New York in the 1980s and exploitation cinema went hand in hand, and one of the masters of it at that time was Abel Ferrara, who remains one of our most versatile and edgy filmmakers. His controversial but equally empowering 1981 cult classic Ms .45, is one of the best that came out back then. The late but highly fascinating Zoe Lund’s haunting central performance fuels this portrait of sexual trauma and feminine anger, one that continues to be equally celebrated and debated years after her untimely death at just age 37.
Buy Ms .45Lund is Thana, a mute seamstress in Manhattan, who is raped by a masked assailant (Ferrara himself) on her way home. She returns to the safety of her apartment, only to be assaulted again by a home invader. But this time she fights back. After she brutally kills this second rapist, she disposes the body piece by piece. This adds to her trauma, but also gives her a new kind of power, where she takes her revenge out on any man she sees as a threat.
Released internationally as Angel of Vengeance, the film revels and twists its grindhouse trappings to become a now celebrated tale of women who just can’t take it anymore. I bet women responded to it more than men when it was first released. It’s honestly not as explicit as I thought was it going to be. I guessed Ferrara wasn’t concerned with all of that. He wanted to make a legit film, one that you still watch and analyze now. I think that it is a mostly solid (albeit uneven) film that deserves reappraisal, because it realistically showcases how rape can really change women and skewer their lives forever.
Originally released on Blu-ray from Drafthouse Films, the film is now available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray from Arrow, and it has a brand-new audio commentary with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, author of Rape Revenge Films: A Critical Study and Cultographies: Ms .45, and plenty of special features including The Voice of Violence, a new featurette with film critic BJ Colangelo; Where Dreams Go to Die, a new featurette with film critic Kat Ellinger; archive interviews with Ferrara, composer Joe Della, and creative consultant Jack McIntyre; two short films about Lund: Zoe XO (2004) and Zoe Rising (2011), both by Paul Rachman; trailer, and image gallery. It comes in a perfect bound collector’s book featuring new writing by Robert Lund (Zoe’s husband), previously unseen photographs of Zoe, plus select archival material including writing by Kier-La Janisse and Brad Stevens.
If you’re looking for a new edition of one of Ferrara’s most intriguing films, then Arrow has you covered. It should be a very nice addition to your collection, assuming you’re into grindhouse.
Other interesting releases:
Nightmare Alley (Criterion): Guillermo del Toro’s acclaimed reimagining of the 1947 Tyrone Power classic (based on the novel by William Lindsey Graham), starring Bradley Cooper as an ambitious young carny with a talent for manipulation who hooks up with a female psychiatrist (Cate Blanchett) who is even more sinister than he is.
Deep Crimson (Criterion): A delirious 1996 crime thriller by Arturo Epstein about the life of a creep who preys on unsuspecting women for a living is changed when he finds an accomplice in the woman who loves and controls him. Read Joe Garcia’s review.
In the Mouth of Madness 4K UHD (Arrow): John Carpenter’s 1994 cult classic starring the great Sam Neill as an insurance investigator who is hired by a publisher (Charlton Heston) to locate his missing client, horror novelist Sutter Cane (Jürgen Prochnow), and thrusted into a nightmare world from reading Cane’s novels. With the aid of Cane’s editor (Julie Carmen), he travels through the supernatural to end up in a small New Hampshire town.
Student Bodies 4K UHD + Blu-ray + CD (Terror Vision): A limited edition of the 1981 cult classic slasher parody starring Kristen Riter as virginal high schooler Toby, who vows to catch a killer who is carving up the students of Lamab High.
