Ms. 45 (1981)

Thana (Tamerlis), a mute girl who lives and works in the sleaze centre of Manhattan, is subjected daily to sexual harassment from her lecherous boss and every other guy on the street. Raped twice in the first ten minutes of the film, she revolts against macho oppression, first by killing and dismembering one of her assailants, then by taking to the streets as a feminist vigilante, casually executing anyone she catches acting in a sexist manner. Ferrara, director of the equally powerful Driller Killer, here turns the sexism of the psycho / vigilante genre on its head and comes up with the most militant imaginable depiction of a world in which a woman's only option is to kill men. With an extraordinary central performance from Zoe Tamerlis, some of the most horrific on-the-streets New York footage you'll ever see, a healthy dose of grim black humour, a great jazzy score, and an incredible Halloween party shoot-out at the end, in which the murderous heroine goes crazy while dressed as a sexy nun, Ms. 45 is one of the fiercest films ever to emerge from the twilight zone of the American cinema where exploitation meets Art.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published In: City Limits no.172 (18 - 24 January 1985) p.23

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