Ms .45 – Arrow

Director: Abel Ferrara
Screenplay: Nicholas St. John
Starring: Zoë Lund, Albert Sinkys, Bogey, Darlene Stuto, Helen McGara, Nike Zachmanoglou, Editta Sherman
Country: USA
Running Time: 80 min
Year: 1981
BBFC Certificate: 18

Abel Ferrara’s breakthrough film The Driller Killer, released in 1979, was not a great financial success, but it did gain much notoriety, particularly in the UK, where it was a key title in the ‘video nasties’ list, making it hard to come by for a long while.

Ferrara followed the film up with Ms .45 (a.k.a. Angel of Vengeance), which also faced its share of controversy and never had much of a release in the UK, at least not without cuts. It’s regarded as being among the director’s best work, so it’s been frustrating for British fans that a decent physical release has not been available.

Coming to our rescue at the end of this month, however, is Arrow Video, who are releasing Ms .45 in both 4K UHD and Blu-ray limited edition sets. I got hold of the latter, and my thoughts follow.

Ms .45 is a raw, nightmarish slice of New York exploitation cinema. It centres around Thana (Zoë Lund, credited here as Zoë Tamerlis), a mute seamstress who endures two brutal assaults in a single day – first by a masked man (played by Ferrara himself), then by a burglar who breaks into her apartment. The second, she kills, almost instinctively, and what follows is her gradual transformation from traumatised victim to vengeful angel of death.

As she wipes out the scumbags of the city, one by one, there’s both horror and a dark sense of wish fulfilment in her violence (several of her sleezy victims won’t be missed – put it that way). However, things soon spiral out of control.

Whilst it can undoubtedly be categorised as exploitation, Ms .45 is not a film to enjoy as a cheap thrill. It’s downbeat, grimy and brutal, from start to finish. However, despite being a difficult watch, it’s impressively well-made for a film coming from a then-young director still working with a small budget.

Also, whilst some may argue about its validity, particularly coming from both a male writer and a male director, the film can also be seen as a potent feminist work. Not only is Thana’s path of vengeance a clear, angry statement about the treatment of women, but her muteness can also be seen as symbolic. It works as a reflection of the voicelessness of rape victims, or perhaps of women in general.

Having a mute central character also pushes Ferrara to think cinematically at every turn. Because Thana can’t speak, the storytelling has to live through image, gesture, and rhythm rather than dialogue.

The film’s look and sound are equally stripped back. Shot often handheld, on locations, it has a gritty, natural texture, yet is surprisingly well-composed, with flashes of stylised lighting. Ferrara’s New York isn’t just a backdrop to the film, but a living, breathing organism – grim, seedy, and real. The score is sparse too and quite experimental, with atonal passages.

The writing is equally as lean as the visuals. We know almost nothing about Thana beyond what we see. That absence of backstory gives the narrative a near-mythic quality, like a modern urban fable of vengeance and decay. Her transformation is charted visually, through her wardrobe that gets sexier, her makeup that gets bolder and her demeanour that grows more confident.

Lund, who was only seventeen at the time, gives a remarkable performance. Her transformation from fragile and vulnerable to confident and frightening shows a depth and maturity that few actors of any age can pull off. It’s easy to agree with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who says in her commentary on the disc that the film belongs to her as much as to Ferrara.

Not every performance around her lands quite as successfully though. A nosy neighbour, played by photographer Editta Sherman, feels particularly over-the-top. Her dialogue has her clunkily stating the obvious, which doesn’t help. Perhaps she threw some lines in herself, because elsewhere the cast and script seem more natural.

By the time we reach the blood-soaked climax, however, Ms .45 becomes something intense and savage, yet undeniably stylish. It isn’t subtle but, being so stripped back and to the point, it sure as hell packs a punch.

I do have one gripe with the film though. The final scene takes place in a nightclub where a small band blasts out a repetitive but catchy tune. This works effectively within the sequence, but it drove me crazy that, on the soundtrack, it’s clearly a saxophone playing whilst the on-screen band has a trumpeter pretending to lead the track. It distracted me from an otherwise immensely powerful scene.

Ms .45 is out on 27th October on 4K UHD & region B Blu-Ray, released by Arrow Video. The transfer is very impressive, with natural grain, rich colours and clear details. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. The sound is flawless too.

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