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: DVD is EDITED - What Is Wrong With Image Entertainment ?
Review: I cannot believe that IMAGE has released an edited print of Abel Ferrara's great early exploitation flick, MS. 45. What is wrong with them? This 1981 movie about a very shy Manhattan woman who gets raped and abused and eventually fights back was originally released with an R rating and the old VHS release from USA Video was the uncut R rated version as well. So why is the new IMAGE version edited? Not only are both of the rape scenes near the start of the film edited, but the climactic shooting confrontation scene at the end of the movie is also cut. IMAGE calls this the "R-rated" version, but it clearly IS NOT. They should be ashamed to release such a travesty. This DVD has NO EXTRAS (not even a trailer) and it's not even the complete movie! Why even bother? Once again, IMAGE proves that they have no idea what the DVD audience is looking for. Another big "F" in my book.
Rating:
Summary: A Feminist Taxi Driver
Review: I saw Ms. 45 a few months ago and was completely blown away by it. I understand it's been edited, and I assume I saw a version that had been cut. But I can assure you that it's still worth seeing.
Thana is a mute seamstress who is sexually assaulted not once, but twice, on her way home from work. When I read the description, I thought this sounded a bit overly dramatic and far-fetched. However, the way it plays out in the film is very believable, both in the way it is portrayed, and the way it effects Thana in the rest of the film.
Thana is walking home and gets attacked and raped in an alleyway. While we can still see feel genuine sympathy for Thana as the victim, we can also see how truly pathetic the rapist is, in his desperate need to have power over another person. Zoe Tamerlis does not speak, since her character is mute, but suggests more than enough with her facial expressions. Thana is in shock, and returns home to pull herself together. Once she gets to her apartment, she sits down on her bed, and the first thing she sees on the floor is a foreign pair of boots. Another rapist has entered her apartment. She has already been violated on the street where she is vulnerable, and before she is able to recover from the initial shock, she is violated further in her apartment, her own space.
Thana manages to kill the second rapist in her home, and takes his gun with her when she goes out the next day. She disposes of his body by cutting off a piece at a time and dumping it. As the corpse gradually disappears, so does Thana's composure. She begins to use the gun to kill men, first retaliating when she feels threatened, then going out in search of them, using herself as bait.
"Ms. 45" isn't so much of a feminist revenge fantasy as it is a feminist portrait of a victim turned anti-hero. In one scene, Thana walks through a park, and a group of men encircle her with the obvious intention of gang raping her. She surprises them by turning 360 degrees and killing them one by one. However, there are a few instances in which the intentions of the men she kills are not so obvious, and she seems to be killing innocent men as well as would-be rapists. The point of this is not to say that what Thana is doing is right and just, but to show the effects of sexual assault on the female victim. Women and girls who are sexually assaulted and abused by males often feel threatened by all men. This movie illustrates how sexual assault effects how female victims view men and interact with them.
The reason why I call this a feminist film is not because it glorifies her actions of revenge, but because it follows the story of the female victim from beginning to end. In most slasher movies, we usually see one or more women who are killed for voyeuristic purposes, which many feminist film theorists consider mysoginistic. The female victim looks attractive, and keeps the audience entertained by dying a violent death before she is ever developed as an actual character. In "Ms. 45," the male attackers themselves are the ones who never become further developed, and Thana is the one we follow, the one we care about.
Zoe Tamerlis is perfect as the mute Thana. Although she never speaks, her face shows the gradual transformation from shrinking violet to femme fatale killing machine. Portraying Thana as a mute is a brilliant move on part of Abel Ferrera. Rape is the most underreported crime, and Thana's inability to speak symbolizes perfectly a sexual assault victim's inability to express what happened to her.
"Ms. 45" is considered an exploitation movie. If it is, it's the one of the finest, most real, and most sensitive exploitation movies I've ever seen. Feminist exploitation cinema, just like the Jack Hill classic, "Switchblade Sisters."
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: 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: Demented story and lousy acting....
Review: I viewed this movie only out of curiosity and couldn't believe I paid money for it! While "Ms. 45" may have something of a cult following, and Zoe Tamerlis is slightly intriguing in the lead, there are some handicaps the film just can't get past.
Namely - a very implausible story line and some dreadful acting! Tamerlis is raped in broad daylight twice - on the street and in her apartment. And it appears as if she and her co-workers are verbally assaulted by every sleazy male in Manhattan! It got a bit ridiculous after a while and lost all credibility for me once Zoe turned vigilante against anyone male. None of the other players in the film can read a single line to sound convincing. At one point, I wondered if "Ms. 45" was supposed to be a black comedy, but it didn't work whatever the intention was! Not really sure what to make of this very bizarre flick, but I can't recommend it very highly.
Rating:
Summary: YAWN!
Review: IT'S JUST ANOTHER BORING "DEATH WISH" MEETS "DIRTY HARRY" (IN THIS CASE "HARRIET") WANNABE. THE JAZZ SCORE HERE IS AWFUL. ABEL FERRARA DID BETTER LATER ON IN HIS CAREER BUT THIS WAS A SOGGY START. I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT MS. 45 DOES HERE WITH THE NEIGHBOR'S DOG AND THEN THE DOG AT THE END...PUH-LEEZE! WHY DIDN'T ROGER EBERT PUT THIS "DOG" IN HIS NEW BOOK OF BAD REVIEWS?
Rating:
Summary: Best B-movie of the 1980s.
Review: Pay no heed to some of the desciptions of this film as being graphic or unreasonably exploitive. This film is actually,at least in the context of Taxi Driver,a deceptively witty stab at cinematic misogyny that was almost inescapable throughout the very peculiar 1980s. The photography and editing are superb indicating ferrara as a major talent. Unfortunately his work,much like Scorsese's, does tend to be somewhat digested incorrectly by the more meat-headed of movie lovers I could see this DVD sitting on a shelf , unfortunately I might add,next to something along the lines of The Usual Suspects or blecht!Fight club.However the lead's hypnotic almost silent film performance along with the film's hip downtown New York score will keep this one from ever going stale.
Rating:
Summary: VERSION CENSUREE
Review: PERSONNE NE LE DIT CETTE VERSION EST CENSUREE IL MANQUE PLUSIEURS PLANS RAPIDES MAIS NECESSAIRE POUR AMPLIFIER LA FORCE DE CE SUPER FILM C'EST LA MEME CHOSE POUR FEAR CITY
LA SEULE VERSION INTEGRALE DE FEAR CITY ACTUELLEMENT EST UN ZONE 2 EUROPEEN MAIS AUX USA CES DEUX FILMS DE FERRARA NE JUSTIFIENT PAS L'ACHAT
Rating:
Summary: RE:Jeff Nation "nationray2" 's review
Review: RE:Jeff Nation "nationray2"'s review
Zoe Lund died on the 16th April 1999 NOT 1997...and I prefer to have called her a herion addict not a herion junkie...where's your respect?
Colin.
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