Rating: 
Summary: Not your typical feminist revenge film...
Review: Abel Ferrara's second major film (after Driller Killer, also rereleased on DVD), which has just been released on DVD, is the controversial "Ms. 45." The picture transfer is well done, really crisp and clear...you couldn't tell it was made 20 years ago except by hairstyles and clothes. The sound is not the greatest; some parts are hardly audible. And, there are no extras at all in this edition; no trailers, commentary, interviews, nothing. But as for the movie itself, those who are into revenge films will find it a pleasant surprise.The late Zoe Tamerlaine (who has an uncanny resemblance to Denise Richards) stars as Thana, a sexy mute woman, who is the victim of rape and burglary. She survives, killing one of the rapists. But she doesn't call the cops...she instead takes the dead rapist and starts sawing up his body, later disposed in garbage bags. She then takes his 45 caliber, and this is when the movies gets really crazy. Her world becomes very delusional, and Thana starts shooting guys out of paranoia. But progressively she becomes even more trigger happy, and starts to kill any guy who advances on her, even when he is posing no immediate threat to her. The movie climaxes with a very wild, bloody shootout. "Ms. 45" has been quoted as Ferrara's "Taxi Driver"; Ferrara's direction is a less-gritty Scorsese, displaying New York through funny dialogue and scenes. The movie will satisfy gorehounds, and it will keep the viewer interested in this gory black comedy from start to finish. "Ms. 45" has been banned in many countries, and it had to be cut to get an "R" rating. Ferrara's excellent direction is a huge accomplishment this being only his second major film, and it places "Ms. 45" much higher than other feminist revenge films (eg I spit on your grave). After watching this movie, you'll see where they got the idea for "American Psycho"...
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive
Review: This is light years ahead of trash like "I Spit On Your Grave". Although it has a similar rape/revenge story line, "Ms .45" is an intelligent, engrossing and shocking film. The story involves a withdrawn, mute girl who is subjected to a brutal rape in the street. She returns home in shock, only to disturb a burglar, who assaults her again, but this time she hits back and manages to kill him. From this point on her life starts to disintegrate, and the film charts her descent into murdering mayhem. Ferrara manages to portray the characters slide into madness as totally believeable, and Zoe Tamerlis is thoroughly convincing in the role of Thana, despite the fact that she never utters a word. From the initial terror and nightmares following the attack, Thana starts to lash out at every threatening man she encounters, then, acquiring a gun, she begins to stalk the streets, purposely exterminating men in general! The development of her character is fascinating to watch, unlike "I Spit On Your Grave", where the heroine becomes completely emotionless after her experience, and cannot be identified with at all. Despite some very amateur perfgormances from the supporting cast,"Ms .45" is compelling and gruesome viewing, and draws you with it all the way to the final tragic conlusion.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty, Grim Revenge Flick That Thrills
Review: I still vividly remember director Abel Ferrara a decade after I watched "Bad Lieutenant," a devastating cinematic experience about an immoral New York City police officer (played with grim effectiveness by Harvey Keitel) spiraling downward into the depths of drug addiction. Unfortunately, that was one of the few Ferrara films I ever had the opportunity to watch until I recently picked up a DVD copy of "Ms. 45," a 1981 "revenge" film that both intrigues and disgusts its viewers. I should say right here in the beginning that this Image Entertainment version of the film is slightly trimmed in several places, most notably at the end when one of the shooting victims takes a bullet off camera. Why they cut this small piece of the movie is beyond me, especially when they left in most of the other violent killings. Who can say why distributors do what they do, but in a movie like this that delivers plenty of shocks that didn't end up on the editing room floor, cutting anything out of it is unnecessary and annoying. Perhaps another DVD company will release a special edition version of "Ms. 45" with an uncut transfer of the film. "Ms. 45" tells the story of Thana, a mute young woman who works in a clothing shop in New York City. Despite her disability, a disability that her male boss seems to remind her of every chance he gets, Thana does have a one thing going for her; she's pretty to the point of spectacular, although in the beginning of the film her natural shyness and tendency to hover in the background away from her co-workers obscures her looks. Life for this young seamstress looks like it will be a series of uneventful occurrences until the day two attackers rape her. These unfortunate, and to be frank, unlikely incidents cause something inside of Thana to snap. She kills one of her attackers in her apartment and promptly dismembers his body, remembering to take his .45 pistol in the process. What follows is a rampage through the streets of the city, as Thana guns down in cold blood any man who has the temerity to hit on her or annoy her in any way. She murders, by turns, a pimp, an insufferable photographer, several gang members, an Arab sheikh and his chauffer, a guy she meets in a bar, and many other gentlemen who are definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. A curious thing happens to our anti-heroine as she embarks on her bloody sprees: she begins to blossom into full beauty. Thana dresses up, puts on make up, and casts fetching come