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Ms .45

Ms .45

1981
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
1h 20m
A shy and mute seamstress 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. (imdb)
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Ms .45

1981
Drama, Suspense/Thriller
1h 20m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 57.88% from 551 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(551)
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Rated 06 Jun 2014
69
59th
I like the nature of the vengeance in this one, which seems an odd thing to write, but like Death Wish, there's no real hope of exacting personal revenge. There is just simply anger and a refusal to be a victim. Also, kudos to Abel Ferrara, who looked around, did some casting, then decided the only guy who could play the first rapist was himself.
Rated 08 Jul 2016
90
92nd
Never visit New Rape City during Rapetober! Everyone knows this!!
Rated 13 Mar 2014
75
73rd
Pretty damn awesome. Zoe Lund is terrific as Thana and the music is fantastic! The obvious comparisons of Repulsion meets Death Wish are bang on, with a good dash of Taxi Driver thrown in.
Rated 02 Jan 2012
60
41st
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.
Rated 30 Jun 2014
73
92nd
Best superhero film evar.
Rated 28 Apr 2012
82
88th
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.
Rated 09 Feb 2016
40
26th
Whatever films are supposed to have inspired this, it is really a structurally identical female version of TAXI DRIVER: traumatised (by rape rather than Vietnam), the protagonist withdraws from the world in a puritanical rejection of corruption, repressing her own sexuality and disgusted by sex-obsessed New York City, a personality schism that leads her to murder, culminating in a spectacular slow-motion massacre. But here the quality of filmmaking, and level of insight, are far inferior.
Rated 28 Sep 2020
65
42nd
Decided to read the Wikipedia article on Zoë Lund, and oh boy, that was a trip.
Rated 19 Jun 2007
95
90th
Seriously insane. Imagine a cross between _Repulsion_ and _Death Wish_
Rated 26 Apr 2008
90
91st
Furious, sad and stylish, this early Ferrara-flick packs a punch. Dynamic, absorbing and raw.
Rated 08 Jun 2009
68
26th
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.
Rated 13 Aug 2010
5
69th
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. The landlady, however, is the most obnoxious person ever and hearing her speak is more unpleasant than watching the rape scenes.
Rated 03 Jul 2011
65
41st
The bastard child of Repulsion and Death Wish.
Rated 24 Nov 2013
54
23rd
For starters, Ms 45. has the most annoying neighbour since Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's. A few classic inner-city NY locations interwoven between different grades of awful men being slain by a dolled up Mute. Has glimmers of style & its immersing moments but there's not much depth between.
Rated 18 Jan 2014
81
74th
Hard to place and a lot to sink in. Manages to take a rape revenge story and avoid a lot of the pitfalls of films like Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or I Spit On Your Grave - that is, Ms. 45 doesn't revel in the rape. Regardless, it's well-made horror. There's an absolutely brilliant twist on the famous Brooklyn Bridge shot from "Manhattan."
Rated 28 Jan 2014
4
70th
Makes chauvinist creepiness seem almost like a pretty good reason for killing - until it becomes clear that the titular Ms .45 is absolutely deranged. It's a lot like Repulsion in that regard (which Ferrara quotes directly), only with a layer of 80s sleaze applied liberally to its psych-horror trappings. It's kinda silly at points (especially that party at the end), and the landlady is screechingly obnoxious, but it's admirably succinct and gritty.
Rated 19 May 2014
90
88th
1 of the most surprising revenge flicks ever. Forces the viewer to not only assess its traumatized protagonist's actions, but the worthiness of her victims. By the time the thrilling slo-mo finale arrives Ms. 45 has morphed into a comic book-style avenging angel, but since Ferrara has never done anything as simple as let her be entirely heroic, or softened his portrait of the one-track minds of men & the less-than-flattering portrait they add up to, none of it ever feels predictable or routine.
Rated 29 Nov 2015
75
59th
I saw this film when I discovered the LP of the score for £8, brand new. The night after watching it, I took a tube straight to the shop where it was being sold, and bought it. That same day I went to the photo lab in my college and one of the guys noticed the LP in my bag. He told me he knew of it from a book he had stashed away about exploitation cinema, and then told me a story about how his uncle used to own some rights to Deep Throat until the local mafia forced him to give it up.
Rated 07 Nov 2020
37
25th
Zoë Lund is absolutely gorgeous, but stupidly, her character is written to be a mute who can't whisper. She's often just blank. Rapes destroy her mental state and she sees all men as attackers. She uses her beauty to lure them. Most of the supporting cast was absolutely terrible. It's on-par with poor 1982 quality standards. I particularly disliked the asinine man in the park and obnoxious nosey neighbor scenes. Overall, it was watchable but not very satisfying.
Rated 17 May 2010
60
54th
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.
Rated 14 Sep 2011
70
52nd
For such screwed-up subject matter it's pretty compelling and very watchable.
Rated 20 Oct 2012
65
23rd
Decent.
Rated 08 Apr 2014
67
29th
