Another recovered item from the ‘no-one should be allowed to partake of these visions’ bin, Thriller combines mid-seventies art-violence with heavy doses of degradation and a bit of cheap porn. No wonder the film met total resistance in its original form, the form that we can now watch on DVD thanks to Synapse.
Thriller is the first Dutch- slo-mo-exploitation frenzy from two-time sex-violence exploitationist Bo Vibenius (the other being the also seldom-seen Breaking Point). For one reason or another, Bo’s career took a sharp turn away from directing after these sex-and-death epics. But despite (at best) cultural indifference or more likely shunning of sex-violence pics, they have a storied tradition, including the movie that launched a thousand rape-revenge meditations, The Virgin Spring.
Thriller, overlong and uneven in tone, does its best to live up to that tradition, and in some ways succeeds.
Our heroine suffers a rape as a child that renders her mute. A bucolic recovery as a farm girl is for naught, however, as the minute she sets out for the city she’s forcibly addicted to heroin and turned into a sex-slave. Balking at her fate, a rebellious move gets her eye poked out in a scene that rightfully earns speculation (backed up by the lead actress) that a real corpse was used to ‘create the effect.’
Then she gets screwed a bunch by her ‘clients’ in famous hardcore scenes that will leave you feeling your sleaziest.
Carefully considered surreptitious training enables her to escape her drugged, sex-slavery and go on a slo-mo killing spree that sets a new mark for trance-inducing cheap violence. The scenes of revenge are hypnotically poetic, base and cheap all at the same time, and feature echoing, reverb-laden music that proves the serious intent behind the sensationalist goings-on.
Thriller represents another “will I ever see it” legend brought to light by the kind folks at Synapse releasing.
For exploitation fans seeking a little justification with their shameful thrills, this cruel picture delivers.
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| The innocence will last about five seconds. |
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| If they call her One-Eye, she'll kill them. |
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| Stylish violence to go with a stylish outfit. |