L'ange de la vengeance

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

A shy and mute seamstress (Zoe Lund) goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York after dark and randomly kills men with a .45 caliber gun.

The director, Abel Ferrara, who would go on to make other genre films, with this one featuring a cast of people you likely never heard of performing just as well as "real" stars would. Ferrara himself appears under another name as a rapist, and Steve Dash also appears under another name, though Dash is hardly a notable figure.

The eerie music is reminiscent of Italian horror, which struck me as beautiful and perfect for such a film. Really, this is a very slick production and a much more enjoyable film than "I Spit on Your Grave". While "Grave" is the best known of the revenge films, and the one that really started the subgenre, this one just looks better. With all due respect to Meir Zarchi and Camille Keaton, this one should get more praise than it does.

I love that the insult "get bent" is used... its employment is not nearly often enough these days. I also appreciated the free advertising for the P. Chimento trucking company of Patchogue, New York. This, more than anything else, really shows that the film was made in New York City, as anyone from outside the area will have no idea what it is.

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the human "death instinct", which leads people to take risks, seek thrills or behave destructively in ways that could lead to death. Was this intentional? I have no idea. But it is fitting.

The 1970s were THE decade for American exploitation movies with the likes of Roger Corman, Jack Hill, and Larry Cohen Jr creating some of the most entertaining trash ever made. For the most part the 1980s were a big let down in this department. Porkys-like sex comedies and awful buddy action movies and the like generally failed to reach the heights of the glory days of A.I.P. There were a few exceptions ('Chained Heat', 'Maniac' and 'The Exterminator' immediately spring to mind), and 'Ms.45 ' (a.k.a. 'Angel Of Vengeance') is in my mind THE single best exploitation movie of the decade. Abel Ferrara, who later made brilliant movies like 'Bad Lieutenant' and 'The Funeral', had previously made a porno movie and the infamous "video nasty" 'The Driller Killer' before this, which could well be the best rape revenge movie ever made. Ferrara's genius touch was the casting of the late Zoe Tamerlis. She is stunningly beautiful and her face is very expressive. Making her character mute makes the movie an unforgettable experience. It's really difficult trying to "sell" this stunning movie to someone. You'll either love it or you just won't "get it". I think it works very well as a post-'Death Wish' vigilante movie, but just as 'The Driller Killer' is more than "just" a slasher, this movie has a lot more to it, and that is almost completely down to Zoe Tamerlis. 'Ms. 45' might be b-grade trash to many, but it is uncompromised, something you very rarely see these days. I think it stands alongside 'Repo Man', 'Videodrome', 'Blue Velvet', 'The Evil Dead', 'The Ninth Configuration', 'Raising Arizona' and 'The King Of Comedy' as one of the most extraordinary movies released in a decade dominated by mediocre popcorn movies forced on viewers by Spielberg, Lucas, Hughes, Bruckheimer and Simpson.

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

This is one of those uniquely offbeat, low budget B grade productions that is actually very entertaining in its own, well . . . unique way.

Among some, this has become a sort of cult classic, and I can see why.

Is this for everyone? Possibly not, but in its own context of subject matter, story, aesthetic and quasi indie production style, this could easily be seen as one of those rare gems that just seems to have that right mix for an eclectic film experience.

The basic story is our lead character Thana, played by the astonishingly beautiful Zoe Lund, who works in a NYC garment district fashion sweat shop as her day job, and as part of that day job has to walk the daily gauntlet of leering and taunting male lowlifes, with the usual assortment of catcalls, "hey baby" one liners and all that. Her female sweat shop co-workers have thicker skin, flipping off the usual assortment of male taunting scumbags as part of their daily routine, but Thana is a bit more . . . sensitive.

Not to make light of the actual reality of sexual harassment, this is the extreme example of such lowlife BS inflicted upon women.

But final straw for Thana was getting raped, twice in the same day . . . that part of the film is genuinely painful to watch.

At which point, Thana, who manages to get a gun from the 2nd rapist, who she dispatched to the next world during said rape, decides she has a mission in this world, and embarks upon such with steely determination.

Of course, there have been numerous other films with this same basic story concept, Jodie Foster's "the Accused" perhaps being my favorite choice in this genre', but this particular production has it's own unique character which sets it apart from the others.

Yes, there is some gore (well, a lot of gore), but it's not in your face raw meat scenes, more like implied gore as a consequence of what's being portrayed, with a few vignettes worth noting (serving the ground up remains of her 2nd rapist to the nosy neighbor's dog being a memorable example thereof).

The entire aesthetic of this production is very 1980s NYC; grimy, gritty, attire, attitudes and settings of the time.

In any case, I'd say this is definitely worth checking out. The story goes a bit off the rails in the ending grand finale scenes, but even as over the top as such may be, it does seem to fit the overall ambiance in its own way.

Corny, low budget . . . and very entertaining, definitely 7 star material.