L'angelo della vendetta

Ms. 45 (1981) was an interesting view on the revenge flicks that were popular during the mid 70's to the early 80's. Abel Ferrara and his co-conspirator Nicholas St. John follow the life of a mute dress worker (Zoe Lund) who snaps one day after being raped twice. She kills her last attacker and keeps his gun. After seeing the grim world around her and the loss of her mental faculties, she decides to do a hunting.

A strange but highly enjoyable film that takes exploitation films to a whole new level. The gritty direction by Abel Ferrara and the smart writing from Nicholas St. John elevate this movie above most of the trash that was produced during this time period. The star, Zoe Lund posses some unearthly beauty and she has that certain stuff to make the material work. Not many other actresses could have pulled this off but she some how manages to.

If you can find an uncut version of this movie I advise you to go out and get it. This is one of the best vigilante movies you'll ever watch. I have to highly recommend this film. It's Abel Ferrara doing what he does best. Street level film making!

A shy and mute seamstress (Zoe Lund) goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York after dark and randomly kills men with a .45 caliber gun.

The director, Abel Ferrara, who would go on to make other genre films, with this one featuring a cast of people you likely never heard of performing just as well as "real" stars would. Ferrara himself appears under another name as a rapist, and Steve Dash also appears under another name, though Dash is hardly a notable figure.

The eerie music is reminiscent of Italian horror, which struck me as beautiful and perfect for such a film. Really, this is a very slick production and a much more enjoyable film than "I Spit on Your Grave". While "Grave" is the best known of the revenge films, and the one that really started the subgenre, this one just looks better. With all due respect to Meir Zarchi and Camille Keaton, this one should get more praise than it does.

I love that the insult "get bent" is used... its employment is not nearly often enough these days. I also appreciated the free advertising for the P. Chimento trucking company of Patchogue, New York. This, more than anything else, really shows that the film was made in New York City, as anyone from outside the area will have no idea what it is.

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the human "death instinct", which leads people to take risks, seek thrills or behave destructively in ways that could lead to death. Was this intentional? I have no idea. But it is fitting.

...was the musician who was able to make saxophone sounds come out of a trumpet.

The 1970s were THE decade for American exploitation movies with the likes of Roger Corman, Jack Hill, and Larry Cohen Jr creating some of the most entertaining trash ever made. For the most part the 1980s were a big let down in this department. Porkys-like sex comedies and awful buddy action movies and the like generally failed to reach the heights of the glory days of A.I.P. There were a few exceptions ('Chained Heat', 'Maniac' and 'The Exterminator' immediately spring to mind), and 'Ms.45 ' (a.k.a. 'Angel Of Vengeance') is in my mind THE single best exploitation movie of the decade. Abel Ferrara, who later made brilliant movies like 'Bad Lieutenant' and 'The Funeral', had previously made a porno movie and the infamous "video nasty" 'The Driller Killer' before this, which could well be the best rape revenge movie ever made. Ferrara's genius touch was the casting of the late Zoe Tamerlis. She is stunningly beautiful and her face is very expressive. Making her character mute makes the movie an unforgettable experience. It's really difficult trying to "sell" this stunning movie to someone. You'll either love it or you just won't "get it". I think it works very well as a post-'Death Wish' vigilante movie, but just as 'The Driller Killer' is more than "just" a slasher, this movie has a lot more to it, and that is almost completely down to Zoe Tamerlis. 'Ms. 45' might be b-grade trash to many, but it is uncompromised, something you very rarely see these days. I think it stands alongside 'Repo Man', 'Videodrome', 'Blue Velvet', 'The Evil Dead', 'The Ninth Configuration', 'Raising Arizona' and 'The King Of Comedy' as one of the most extraordinary movies released in a decade dominated by mediocre popcorn movies forced on viewers by Spielberg, Lucas, Hughes, Bruckheimer and Simpson.

In Manhattaan, the mute seamstress Thana (Zoë Tamerlis) is a timid woman that works in the fashion industry and spends most of her idle time at home. One night, she is raped in an alley while going back home after hours and when she arrives at home, she is raped again by another criminal. However, she reacts and kills the assaulter with a flatiron. The disturbed Thana loses her sanity and uses the rapist pistol to kill men on the streets of New York.

"Angel of Vengeance" is a cult-movie by Abel Ferrara with elements of "Death Wish" when a simple woman goes insane after being raped twice in one day and she uses the criminal's gun to kill every man that makes a pass on her. I have just watched this film for the fourth or fifth time on VHS and it has not aged. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sedução e Vingança" ("Seduction and Revenge")

Note: On 12 May 2017, I saw this film again.