICTURE. Click the link right there and it will open my archive on the film for you as well. Incredible stuff, and be sure to thank Bruce by clicking through here and visiting his blog, CINEMA ARCANA! You want to know what is coming on DVD and Blu Ray? This is where you go!
Over the years I’ve written a LOT about Thriller-A Cruel Picture / They Call Her One Eye. The recent photo gallery meme got me to thinking about how to present it in a slightly different way. I find the film very powerful, but is it really the image of Christina Lindberg in a duster and eye patch blowing away scumbags that makes the vengeance taste so sweet?
The easy answer is yes, but director Bo Arne Vibenius’ film is perhaps to easily dismissed as a girl with gun film. The level of desperation and humiliation that Frigga / Madeline suffers with on a minute to minute basis, from her early childhood no less, builds and builds on the viewer until you really have no choice but to want to identify with her violence. This isn’t Paul Kersey in Death Wish, Frigga has had it rough for way to long to not find a way to purge this all out. And she doesn’t take a simple path.
She suffers as she plans not only escape, but total vengeance…and her soul pays the tolls along the highway to that final oblivion she drives off in to at films end. Not only does she lose her parents, but as she ponders her actions in the end, she has lost herself.
But I find this ending hopeful, the Frigga that has run her course is a drug addled and deaf mute victim-what is left is a stronger woman, riding off in to the sunset in a vehicle that suggests authority.
There is not much hope in the VibeniusVerse-wait until I get to Breaking Point-and he would love to have shot Thriller 2 where our “vengeance woman” battles evil terroritsts.
I like to think she found her way back home.
You can’t forget the performance of Christina Lindberg either. At Cinema Wasteland she mentioned the “brilliance of Vibenius” was realizing that she was limited in her acting. Given no dialog at all, Lindberg communicates nothing but raw emotions in her scenes, which are nearly the complete running time. And she does it well.
Thriller also boasts the presence of Heinz Hopf, a man that did not appreciate his villainous typecasting, but if ever there was a character that deserved to have his head detached from his body by getting it tugged off…his Tony would be it.
So, here are scenes that are not about revenge from one of the great revenge films…THRILLER-A CRUEL PICTURE.
Jeremy Mincer of the cool CREEPY IMAGES has a real knack for forging his own poster designs, many of which you can see via his facebook account. As a fan of all things THRILLER-A CRUEL PICTURE I was really impressed by these. Enjoy and check out the Creepy Images website today! Also, don’t forget to peruse my archive of They Call Her One Eye items!
Thanks to Valor for commenting on Thriller/One Eye Archive Annex 4 there is now ANOTHER Thriller placement, this time from Jean Rollin in La Nuit des horloges. Not only is Rollin a favorite director of mine, but he apparently has great taste in Swedish Trash Cinema! Thanks Valor!
My 33rd post for my favorite Swedish trash film…and this one comes thanks to a screengrab from the always awesome Cinezilla in a review of the Norman J. Warren film TERROR. Back when “Chrome” had the rights to Thriller I got a nice note from Mr. Warren about how much he liked Thriller and that he loved that his film was shown on a double feature with it. Well, here is the poster-one I’d LOVE to own. Satan’s Slave is a great film as well-so this would have been a great night of trash cinema in a theatre!
Cinezilla also has a really good review of Thriller right here!
Check it out!
Ah…Thriller-A Cruel Picture! Here are two more bits of interest for the archive (which should provide a lot of material for new readers). This poster is one I have not seen and it is SO groovy that I would love to have one for my wall. My favorite bit here is that the credits go to great length to separate Bo A. Vibenius and Alex Fridolinski!
And then, we have SMURFFER! Vince Corkadel was the man for making great Smurf parody posters (amongst other awesome designs) and this still makes me laugh.
It has been over a year since I updated my archive of materials on Thriller-A Cruel Picture / They Call Her One Eye, and after some digging done looking for my passport I found a big scad of copies and contracts (fah, lots of good those were). Amongst the odds and ends there was a dub/sub script penned by Bo Arne Vibenius for Thriller!
Now, this little document holds a lot of sentimental value for me. Back when I was working 25 hours a day on this film coming out I was somehow given the task of writing the subtitles….and timing them. I can’t say I enjoyed the process, but did get a new appreciation of the finer points of subtitled films and how they work. Character counting, people speaking quickly and condensing phrases…all something that is invisible when done right. I’m not saying I did all that well, but here is what I had to work off of. Thanks also to Fred Anderson for clearing up some finer points and helping out on the translations. My work was passed on to Synapse with everything else on this track and it did get a little cleaning here and there, but by and large I’m always pleased to watch the DVD and remember trying to hack down the dinner sequence to a reasonably easy to read pace.
Also, it is very interesting to look through this and see that Vibenius divided his story into SIX acts. If only there were some title cards on those points… PART SIX – HOOKER POWER REVENGE or something would have been pretty interesting.
Enjoy…and if there is any interest I can publish my version as well.
This beautiful portrait of Christina Lindberg dropped into my mailbox this morning and I wanted to share it straight away. For more artwork by Edward Crosby you can check out his blog and be sure to take a look at the amazing Batman piece!
Thanks Eddy, this is a fantastic addition to the Lindberg Archives!
Another fine entry in the VISIONS OF CHRISTINA LINDBERG series, this time from artist Billy George. While there is certainly a lot to like-I’m totally taken by the BAG in the image. It is too damn cool and somehow manages to not hinder the view any. Be sure to check out the Billy George story in the recent ASYLUM OF HORRORS!
Tomb It May Concern 