hither looks at potential victims before the bullets start flying. A big round of applause must go to Zoe Lund, the actress who played the Thana character. Certainly, a script that calls for the lead performer to play a mute must rely on something other than dialogue to propel the movie, and Lund fills the role to a tee with her wonderfully expressive face and doe like eyes. Her silent screams of anguish during the opening rape sequences convey the horror of the situation as well as, if not better than, using vocalized expressions of agony. Lund's transformation into a sexy angel of death is also intriguing to watch. It is quite unfortunate this actress died a few years ago, and even more regrettable that she didn't star in more films. Yes, she's that interesting to watch. "Ms. 45" definitely falls in that loveable 1970s and early 1980s sub genre known as the "revenge" movie. The body count in this movie easily stacks up with anything Charles Bronson produced in his "Death Wish" franchise (with the possible exception of "Death Wish 3"). Ferrara doesn't take the usual route with this film, however, since he fills his picture with plenty of religious and gender imagery. For example, pay attention to the closing sequences of the film, when Thana goes on a rampage at a party. Obviously, her costume for the party is symbolic, but also pay attention to how the lady behind her holds the knife. I could take the opportunity here to present some sort of grand explanation or synthesis of what all of these symbols mean in the context of the movie, but I won't because I don't really know how they all fit together. I do know Ferrara takes his religion seriously (see "Bad Lieutenant," mentioned above), but the spiritual imagery in "Ms. 45" isn't as obvious as it is in the later 1992 Keitel film. The Ferrara canon, if these two films are any indication, cry out for a budding film student with an eye towards writing a master's thesis or dissertation. The DVD version from Image Entertainment falls squarely into the mediocre category. There are no extras for the film: no trailers, no commentaries, no production stills, no cast interviews, and no television spots. The only thing you will find here is a menu screen. At least the transfer quality of the film more than makes up for these shortfalls, as the picture looks great for such a low budget production. The soundtrack really works well with the movie, too. Abel Ferrara continues to direct films, but he may never approach the visceral impact of "Ms. 45." If you enjoy films in the vein of "Death Wish," this winner is definitely up your alley.
Rating:
Summary: And you thought you were having a bad day
Review: I am glad "Ms. 45" is back on the shelf, because for a long time it was hard to find, certainly up here in Canada. This film is superior to "Driller Killer" in every way except for the lead track. Nothing touches the live performance of Tony Coca Cola and the Roosters playing The Grand Street Stomp. It is quite obvious in "Ms. 45" that that is not the sound of a trumpet. Anyway, for those who don't dig this, you can't tell me you can diss it. This, his second film, is night and day between "Driller Killer". What an obvious improvement. I was hoping that the DVD wouldn't be Vanilla and have at least a directors commentary. "Driller Killer's" commentray is legendary. And while you could chalk this up as being the female version of "Death Wish" there are some elements here that make it a true horror flick. For all those who liked "Eating Raoul", this is a must see. Suspension of disbelief is an obvious exercise here, but you won't be disappointed with it if this is your thing. See if you can spot Michael Richards as one of the extras at the Halloween party.
Rating:
Summary: Appreciating the late Zoe Tamerlis
Review: Zoe Tamerlis (also known as Zoe Lund) died a few years back in Paris of an apparent drug overdose. Even though she'd never be a household name, the actress had a cult following in the States -- largely as a result of her debut film, Abel Ferrara's violent Ms. 45. Made when she was only seveteen, Ms. 45 stars Tamerlis as Thana, a young, mute woman who works in New York's garment district and spends her days suffering in forced silence as basically every male on the planet either propositions her or taunts her with sexist comments. (One of the film's more disturbing aspects isn't that not a single positive man makes an appearance but that the male ogres who do show up are all so believable and familiar.) One day, in a coincidence that points to the film's exploitation roots, Thana is raped twice by two different men in one day. After the second rape, the mute Thana finally asserts her independence by killing her attacker and from there, the film's plot shifts into high gear. Thana now starts to roam the streets of New York at night, deliberately enticing men and then, once they respond, gunning them down. In perhaps the film's most famous scene, Thana dresses up as a sexy nun and takes on a street gang. Anyway, Thana becomes progressively more and more unhinged (and since this is an Abel Ferrara film, the New York imagery becomes more and more surreal and Hellish) and goes from shooting just potential rapists to any man who crosses her path. While the plot may make this sound like just another exploitation flick, the film actually has a disturbing intensity to it that makes it, at times, quite disturbing to watch. Ferrara's direction, while stylized, is also far more realistic than most other exploitation films and Tamerlis's amazing performance keeps the film rooted in a very real sense of pain and danger. She is the center of the film and she plays every aspect of her character with such force and credibility that its hard not to get sucked into her fractured reality. And its a reality that stays with you long after the film is over.
