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Ms .45

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Ms .45
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAbel Ferrara
Written byNicholas St. John
Produced by
  • Richard Howorth
  • Mary Kane
Starring
CinematographyJames Momel
Edited byChristopher Andrews
Music byJoe Delia
Production
company
Navaron Films
Distributed byRochelle Films (United States)
Warner Bros.[1] (International)
Release date
  • April 24, 1981 (1981-04-24) (United States)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$62,000

Ms .45 (also known as Angel of Vengeance or Ms. 45) is a 1981 American exploitation thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Zoë Tamerlis.

Inspired by films such as Thriller – A Cruel Picture (1973), Death Wish (1974), and Taxi Driver (1976), the film is a rape and revenge story about Thana, a mute woman who becomes a spree killer after she is raped twice in one day when going home from work. It was critically detested on its theatrical release, but is now generally highly regarded among fans of underground[2] and independent film.[3][4]

It was acquired by Alamo Drafthouse Films in October 2013 and remastered in HD from the original negatives. The distributor released the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy in March 2014.[5]

Plot

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While walking home from work, Thana,[a] a mute seamstress in New York City's Garment District, is raped at gunpoint in an alley by a masked attacker. Returning to her apartment, she is raped a second time by a burglar. Thana strikes this second assailant with a small glass apple, then bludgeons him to death with an iron, before carrying his body to the bathtub. The next day at work, Thana goes into shock after watching her boss Albert rip a shirt off a mannequin, which worries her co-workers.

After being sent home, Thana dismembers the burglar's body, keeping his .45 caliber pistol. She places the pieces of the body into plastic garbage bags and stores them in her refrigerator. After cleaning her bathtub, she decides to take a shower, but as she strips, she hallucinates the first attacker in the mirror grabbing her breast, horrifying her. She also notices that organs and body fluids from the burglar are overflowing in the drain. Mrs. Nasone, Thana's nosy neighbor and landlady, begins to notice her odd behavior.

The next day, while disposing of one of the bagged body parts, Thana is noticed by a leering young man on the street. Thinking that she accidentally dropped the bag, he retrieves it, frightening her. He chases her through the alleys of the city and, fearing another sexual assault, she fatally shoots him when she is cornered by him. Following the incident, Mrs. Nasone spots Thana rushing up the stairs and throwing up. She insists on calling a doctor for Thana. Meanwhile, Mrs. Nasone's dog, Phil, starts to become attracted to her refrigerator. Thana escorts her out of her apartment while still in shock.

As the limbs start to attract the attention of the media, Albert brings Thana into his office and invites her to a Halloween party that he is throwing for work, telling her that there will be "many boys there [her] age" while stroking her neck. She responds to him in writing, saying, "I'll try." As her quest of vengeance increases, Thana starts regularly targeting and killing several men, including an arrogant fashion photographer, a pimp who assaults a prostitute, several members of a gang seeking to sexually assault her, a Saudi Arabian businessman and his limousine driver, and even drives a recently dumped salesman to suicide after her gun jams.

Albert notices Thana ditching work after going to dinner with her co-workers, resulting in her co-workers having to finish her work. She promises to go to the party with him in exchange for staying out of trouble for her absence. Thana notices that Phil is attracted to the smell of the burglar's dismembered limbs. She takes Phil for a walk, then ties him to a post in the park. She leaves a note saying that Phil ran away but will probably find his way back home soon.

With Albert, Thana attends the costume party dressed as a nun. Meanwhile, Mrs. Nasone enters Thana's apartment and finds the burglar's dismembered head. She assumes that Thana killed her dog and tells police that she is at a party with her co-workers. At the party, Albert takes Thana upstairs in private and attempts to seduce her. In response, she shoots him. The party stops and her co-workers run upstairs to Thana, but quickly realize that she is the murderer when she steps out of the room with her pistol. Thana begins a shooting spree, targeting many of the men present. Her co-worker Laurie picks up a nearby knife and stabs Thana in the back. Thana turns around and points the gun at Laurie, but hesitates; she screams in pain, "Sister!" then falls to the ground and dies.

