A quiet girl, Madeleine, is sexually assaulted as a child, and the trauma makes her mute. One day when she is older she accepts a ride from a man, Tony, who makes her a heroin addict, and then becomes her pimp. To hide the fact that she was kidnapped, the pimp writes hateful letters to her parents who become so distraught they commit suicide. At one point, she is stabbed in the eye for refusing a client. Madeleine then begins saving money to purchase a car to escape and take lessons in driving, shooting, and martial arts in order to take revenge.
Director Bo Arne Vibenius sought to make "the most commercial film ever made", as he had lost money on an earlier film, and needed to recuperate his loss. Rumors allege that the filmmakers used an actual corpse during the film's eye gouging scene, which has since become controversial because of these rumors. Hardcore pornographic sequences were edited into the film to profit off of the trend of pornography in Denmark and Sweden, which was being liberalized at the time. In Daniel Ekeroth's book on Swedish exploitation movies, , it is revealed that the producers took out a huge life insurance policyon star Christina Lindberg, as real ammunition was used in the action sequences, and that she was asked to inject saline solution during the drug scenes.
Release
The original running time was 107 minutes. After being banned by the Swedish film censorship board, it was cut down to 104 minutes and then 86 minutes, but still banned. It was finally released after being cut down to 82 minutes. In the United States it had also been cut to 82 minutes.
Reception
TV Guide rated the film three out of four stars, writing, "Not for the fainthearted, or the easily bored, this brutal and depressing film nevertheless is not easily forgotten." Time Out gave the film a negative review, criticizing the film's overuse of slow motion, hardcore scenes, and soundtrack, stating that it fails to leave the lingering emotional impact of its convictions. A.H. Weiler from The New York Times offered the film similar criticism, calling it "dreary", and cited Lindberg as the film's only notable aspect.
Legacy
Thriller – A Cruel Picture was marketed as the first film ever to be completely banned in Sweden, although the first one actually was Victor Sjöström's The Gardener from 1912. It has received a cult following and was one of the inspirations behind Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, specifically for the character of Elle Driver.
