review

MS .45

I remember when I first laid eyes on MS .45. It was while watching a film called TERROR IN THE AISLES, a compilation of horror movie clips hosted by Nancy Allen and Donald Pleasence. I remember seeing a beautiful young woman raising an iron in the air and smashing it down on the head of a man. Later on in the film I saw the same young woman wearing a nun's uniform, shooting people left and right at a costume party. I was only 8 years old at the time but I remember wanting to see that movie real bad. A few years later, I was wandering through a local video rental store and stumbled across a film that looked interesting - I had no idea what the title of that movie was; TERROR IN THE AISLES was shown on TV and they would always speed through the credits. I took it home and, to my great surprise, found myself looking at that same beautiful girl who had grabbed my attention years before. What I discovered that day - and what I continue to discover each and every time I watch MS .45 - is a truly great film.


Zoe Tamerlis in Ms .45.

The beautiful Zoe Tamerlis plays Thana, a young mute girl who is raped twice in one evening. Though the first rapist - importantly, a man wearing a mask - leaves after the rape, the second man doesn't get off so lucky. Thana manages to kill him with a kitchen iron. Deeply traumatized, she at first doesn't know what to do with the body. Once she's regained her composure, she decides to cut up the body, wrapping the pieces in garbage bags and, day by day, dropping them around the city. Thana is soon on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her newfound distrust - and distaste - for anything male quickly spiraling out of control. Soon enough she's gunning men down in cold blood, all the while slipping deeper and deeper into psychosis.


Zoe Tamerlis.

While not far removed from the rape / revenge formula, MS .45 feels distinctly different, more like a mix of DEATH WISH and REPULSION than I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. Thana's shaky grasp on reality turns every man she comes into contact with into that first rapist - the one in the mask. Her first murder was a gut reaction to a perceived threat but every murder after that becomes much easier for her. And much more pleasurable. By the time the film reaches it's finale, Thana is simply gunning down men because they're men. It's no longer about protection. It's about power. As Thana gets ready for the costume party, she prepares herself for the carnage about to occur, kissing each bullet, playfully aiming and pretending to fire her gun. It recalls the famous scene in TAXI DRIVER of Travis Bickle addressing imagined threats in his mirror - there's no difference in his "You talking to me?" and Thana's actions; both are locked in a perpetual cycle of perceived persecution, unable to connect.


Zoe Tamerlis in Abel Ferrara's Ms .45.

Abel Ferrara has made some very interesting films. Distinctly hard-edged and uncompromising, his directorial output over the years has read like a great assault on the very idea of commercial cinema. FEAR CITY, THE DRILLER KILLER, CHINA GIRL, KING OF NEW YORK, and THE FUNERAL are all distinctive in both their look and tone. BAD LIEUTENANT remains one of the most controversial films of the 1990s - as well as one of the most deeply religious films of all time - and his remake of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS from 1993 is in dire need of reassessment. MS .45, to me, remains his most perfect film, a great example of how a director and an actor can come together to create a singular and deeply moving piece of film that never loses it's original power, no matter how many times you view it.


Abel Ferrara's Ms .45.

Zoe Tamerlis - or Zoe Lund depending on the credit - died way too early due to complications with drug addiction. MS .45 should have given her a much better career than she had. Her only other notable performances were in Larry Cohen's SPECIAL EFFECTS and BAD LIEUTENANT - a film she co-wrote with Ferrara.


Essential Viewing.


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