Ángel de la venganza

After leaving work, a lonely mute New Yorker is raped twice in one afternoon. She manages to fight back against the second rapist and kills him with his own gun. She is traumatized and chops up his body and sticks it in the fridge. She tells no one, and is unable to cope with what happened. Soon, she's finding empowerment by using the gun to dispose of any man that may potentially take advantage of her or other women.

I am not a fan of the rape/revenge genre, but this compelling film miraculously manages to avoid exploitation on nearly every level. The rape scenes are disturbing but fortunately not as explicit as in many genre movies. While the content of "Ms. 45" is obviously over-the-top and exaggerated, it manages to retain a sense of dignity that rises above tacky movies like "Baise Moi" and "I Spit on Your Grave." Zoe Lund is incredible as the lead actress, depending on her versatile facial expressions to portray what mental state the character is in.

My Rating: 7.5/10.

Ms. 45 (1981) was an interesting view on the revenge flicks that were popular during the mid 70's to the early 80's. Abel Ferrara and his co-conspirator Nicholas St. John follow the life of a mute dress worker (Zoe Lund) who snaps one day after being raped twice. She kills her last attacker and keeps his gun. After seeing the grim world around her and the loss of her mental faculties, she decides to do a hunting.

A strange but highly enjoyable film that takes exploitation films to a whole new level. The gritty direction by Abel Ferrara and the smart writing from Nicholas St. John elevate this movie above most of the trash that was produced during this time period. The star, Zoe Lund posses some unearthly beauty and she has that certain stuff to make the material work. Not many other actresses could have pulled this off but she some how manages to.

If you can find an uncut version of this movie I advise you to go out and get it. This is one of the best vigilante movies you'll ever watch. I have to highly recommend this film. It's Abel Ferrara doing what he does best. Street level film making!

Step 1: Watch Ms .45

Step2: Read the Wikipedia page for Zoe Lund

Step 3: Watch Ms .45 again, now that you know a little about her. Amazing.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 1/1 Casting - 1/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 1/1 Writing/Screenplay - 1/1

Total Base Score = 5

Modifiers (+ or -) Originality: 1 Standout Performances: 1 ( Zoe Lund )

Total RealReview Rating: 7

...was the musician who was able to make saxophone sounds come out of a trumpet.

In Manhattaan, the mute seamstress Thana (Zoë Tamerlis) is a timid woman that works in the fashion industry and spends most of her idle time at home. One night, she is raped in an alley while going back home after hours and when she arrives at home, she is raped again by another criminal. However, she reacts and kills the assaulter with a flatiron. The disturbed Thana loses her sanity and uses the rapist pistol to kill men on the streets of New York.

"Angel of Vengeance" is a cult-movie by Abel Ferrara with elements of "Death Wish" when a simple woman goes insane after being raped twice in one day and she uses the criminal's gun to kill every man that makes a pass on her. I have just watched this film for the fourth or fifth time on VHS and it has not aged. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sedução e Vingança" ("Seduction and Revenge")

Note: On 12 May 2017, I saw this film again.