Ms. 45

by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Despite its association with the broadly disparaged rape-revenge category, Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 is today considered one of the most significant feminist cult films of the 1980s. Straddling mainstream, arthouse, and exploitation film contexts, Ms. 45 is a potent case study for cult film analysis. At its heart lies two Ferrara himself, and the movie's star, the iconic Zoe Lund, who would further collaborate with Ferrara on later projects such as Bad Lieutenant . This book explores the entwining histories and contexts that led to Ms. 45 ’s creation and helped establish its enduring legacy, particularly in terms of feminist cult film fandom, and the film’s status as one of the most important, influential, and powerful rape-revenge films ever made.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Feminism

148 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2017

About the author

Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is a film critic, research academic and the author of seven books on cult, horror, and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics. She has recently co-edited the book ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May for Edinburgh University Press, and her forthcoming book 1000 Women in Horror has been optioned for a documentary series. Alexandra is also a programming consultant for Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, the largest genre film festival in the United States.

Reviews

[Brian Shevory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. 45 is the second Cultographies book I’ve read (Holy Mountain was the first). I was really excited to find this book since Ms. 45 has always been a kind of mysterious and shocking film to me. I didn’t get to actually watch this film until recently; however, when I was younger, I remember seeing the large clamshell VHS box in video stores being intrigued by the images of Zoe Tamerils Lund. It always seemed like this film was lumped in with some other videos like Avenging Angel, and Heller-Nicholas analyzes this film’s relation to other rape-revenge films from earlier and after. In fact, Heller-Nicholas has written extensively about these films, creating one of the definitive books about these films as well as basing her analyses on the work of feminist film scholars Barbara Read and Carol Clover. I loved this book as well as Heller-Nicholas’s keen analysis of the film’s historical and cinematic elements, as well as the context in which the film was created, produced and eventually screened. Even more interesting was to learn more about Zoe Tamerilis-Lund, for whom this was her first film. As Heller-Nicholas notes, she largely carries the film with a powerful performance as a mute seamstress who is sexually assaulted twice. What was more interesting to examine in Heller-Nicholas’s analysis of the film was the kind of Marxist/Economic themes that were featured in the film. I hadn’t thought about how Thana’s role as a seamstress positions her lower than some of the other women and how her boss frequently propositions her to possibly offer a way up or to maintain her increasingly precarious job situation. In addition to using Marxism to frame some of the assaults and indignities that Thana experiences, Heller-Nicholas also uses a feminist lens to examine how the film portrays both men and women. I haven’t see the film enough to really delve that deeply into it, but I really appreciated the analysis she presents, examining how Thana both intereacts and sometimes standa apart from other women in the film, as well as how the men are often portrayed in animalistic ways. In fact, it was interesting to see how the dog in the film, Phil, is coded as like the ideal husband for Thana’s nosy neighbor Ms. Nasone. Another strength of Heller-Nicholas’s book is how she examines the social and historical context of 1970s/early 80s New York. She explores how didferent the city is today when compared with the film’s creation, and how the crime and characters in the film largely added to its grittiness. I also loved seeing the intertextuality and the way that Abel Ferrera may have incorporated other films and their directors (Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese) into this film. Heller-Nicholas’s close reading of Abel Ferrera’s classic film Ms. 45 not only provides film fans with a great background and history of the film, but also seeks to contextualize this film within others of the same time period as well as Ferrera’s overall oeuvre. In addition, she provides some insightful critical analysis in reading the key scenes from the film, offering us different ways to interpret and make meaning from this exciting, yet somewhat challenging film. I highly recommend this book for fans of grindhouse films, as well as fans of Abel Ferrera’s films. It’s also a great way to see how to apply critical theories to examine film and see how close readings of films can be successful and used to make meaning of the film’s historical and social context. I’m looking forward to reading more from Heller-Nicholas as well as exploring more of the Cultographies series.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This appreciation of Abel Ferrara's cult film Ms. 45 emphasizes two things over and over- that this is perhaps the best female-centric vigilante revenge movie ever (and that may be correct) and that even with no lines, titular star Zoe Tamerlis Lund is an acting revelation. Make no mistake, this is a grindhouse movie, and many are shocked that such a grand performance and nuanced story are found here. The film is shocking and boundary pushing for sure, and at the very least, smart enough to inspire conversation. Zoe Lund's work in the film should be studied for the art of non-verbal communication. Because of the repetitiveness of the book, this would have worked well as a long essay rather than a long form book, or even as the basis of a Ted Talk with accompanying images and film clips. Informative, nonetheless.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. 45 has got to be one my favorite films - one of the few that I have willingly rewatched a couple times. I even went as Thana in nun costume for Halloween one year. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is also one of my favorite film writers, so of course I needed to get my hands on this book. It's very short and dedicates quite a lot of writing to analyzing the plot, but other chapters are focused on its status as both canon as a feminist cult film and a sleazy rape revenge movie; about Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund Tamerlis and their roles in the production and legacy, and about Alamo Drafthouse's DVD release in 2013 that brought the uncut version to a new and broader audience. If you are also a fan of the film, would recommend.

[Bryan Cebulski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heller-Nicholas is brilliant as always, and as usual with her books my only complaint is that there wasn't enough. Part history and part analysis, this Cultography book on Ms. 45 has a lot of really interesting and worthwhile information, context and observations on the film, but that balance between history and analysis within ~130 pages means giving each approach to the subject only just enough attention. Still, a wonderful little book about an extraordinary movie.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this critical analysis of the seminal film Ms.45. The book was broken down into different chapters on topics related to the film. I very much liked the part where the author discusses the stigma attached to women who like violent films and breaks that down. Excellent book.

[Rain · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars... excellent review and background to this film. Author makes some great points, for example, there is a difference between intention and reception. However, I disagree with the divergence into 3rd wave "intersectionality" and I always drop points for use of that terminology.