Rating: 
Summary: more low-budget rape & revenge from the early 80's
Review: "Ms. 45" is a movie that's well-made and transfixing in some ways, but also shallow and typical of the popular 'revenge' genre. The one major twist that sets this apart from other movies--"I Spit on Your Grave," for instance--is that the beautiful female victim who is raped 2x just happens to be mute. For a while, it's interesting to see her as she stalks the streets of New York, killing specimens of male scum entirely at random, until she snaps in a surreal Halloween-party sequence. "Ms. 45" gets extra mileage out of its female lead (Zoe Tamerlis)--it's interesting to imagine what her world must be like. But unfortunately, even this interesting character winds up being just another screw-loose vigilante because the script's aspirations are too lowbrow. Abel Ferrara is a talented director (certainly better than ISoYG's Meir Zarchi) and this movie kept my attention, but it probably won't take long to fade from my memory. On a technical level, the version I rented was actually a bootlegged copy of the film with sludgy, near-unwatchable picture quality, so maybe that's a negative influence. If you can find a good copy of "Ms. 45," it's worth checking out at least once.
Rating:
Summary: Not your typical feminist revenge film...
Review: Abel Ferrara's second major film (after Driller Killer, also rereleased on DVD), which has just been released on DVD, is the controversial "Ms. 45." The picture transfer is well done, really crisp and clear...you couldn't tell it was made 20 years ago except by hairstyles and clothes. The sound is not the greatest; some parts are hardly audible. And, there are no extras at all in this edition; no trailers, commentary, interviews, nothing. But as for the movie itself, those who are into revenge films will find it a pleasant surprise. The late Zoe Tamerlaine (who has an uncanny resemblance to Denise Richards) stars as Thana, a sexy mute woman, who is the victim of rape and burglary. She survives, killing one of the rapists. But she doesn't call the cops...she instead takes the dead rapist and starts sawing up his body, later disposed in garbage bags. She then takes his 45 caliber, and this is when the movies gets really crazy. Her world becomes very delusional, and Thana starts shooting guys out of paranoia. But progressively she becomes even more trigger happy, and starts to kill any guy who advances on her, even when he is posing no immediate threat to her. The movie climaxes with a very wild, bloody shootout. "Ms. 45" has been quoted as Ferrara's "Taxi Driver"; Ferrara's direction is a less-gritty Scorsese, displaying New York through funny dialogue and scenes. The movie will satisfy gorehounds, and it will keep the viewer interested in this gory black comedy from start to finish. "Ms. 45" has been banned in many countries, and it had to be cut to get an "R" rating. Ferrara's excellent direction is a huge accomplishment this being only his second major film, and it places "Ms. 45" much higher than other feminist revenge films (eg I spit on your grave). After watching this movie, you'll see where they got the idea for "American Psycho"...
