I will preface this review by saying, I think Ms .45 is Abel Ferrara’s masterpiece.
Yes. there’s plenty to choose from, including Driller Killer, The King of New Yor, Bad Lieutenant or The Addiction – but Ms .45 is such a template of cinema that has been replicated but never bettered.
You may think this is controversial given the brutal subject matter of rape, but Ms .45 is the template for rape-revenge films for the 40+ years after it.
No Ms .45, no Kill Bill, simple.
The story follows a young woman who is attacked and raped twice in one day, who seeks revenge against her oppressors, exacting a satisfying and unwavering bit of vigilante justice. Zoe Lund is simply magnetic in the lead role, conveying the trauma of this horrific day but also the steal to right the wrongs her own way.
At the timing of shooting, New York, where Ferrara grew up and films the majority of his work, is pre-Gulliani makeover, so much you can almost smell it.
Ferrara’s films, much like the 80s output of directors like William Lustig have a texture you can’t really recapture – you just had to be there. Sorry to any fans of The Deuce series.
Now for the first Arrow Video is giving Ms .45 the special edition treatment it deserves, in this 4K glow-up.
There is archival features of Ferrara et al plus a new commentary from the excellent Alexandra Heller Nicholas plus a featurette from film critic BJ Colangelo.
Hopefully this release will put Ms .45 firmly in more people’s sights and give it the true cult status it deserves.
Ms .45 is available now in 4K and Blu-Ray from Arrow Video.
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