the plot: Rendered mute after being molested as a young girl, Frigga (Lindberg) has spent most of her life being treated by doctors and psychologists. She misses the bus to her doctor's appointment one day and is picked up by Tony (Hopf). He seems like a great guy, but after a gourmet dinner Tony takes Frigga back to his place and drugs her. During the next two weeks, Tony hooks her on smack, breaks her spirit and turns her into a hooker. She remains defiant, however, clawing the face of her first client; in retaliation, Tony pokes out her eye. Frigga quietly accepts her fate, slowly building up a stash of money and planning escape. In her off time, she takes martial arts lessons, becomes an expert marksman and learns to drive like Steve McQueen. Her training complete, Frigga stocks up on bullets and rides into town to dole out righteous vengeance to her tormentors.

why it's good: Quentin Tarantino reportedly called Thriller "the roughest revenge movie ever made," which can be taken as either high praise or a word of warning. In fact, Kill Bill borrows quite heavily from Thriller. I've seen more than my fair share of gory, ultra-violent films, but Thriller left me feeling more than a little uncomfortable, not because of the cruel violence but because of the entirely gratuitous hardcore sex that peppers the first 45 minutes of the film. It's hard to watch, especially because Lindberg's portrayal is so convincing. Once Frigga starts exacting revenge, however, there's actually very little shocking about it. While the action scenes are a bit of a relief, they end up being rather annoying because director Vibenius shoots everything in super slow motion, dragging out a 30-second fight to five minutes. Toward the end, the violence spirals out of control-cars start exploding for no reason and Frigga challenges Tony to a duel-and Thriller becomes tolerable, campy fun.

why you should own it: If you're a fan of gritty 1970s exploitation films, Synapse Films recently released the film in a fully restored, uncut, unrated version. The DVD is packed with extras, including unused scenes restored from the original film, trailers, and a still gallery. Thriller isn't for everyone, though. All but the most dedicated trash-cinema aficionados should probably just avoid it.