Decent revenge flick that's hardly too serious about itself. Zoe Lund does a good job as the mute femme killer. It's fun and all, but it could've been better if the sexual politics were a little more thought-out rather than flung together, and for 80-some minutes it still feels long.
Rated 17 Nov 2014
25
9th
Ferrara must not have liked the reactions he was getting while trying to pick up chicks in the street.
Rated 01 Dec 2014
42
16th
As a big fan of vigilante films, I really wanted to like this. I can appreciate that Ferrara was trying to mix exploitation with art film, but the end result is just too slow moving and doesn't contain enough depth to be taken seriously. It feels like a cheaper riff on e.g. Polanski's Repulsion. There are some nice images towards the end, as well as location shooting around N.Y but not enough to lift the whole.
Rated 03 Mar 2015
40
19th
An interesting effort but even with all of the killing a lot of which seem unwarranted the film just isn't that interesting.
Rated 11 Sep 2016
80
37th
Viewed September 7, 2016. This movie goes all over the place, tonally and otherwise, but it's so headstrong that I ultimately had to like it - especially when it leads to images as delectable as Zoe Tamerlis dressed like a nun, her fire-red lips kissing a bullet. I love how her character actually becomes more sexualized the angrier she gets - it's a fantastic form of empowerment, in one of the more intensely feminist movies I've ever seen.
Rated 30 Jun 2018
77
64th
While the rape revenge genre is filled with some pretty awful stuff, Ferrara's take is a step above the rest. There is a sense of maturity to how the violence is shot and the refusal to sexualize it that is refreshing. Zoe Lund seems to be from another planet with her rage and her refusal to play the victim. Great stuff.
Rated 22 Aug 2018
82
0th
Well done nihilistic exploitation thriller
Rated 29 Jan 2021
8
81st
that saxophone riff will be in my head for the remainder of 2021.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
80
84th
Death Wish with a female protagonist. Totally entertaining with greasy scumballs getting wasted by a hot chick dressed like a nun.
Rated 12 Mar 2009
57
60th
Okay Movie
Rated 09 Aug 2009
78
65th
Ms. 45: 8 // 8 // 7 // 7 // 10 // 7 // 8
Rated 15 Mar 2014
61
51st
Zoê Lund was stunning on the leading role in the pretty lame story. There was sure nice twists in it, but the output was badly aged. Too many extended scenes without a reason. The sax music was annoying and I do not bother to count influences for the film.
Rated 02 Jan 2015
50
0th
Abel Ferrara #1
Rated 22 Apr 2015
87
95th
Seriously awesome pulp; one of my favourite 'exploitation' films ever, and a personal favourite of mine in general. Putting a distinct twist on the rape-and-revenge subgenre with its mute protagonist, the film contains a procession of set pieces so stylistic and distinct from one another that its status is elevated beyond mere grindhouse fodder and ends up becoming one of the more memorable films of its ilk. Arthouse vigilantism.
Rated 24 Oct 2015
84
77th
Simple, but the steadily rising tension and scope of violence are incredibly effective. Having the lead be mute is a drawback occasionally, but it allows for some really great scenes and a unique atmosphere, so the strengths outweigh the problems by a large margin. It's also interesting how her actions provide a conflicted perspective on the violence in the film.
Rated 19 Sep 2017
83
78th
pretty good but too unreal and detached to land anything emotionally
Rated 15 Jun 2021
65
45th
A pretty wild (& also pretty groovy) rape-revenge film which plays around with the genre more than most of its contemporaries & is full of symbolism so unsubtle that even a less seasoned film geek such as myself could pick up on it. The meat in the beginning, the knife positioning (at both ends) in the finale, etc. Crucially, it also doesn't advocate for what its heroine is doing, & instead simply plays out like a tragedy born from rape culture in America. Good performances, too. Worth a look.
Rated 10 Jul 2021
60
72nd
The only mute, doubled raped, revenge story you'll ever need! The most amazing thing about this was how that musician was able to get a saxophone sound out of a trumpet! Porn for modern feminists.
Rated 13 May 2022
53
32nd
An obvious cult favourite, and part of the rape-revenge canon thanks to Lund's memorable performance, but this viewer remains unconvinced about the supposed 'greatness' of Ferrara's work before 1990.
Rated 21 Jun 2023
73
66th
Thana decides that she won't be trampled on no longer and what follows is a slow descent to madness and further carnage where she sees any man as a threat and a potential abuser. Really liked the way her change is shown by what she wears or how she wears such strong make-up. That she's mute adds further to the silent communication that she displays through how she chooses to look.
Rated 14 Jul 2023
42
23rd
The first act had me wanting to turn it off, but it wasn't bad overall. It was a definite twist on the rape/revenge/fantasy genre, but nothing likeable or recommendable. There was an artfulness to it, in the direction and editing especially.
Rated 30 Aug 2023
78
66th
This is a fun, dirty little film that seems to be riffing off things like the Death Wish series. It'd pair well with that or with something like Hard Candy or Promising Young Woman. It's stylistically interesting and Lund (who looks quite a bit like Anya Taylor-Joy, I thought) is very good in a rare lead role with (almost) no dialogue. The final nightmarish party scene is great. Also probably the best vigilante/revenge movie with a Mr. Met cameo.
Rated 18 Feb 2024
45
28th
That's an odd-looking saxophone.

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