Michael_Elliott
Ms. 45 (1981)*** (out of 4)Abel Ferrara's controversial story of the mute Thana (Zoe Tamerlis) who is raped one day when she's walking home. Things get even worse when she gets home as there's an intruder there who rapes her again, although this time she manages to kill him. These attacks set something off in Thana who soon hits the streets with a 45 and begins killing off men.The first time I watched this film I saw it simply as a female version of DEATH WISH. In a lot of ways those two films share a lot in common but I think I was being a bit harsh in playing this off as just some sort of rip-off because there's actually quite a bit going on here. For starters, the best thing about the picture is the bizarre nature of the film, which comes from the direction of Ferrara who perfectly nails what this film is trying to do. For me, the film works as a very dark and rather disturbing tale of someone who has something tragic happen to them and they simply lose their mind.What I like about MS. 45 is that so many things go unanswered. We never know how she gets the gun. How she keeps coming up with bullets. We don't know why she doesn't tell the police after the original rapes. The character doesn't speak a word throughout the movie and we never fully know why she's doing the things that she is. Not having anything explained actually works in the film's favor and especially the way Ferrara dives into her mental state as the picture moves along and the killing's increase.A lot of credit also has to go to Tamerilis who does a terrific job in the lead role. I thought she was terrific in the part as one of the hardest things to do as an actor is to give a performance without being able to use words. As a silent performances she's quite wonderful here as she gives a full range of emotions and even without words you constantly know how she's feeling. The supporting cast is also quite good including Ferrara in his quick cameo.MS. 45 isn't a flawless movie but it perfectly captures a rather sleazy New York and as a character study it really delivers.
Blake Peterson
The girls-with-guns fetish is a major erotic element in the exploitation genre, so much so that it's hard to imagine a one-sheet movie poster for a low-budgeted action flick without one. The most notable, including (but not limited to) "They Call Her One Eye", "Foxy Brown", and "Hannie Caulder", were bonkers revenge beasts that pushed the boundaries of already boundary pushing territory — and 1981's "Ms. 45" is arguably the sensational peak of the juxtaposing subgenre. The third film of exploitation-to-slightly-mainstream sensation Abel Ferrara ("Bad Lieutenant", "Body Snatchers"), "Ms. 45" is an explosive portrait of a serial killer, disguised as a luscious ode to the earlier, more substantial revenge flicks of the 1970s.Though it has Ferrara's greasy fingerprints smeared all over it, "Ms. 45" is Zoë Lund's show — an ethereal beauty with looks just as comparable to Lauren Bacall as they are to an alien women from a distant planet, Lund plays Thana, a mute seamstress who lives alone in a dumpy apartment on the bad side of town. Day after day, she and her female co-workers are harassed by street punks who catcall with underlying threat. While her peers have the ability to flip the bird at a potential predator or throw out an insult to make the message clear, Thana is forced to remain quiet, giving most the idea that she likes the constant coos. One particularly rough day, she is raped at gunpoint in an alleyway by a sadistic masked goon, who gets away before she can contact the authorities. Beaten up and understandably traumatized, she barely makes it up to her apartment. Only seconds into gathering her thoughts and understanding the reality of the situation, though, she finds herself in the presence of yet another attacker, who coincidentally hid in the flat during her horrifying walk home. He too proceeds to sexually assault her, but he doesn't get away with it — while under duress, Thana grabs a nearby glass fixture and slams it against his head, killing him instantly.A few paranoid encounters later (though none of them nearly as serious as her prior two damaging experiences), Thana goes from silent victim to femme fatale, embarking on a path of revenge with eyes set only on the male sex. Only she doesn't murder in self- defense — she targets men violent toward women, men showing care for women, and men just walking around and, you know, being men. Like Catherine Deneuve in 1965's "Repulsion", she is little more than a maniac on the loose; but her bloody journey is one of extreme piquancy, unjustifiable yet magnificently cathartic. Thana's quest acts as a sort of metaphor for the crushing societal norm of male dominance, playing out like a potential scenario if women stopped taking unwanted come-ons and didn't let rape become an undiscussed taboo, thus avenging the wrongs done to them by a culture that accepts inequality.But this is only a passing analyzation, considering "Ms. 45" was made as a violent exercise in cinema, laced in sadomasochism, gritty street danger, and visual eroticism. N.G. St. John's screenplay is extremely simplistic, setting up an abundance of climactic scenarios and allowing Lund to do most of the heavy lifting; and aside from a myriad of visual exultations (the rainy noir texture of Thana's first moonlit mass killing, the shot reminiscent of Woody Allen's "Manhattan", the harrowing finale, which is a slow-motion account of a massacre at a Halloween party during which Thana masquerades as a killer nun), Ferrara mostly does the same. Lund's expressive face, lit with, as Janet Maslin puts it, "exoticism of the fashion-magazine kind", tells a story all on its own, beginning with a meek innocence and morphing into something savage akin to Jean Gillie in "Decoy". It's impossible to take one's eyes off of her otherworldly facsimile. So simultaneously virginal and deadly, it makes her actions all the more terrifying.Ridiculed upon release, it's a blessing that "Ms. 45" finally received the notoriety it deserved after Drafthouse Films put a spotlight on its low-budget shocks once again in 2013. Though hardly a masterpiece, it is an exploitation piece of the highest quality, unforgettable and thoughtfully made.
Prismark10
Ms.45 is a low budget flick from cult director Abel Ferrara. We are back to the seedy streets of late 1970s/early 1980s New York where lurking in every corner are rapists, muggers and assorted bad guys.Zoe Lund plays Thana, a mute seamstress in the garment district who gets raped twice in one day and slowly goes mad and goes hell bent on a revenge spree very much in the vein of Death Wish and The Exterminator.The plain looking Thana transforms to a more erotic looking vixen as she actively seeks out men to punish, hence why she is Ms .45 because of her gun.The climax of the movie is a fancy dress party where even men genuinely interested in Thana's well being are in danger as she loses all control.The version of the film I saw had been cleaned up for Blu Ray, although the grimy New York of the time only got cleaned up by subsequent Mayors of the city who realised the value of the tourist dollars.The film is rather raw, some of the acting is uneven. Zoe Lund is a marvel as the vulnerable Thana.Abel Ferrara was well known in the early 1980s for his video nasties but that label is unfair to him. He really did make the best he could with meagre resources, genre films with a feminist bent.
