Ms. 45

I recently had the pleasure of watching the early Abel Ferrara effort Ms. 45 (1981).

The young, shy, mute seamstress Thana is raped, not once but twice on the same night, the second time in her own apartment. The rapes are brief and nowhere near as intense as those first 45 minutes of I Spit on Your Grave (1978), however the lasting effect on Thana is just as impactful as Jennifer’s.

And here, Thana slowly she evolves into a killing machine…and in the process becomes way way sexier. Go figure.

I guess Jennifer’s use of wry seduction to get back at her rapists was not an effect Ferrarra was interested in. Jennfier survives, pulls herself together and makes a plan. Here, Thana transforms herself into one of those Robert Palmer girls, gun wielding with a calm cold and calculated stare of steel and gets to cleaning up the streets. She is our patron saint of the rape survivor. Unlike Jennifer, Thana essentially ceases to exist and evolves into something not really human. Perhaps this is why Ms. 45 is quite fun, whereas I Spit holds up as one horrifying, horrific horror film, and frankly not much ‘fun’ though essential viewing for horror fans.

Certainly, this was far more fun than I Spit on Your Grave, but also far less horrific. Don’t get me wrong, rape-revenge movies are no barrel of monkeys. Yet, I Spit as well as Last House on the Left remains amongst my all-time favorite horror films –that would be for the effective use of HORROR, that is simultaenously horrific and horrifying!

Ms. 45 is worth a peek. It’s about as fun as a rape-revenge flick can be. And Abel Ferrarra did go on to make a few interesting little films. This film is stylish, the music rocks, and the end shoot out IN SLOW MOTION was really really cool!

Yeh, just as I cheered when Jennifer says “Suck it bitch” before chopping up her rapist with an outboard motor, Thana’s killing spree had me leaping from the couch with excitement!
That’s empowering nihilism, man!
Check it out!

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