thriller a Cruel picture stolen distribution?

damnit


and I was looking forward to this DVD

This is the first time I've heard about this. As far as I know the DVD doesn't come out until next month. The ownership rights of older indie/foreign films change hands so much that it's pretty easy for something like this to happen. The most infamous incident being the Criterion/Salo debacle and the most recent example being the Media Blasters/Blue Underground Zombi 2 clusterfuck.

If it is true all he has to do is get an attorney and contact Synapse directly. If he does have a legal claim to royalties from the DVD release Synapse will have to get it straightened out ASAP or risk having the plug pulled on the release which is costly and embarrasing. The sad truth is that he might have been taken advantage of by sleazy distributors like several of his peers from that era (NOTLD & TCM, anyone?) and may not have any legal claim to the film anymore. Either way he's wasting his time by contacting movie websites.

So that means that the actual disc is NOT coming out as planned?

Fuck, I was looking forward to getting it.

thanks for posting that...i've been really looking forward to getting my hands on that DVD and i was worried that it wouldnt be happening. good deal. i'll be picking it up on the 28th!

Awesome. Right on, Synapse.

FUCKIN-A and WAY TO GO SYNAPSE!!!!


I'll be getting this and all the while wearing a big smile

I almost bought a bootleg of "They Call Her One-Eye" on Ebay awhile back. Now I guess I'll wait for the DVD. If it comes out....

I get a kick out of tracking down movies that Tarantino suggests. I love to see how one filmmaker is influenced by others. And he told Darryl Hannah to watch One-Eye/Thriller to get some backstory for her Kill Bill character.

Anyone know what version of the film is being released? The U.S. cut was supposedly much tamer than the Euro one.

EDITED TO ADD:
Checked out the Synapse site. This is the complete, unedited version.
http://www.synapse-films.com/shopping_cart/thriller.htm

Ive seen the Euro cut and it had XXX penatration and even a money shot

Nice!

I picked up a copy direct from Synapse at their booth while attending Horrorfind Weekend IV back in August. Even then there was some question as to whether or not the DVD would ever see an actual release. I'd have bought one even if that hadn't been the case though I'll admit it was an incentive. Regardless of legal matters, the DVD is still a limited edition with only 25,000 copies being made. Synapse had these going for $30 at the convention. I believe pre-order from them is currently $29.95 and some companies like Poker are offering it as low as $23.99.

Is the disc worth $30? I'd say so. Like others here I had been tempted to buy a bootleg on eBay after learning about the film through Kill Bill. I'm very glad I didn't. Synapse did a wonderful job restoring the film. The feature looks incredible. The menu system is simple yet effective and really fits the mood of the film. There is an ample helping of extras made most impressive by the origins of the film. It's a wonder that this much material was available. I'd have paid $30 for the extras alone. They're that cool.

Christina Lindberg is gorgeous in the film and the extras. Her innocent beauty being corrupted makes the film all the more powerful in its depiction of a woman driven to extremes. The entire film is actually quite beautiful from a visual standpoint. This thanks a great deal to Synapse's remastering I'm sure. The colors are so vivid and the print so crisp that you'll have trouble believing the film was a low budget foreign effort released in 1974.

If you're wondering about the hardcore it's there. There's a lot of it too. I haven't timed it but there are several sequences with full penetration, vaginal and anal, as well as the aforementioned 'money shot'. It's not pleasant by any means. Is it necessary to the story? Not really. Initially I found the sheer ugliness of it complimentary to the film's realism and the corruption of Lindberg. Eventually it became numbing and defeated the purpose. Actually that's not true. Vibenius’ sole purpose for making this film was to recover from the huge financial flop that his first film had been. He intended to make as blatantly commercial a film as possible. That's the main reason for the inclusion of hardcore.

There was indeed a corpse used for the 'eye gouge'. I doubted this myself while watching the quick edit that appears in the film. All doubt was removed after viewing the extended clip that's included in the extras. Look closely at the area around the eye as well as the eye itself and I'm sure you'll draw the same conclusion.

Sorry if I've rambled on but I've been trying to post this for days while waiting for my membership to be validated. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the film and the DVD since I had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy before most. If you're an exploitation fan and a fan of revenge films, this is a definite must own. The hardcore may be too much for some but others will be able to enjoy the film in spite of its shortcomings.

Thanks for the info. I have pre-ordered mine and I can't wait to see it!