Following the party massacre, a tearful Mrs. Nasone attends a memorial for her husband and her dog Phil. Unbeknownst to her, a still-alive Phil makes its way back, scratching at her apartment door.

Cast

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  • Zoë Tamerlis as Thana
  • Albert Sinkys as Albert
  • Darlene Stuto as Laurie
  • Helen McGara as Carol
  • Nike Zachmanoglou as Pamela
  • Abel Ferrara as first rapist (credited as "Jimmy Laine")
  • Peter Yellen as the burglar/second rapist
  • Editta Sherman as Mrs. Nasone
  • Vincent Gruppi as heckler on corner
  • S. Edward Singer as the photographer
  • James Albanese as Nick
  • Bogey the Dog as Phil the Dog

Production

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Abel Ferrara first received the script to Ms .45 in the mail from Nicholas St. John, who scribed the director's previous film, The Driller Killer. While Ferrara has claimed he instantly loved the idea and didn't change a thing from what was sent to him, cinematographer James Lemmo noted that the script itself was rather thin, and screenwriter St. John would occasionally add dialogue as shooting continued.[6] Many years later, star Zoë Tamerlis described how minimal the script was, which she acknowledged was uncharacteristic of Ferrara's later films.[3]

Principal photography for the film took place on location in New York City over the course of four weeks in February and March 1980, often without official filming permits.[7][8]

Reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Ms .45 holds an approval rating of 85% based on 34 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10.[9] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".[10]

Home media

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In 1983, the film was released on VHS by U.S.A. Home Video in its uncut form. Ms .45 was released on DVD in the United States on April 25, 2000, by Image Entertainment, but was re-edited for DVD release. The re-edit removes less than a minute, total. The cuts include changes to the first rape, featuring Ferrara's cameo, which is split by an insert shot from a later scene. The second rape is more drastically cut, omitting the line, "This oughta make you talk, huh?" The climactic Halloween party shootout was also re-cut to remove an onscreen murder, which now occurs offscreen.[11]

The uncut DVD, Blu-ray, and digital copy was released in the US by Drafthouse Films.[12]

[edit]

In the sixth episode of the HBO teen drama Euphoria's first season, the character Kat Hernandez, portrayed by Barbie Ferreira, dresses up as Thana for Halloween.[13]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Thana's name is an allusion to Thanatos, the Greek god of death.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Ms. 45 (1981)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
  2. ^ Pettersson, Ron (August 2002). "The Zoë Lund Cinematheque". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on September 20, 2006. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c Mott, Allan (November 7, 2012). "Pretty in the Past: Zoë Lund". xoJaneUK. Archived from the original on August 2, 2014.
  4. ^ BAM "Indie '80s' film series: 'Decline II,' 'Spinal Tap,' 'River's Edge,' 'Let's Get Lost' & more - BrooklynVegan
  5. ^ Savage, Chris. "Drafthouse Films to Unleash The Visitor and Ms. 45 onto Blu-ray & DVD". horror-movies.ca.
  6. ^ Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra (February 28, 2017). Ms. 45. Columbia University Press. p. 1993. ISBN 978-0-231-85105-3. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  7. ^ Heller-Nicholas, Alexandra (February 28, 2017). Ms. 45. Columbia University Press. p. 1958. ISBN 978-0-231-85105-3. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  8. ^ "Ms .45 (1981)". NYC in Film. May 24, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  9. ^ "Ms. 45". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  10. ^ "Ms. 45". www.metacritic.com. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  11. ^ Bracke, Peter M. "the cut list – Complete archive". DVDFile.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved March 21, 2007.
  12. ^ Cole, Jake (March 23, 2014). "Review: Abel Ferrara's Ms. 45 on Drafthouse Films Blu-ray". Slant Magazine. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
  13. ^ "Why Ms .45 is the perfect Halloween costume for Euphoria's Kat". SYFY Official Site. August 28, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
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