Rating:
Summary: And you thought you were having a bad day
Review: I am glad "Ms. 45" is back on the shelf, because for a long time it was hard to find, certainly up here in Canada. This film is superior to "Driller Killer" in every way except for the lead track. Nothing touches the live performance of Tony Coca Cola and the Roosters playing The Grand Street Stomp. It is quite obvious in "Ms. 45" that that is not the sound of a trumpet. Anyway, for those who don't dig this, you can't tell me you can diss it. This, his second film, is night and day between "Driller Killer". What an obvious improvement. I was hoping that the DVD wouldn't be Vanilla and have at least a directors commentary. "Driller Killer's" commentray is legendary. And while you could chalk this up as being the female version of "Death Wish" there are some elements here that make it a true horror flick. For all those who liked "Eating Raoul", this is a must see. Suspension of disbelief is an obvious exercise here, but you won't be disappointed with it if this is your thing. See if you can spot Michael Richards as one of the extras at the Halloween party.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty, Grim Revenge Flick That Thrills
Review: I still vividly remember director Abel Ferrara a decade after I watched "Bad Lieutenant," a devastating cinematic experience about an immoral New York City police officer (played with grim effectiveness by Harvey Keitel) spiraling downward into the depths of drug addiction. Unfortunately, that was one of the few Ferrara films I ever had the opportunity to watch until I recently picked up a DVD copy of "Ms. 45," a 1981 "revenge" film that both intrigues and disgusts its viewers. I should say right here in the beginning that this Image Entertainment version of the film is slightly trimmed in several places, most notably at the end when one of the shooting victims takes a bullet off camera. Why they cut this small piece of the movie is beyond me, especially when they left in most of the other violent killings. Who can say why distributors do what they do, but in a movie like this that delivers plenty of shocks that didn't end up on the editing room floor, cutting anything out of it is unnecessary and annoying. Perhaps another DVD company will release a special edition version of "Ms. 45" with an uncut transfer of the film. "Ms. 45" tells the story of Thana, a mute young woman who works in a clothing shop in New York City. Despite her disability, a disability that her male boss seems to remind her of every chance he gets, Thana does have a one thing going for her; she's pretty to the point of spectacular, although in the beginning of the film her natural shyness and tendency to hover in the background away from her co-workers obscures her looks. Life for this young seamstress looks like it will be a series of uneventful occurrences until the day two attackers rape her. These unfortunate, and to be frank, unlikely incidents cause something inside of Thana to snap. She kills one of her attackers in her apartment and promptly dismembers his body, remembering to take his .45 pistol in the process. What follows is a rampage through the streets of the city, as Thana guns down in cold blood any man who has the temerity to hit on her or annoy her in any way. She murders, by turns, a pimp, an insufferable photographer, several gang members, an Arab sheikh and his chauffer, a guy she meets in a bar, and many other gentlemen who are definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. A curious thing happens to our anti-heroine as she embarks on her bloody sprees: she begins to blossom into full beauty. Thana dresses up, puts on make up, and casts fetching come hither looks at potential victims before the bullets start flying. A big round of applause must go to Zoe Lund, the actress who played the Thana character. Certainly, a script that calls for the lead performer to play a mute must rely on something other than dialogue to propel the movie, and Lund fills the role to a tee with her wonderfully expressive face and doe like eyes. Her silent screams of anguish during the opening rape sequences convey the horror of the situation as well as, if not better than, using vocalized expressions of agony. Lund's transformation into a sexy angel of death is also intriguing to watch. It is quite unfortunate this actress died a few years ago, and even more regrettable that she didn't star in more films. Yes, she's that interesting to watch. "Ms. 45" definitely falls in that loveable 1970s and early 1980s sub genre known as the "revenge" movie. The body count in this movie easily stacks up with anything Charles Bronson produced in his "Death Wish" franchise (with the possible exception of "Death Wish 3"). Ferrara doesn't take the usual route with this film, however, since he fills his picture with plenty of religious and gender imagery. For example, pay attention to the closing sequences of the film, when Thana goes on a rampage at a party. Obviously, her costume for the party is symbolic, but also pay attention to how the lady behind her holds the knife. I could take the opportunity here to present some sort of grand explanation or synthesis of what all of these symbols mean in the context of the movie, but I won't because I don't really know how they all fit together. I do know Ferrara takes his religion seriously (see "Bad Lieutenant," mentioned above), but the spiritual imagery in "Ms. 45" isn't as obvious as it is in the later 1992 Keitel film. The Ferrara canon, if these two films are any indication, cry out for a budding film student with an eye towards writing a master's thesis or dissertation. The DVD version from Image Entertainment falls squarely into the mediocre category. There are no extras for the film: no trailers, no commentaries, no production stills, no cast interviews, and no television spots. The only thing you will find here is a menu screen. At least the transfer quality of the film more than makes up for these shortfalls, as the picture looks great for such a low budget production. The soundtrack really works well with the movie, too. Abel Ferrara continues to direct films, but he may never approach the visceral impact of "Ms. 45." If you enjoy films in the vein of "Death Wish," this winner is definitely up your alley.
Rating:
Summary: This DVD release is edited.
Review: This version has been edited. The film was released in 1981 with a MPAA rating of X. Current distributors of this film have released the R version. Two minutes of the film are cut (rape scenes). The original can be found on VHS only by Xenon Entertainment. They are out of print but copies can be found ... The lead character (Zoe Lund) in this film also wrote the screenplay for "Bad Leutinant" with Harvey Keitel and she is in a scene in that movie also. Zoe Lund died in 1997 at 37 years old and was a herion junkie.
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