10 Sleaziest Films You've Never Seen

Former Penthouse Pet Christina Lindberg might seem an unusual choice to portray a mute village girl forced into prostitution, but her onscreen vulnerability means she’s well-cast as a doe-eyed innocent who transforms into a passionless aggressor. If her character looks familiar, that’s because Quentin Tarantino took inspiration from it to create Kill Bill’s Elle Driver, even suggesting Darryl Hannah watch the movie, which prompted the actress to complain she’d been set a porno for homework.

You can see why Thriller would appeal to Tarantino: it’s avant-garde exploitation, a one-of-a-kind picture whose mixture of Sam Peckinpah-ish violence, graphic sex scenes and arty minimalism displays a greater intent than to appeal to the lowest common denominator. It’s a draining experience, to be sure, but it’s also an unforgettable one, to which the words “bleak” and “uncompromising” do not do justice.

While its presentation of sex is so unarousing as to deter cheap thrill seekers, however, the climactic confrontations are shot and staged with arthouse flair, all slow-motion and experimental music. As Lindberg takes revenge on her pimp, there’s no just desserts satisfaction or any feeling that justice has been done, just a sense that revenge has been served as coldly as possible.