It's the Death Wish of sex and gender. The plot follows a very similar pattern to Death Wish, but the ambitions are somewhat different. Ms. 45 uses black humor, and employs symbolism liberally - most notably the protagonist's muteness - in a bid to say meaningful things about gender relations. You don't really walk away from this with any valuable insights, but it's fairly entertaining and manages to express a certain atmosphere regarding gender that was prevalent at the time.

For an 'exploitation' film, this isn't so bad. It's predictably slight and campy and obviously not really saying much, but still rather enjoyable. Still, if you're looking for something subtler and more substantial, you'd be better off watching Repulsion.

Early on the mute girl, that works at a high fashion women's clothing designer but tends to blend in with the background, kills a rapist by hitting him in the head...with an iron. So I guess it does say something about gender and sex roles after all. I could have sworn this was just a piece of exploitation cinema that merely wanted an excuse to show a hot girl (dressed as a nun) with a gun.

With a style that brings De Palma's sexy-and-bloody stuff to his decadent NY, Ferrara frames a story of a mute girl turned psycho in a fashion that demands some respect: there is a Polanski's Repulsion thing about this young woman that can't talk or complain; she exists only to hear, listen, receive. For men, she's just meat, like Repulsion's girl. Eventually, she will answer -- out loud, with a .45 firing bullets and fears towards these rude men.

The bastard child of Repulsion and Death Wish.

For such screwed-up subject matter it's pretty compelling and very watchable.

Death Wish with a female protagonist. Totally entertaining with greasy scumballs getting wasted by a hot chick dressed like a nun.

Seriously insane. Imagine a cross between _Repulsion_ and _Death Wish_

Furious, sad and stylish, this early Ferrara-flick packs a punch. Dynamic, absorbing and raw.

Okay Movie

Ms. 45: 8 // 8 // 7 // 7 // 10 // 7 // 8

the saddest thing about this movie was the way it was like a crippled cowhand on a dude ranch for idiots: it kept on straddling the fence of enjoyability, only to fall off time after time, and drunkenly drag itself back on. I imagine that if there had been production values attached to this affair, and it weren't approached in post-production like some filthy 1970s porno, it might've been a good companion film to Taxi Driver. Not so, however.