I don't think you'll be disappointed. I certainly wasn't. This was a noble effort with very impressive results. I hope that Synapse will make more efforts along the same lines as what they've done with Thriller.

I recently picked up a dvd called "Horror On 42nd Street", which is a disc of trailers to 70's exploitation movies. There is a trailer for Thriller on there [under the alternative title of "The Hookers Revenge"]. I must say it looks pretty damn intense.

I've read alot about Thriller over the years and thats the great thing about dvd. I'm now finally getting to see all these fucked up movies like Emanuelle In America, Caligula, Erotic Nights Of The Living Dead, etc. Not only do I get to see them, they are all digitally remastered and have extra features - long live dvd! This weird hybrid of horror/violence and hardcore porn is slightly worrying but strangely exciting....

I wouldn't say they "turn me on" but man, they're freaky!

By the way, have you checked out the Night Train dvd on Synapse? Not a complete success but its another gem I was glad to pick up.

There are trailers on the disc for They Call Her One Eye, Hooker's Revenge and Thriller. They Call Her One Eye is such a great title and tagline that it's a shame they didn't do a two disc and include that version.

No I haven't. I just checked Synapse's site for a rundown and it sure seems like something I'd like. I'm a big Film Noir fan. Touch of Evil and Kiss Me Deadly are a couple of my favorites. Night Train looks to be mighty similar. I'll have to track down a copy. Too bad they didn't have any at Horrorfind. I'd probably have liked this one more than Deadbeat at Dawn.

I guess if you order direct from Synapse they'll send it early because mine showed up today. (street date is 9/28) With the exception of the eye gouge the violence was pretty tame but it trumps Emanuelle In America in the smut department. It's not the greatest movie ever but the extras more than make up for it.

I think for most it will come down to how much they like Christina Lindberg. I really dug her and as a result really dug the film. You're right about the violence as there's not a great deal of it by most standards. At least not the conventional sort. I was disappointed at how Tony was dispatched. Considering the pain he'd caused her, you'd think she would've gone to greater extremes to make him suffer.

The scenes when Frigga/Madeleine is exacting her revenge, specifically the shooting scenes, are almost comical in presentation. Vibenius really had a thing for slow-mo. It makes me wonder whether or not he was influenced by Peckinpah and didn't know when to stop. That effect coupled with what apparently was the same scream used over and over again was a lot more humorous than intended I'm sure.

Definitely not the best film ever made but still worth owning for fans who enjoy this sort of thing. Like I said before, I really wish they'd included the American version. I'm guessing that most of the material that had been restored consisted of the hardcore scenes. I'd like to see how well the film plays without them.

Well if you dig Film Noir and exploitation - you should certainly enjoy Night Train.

As for Deadbeat At Dawn, although I love it, it ain't to everyones taste. It's very rough but there's a lot of heart and soul in it, and it shows.

I just got an e-mail from Movietyme and my order is being processed so Thriller should be with me in about a week. Can't fucking wait.

I liked Deadbeat at Dawn well enough but I didn't fall in love with it upon first viewing. Had I rented it first I probably wouldn't have bought a copy. I do appreciate the filmmaker's effort though. Maybe upon repeated viewing I'll come to like it a lot more. Certainly won't be the first time that's happened.

I know what you mean. After reading about it for so long I wasn't quite prepared for how rough it was!

If you like Deadbeat At Dawn the dvd is well worth picking up. But the commentary on the disc actually made me appreciate the film a whole lot more. The more I watch it, the more I can see what Van Bebber was trying to achieve.

The other [short] films on the disc - Chunkblower and the extremely scuzzy My Sweet Satan also come with commentary [although it doesn't say so on the disc] and like I said, they really help you understand the pitfalls of low budget film-making. I was a bit disappointed that Roadkill wasn't included on the disc but you can't have everything.

Slightly off topic - I am looking forward to The Manson Family as well. I recently saw the trailer and man does it look brutal.

I'll take films like Deadbeat At Dawn and Night Train over most mainstream features any day of the week. It's all about the heart and soul that goes into it. I mean, if a film has a budget of 100 million - it has NO right to be bad. It's THAT simple!

Whereas I will be more forgiving with someone like Van Bebber, as his budgets are lower than the catering bill for most mainstream features.

I liked My Sweet Satan. Haven't watched Chunkblower. I haven't gotten around to the Deadbeat commentary yet but I certainly intend to. More than once a good commentary has given me a completely different opinion of a film than my first viewing managed to. Occasionally I find that even if I never grow to love the film I do fall in love with the commentary track.