Ms. 45

Ms. 45
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Abel Ferrara
Produced by	Rochelle Weisberg Richard Howorth Mary Kane
Written by	N.G. St. John
Starring	Zoë Tamerlis Lund
Music by	Joe Delia
Cinematography	James Lemmo
Editing by	Christopher Andrews
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Image Entertainment
Release date(s)	April 24, 1981
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$62,000

Ms. 45, also known as Angel of Vengeance, is a 1981 American low-budget exploitation film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Zoë Tamerlis Lund. Inspired by films such as Death Wish and Thriller - en grym film, the film is a rape and revenge story about Thana, a mute woman who becomes a misandristic spree killer (not strictly a vigilante) after she is raped twice in one day when coming home from work. It was critically maligned on its theatrical release, but is now generally highly-regarded among fans of underground film.^[1]

Synopsis

Zoe Lund as Thana

Walking home from work one night, Thana, a mute seamstress in New York City's Garment District, is raped at gunpoint in an alley by a mysterious, masked attacker. She survives and makes her way back to her apartment, where she encounters a burglar and is raped a second time. Thana bludgeons this second assailant to death with an iron. She then keeps his .45 caliber M1911A1 pistol, dismembers the burglar's body, puts the pieces into plastic garbage bags and gradually disposes of them in various locations throughout the city. She begins to have frequent nightmares and hallucinations of the first assailant stalking her, and her mental stability begins to dim.

Thana is noticed by a man while she is disposing of one of the bagged body parts; retrieving the bag, he chases and frightens her. Fearing another sexual assault, she fatally shoots him. This event furthers her impulse for vengeance. Gradually, Thana transforms her appearance to become a more and more seductive bait, and sets out to kill any man who annoys her. Near the end of the film, she dons a nun's habit and red lipstick to attend a Halloween party with her boss and co-workers. Her boss tries to take advantage of her and is killed; Thana then begins a shooting spree and targets all the men present. Finally she is stabbed by a female colleague.

Cast

• Zoë Tamerlis Lund as Thana
• Albert Sinkys as Albert
• Darlene Stuto as Laurie
• Helen McGara as Carol
• Nike Zachmanoglou as Pamela
• Abel Ferrara as First Rapist
• Peter Yellen as The Burglar
• Editta Sherman as Mrs. Nasone
• Vincent Gruppi as Heckler on Corner
• S. Edward Singer as The Photographer

Home Video

In 1983, the film was released on VHS by U.S.A. Home Video in its uncut form.

In late 1997 Ms. 45 was accidentally released completely uncut by Warner Bros. UK on VHS video, and was for sale for approximately one week, before being replaced by the cut version.^[2]

Ms. 45 was released on DVD on in the U.S. April 25, 2000 by Image Entertainment, but was reedited for DVD release. The reedit removes less than a minute total. The cuts include changes to the first rape featuring Ferrara's cameo, which is split by an insert shot from a later scene. The second rape is more drastically cut, omitting a line "This oughta make you talk, huh?" The climatic Halloween party shoot-out was also recut to remove an on-screen murder, which now occurs off screen.^[3]

The uncut DVD is now available in France, published by Aquarelle.

References

1. ^ Pettersson, Ron (2002-08). "The Zoë Lund Cinematheque". Senses of Cinema. Archived from the original on 2006-09-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20060920210521/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/22/lund/cteq.html. Retrieved 2007-01-23. 
2. ^ www.melonfarmers.co.uk. "www.melonfarmers.co.uk". www.melonfarmers.co.uk. http://www.melonfarmers.co.uk/hitsa.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 
3. ^ Bracke, Peter M.. "the cut list - Complete archive". DVDFile.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20061019072200/http://www.dvdfile.com/software/cut_list/index_2.html. Retrieved 2007-03-21. 

External links

• Ms. 45 at the Internet Movie Database
• Ms. 45 at AllRovi
• Ms. 45 at Rotten Tomatoes