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9.5% of the viewers favorited this title, 1.5% disliked it
Currently in 5 official lists, but has been in 7
BFI's 100 Cult Films
107 movies · At #3
Grindhouse Cinema...
100 movies · At #58
TSZDT's The 1,000...
1000 movies · At #491
TSPDT's 1,000 Noir Films
1000 movies · At #737
Rodney Dangerfield
Kind of like the female version of Deathwish
TomServo
There have been a lot of revenge films over the years, but this has to be one of the only revenge played as horror films I've seen. The early scenes practically rival Repulsion in levels of sheer discomfort, while the final shootout is almost a Lynchian nightmare (the man dressed in costume as a bride staring blankly will haunt my dreams for a while). One of the best thrillers to come out of the grindhouse circuit.
Siskoid
While on the surface of it, Ms .45 could be called "female Deathwish", Abel Ferrara's effort is better on a number of levels. First, violence against women is more shocking and visceral than that any old mugging (Thana - Zoë Lund - is sexually assaulted several times - trigger warnings in full effect - before turning to vigilantism) and there's little of the savior complex that comes with the male version. What Thana does is because of trauma, and another strength of the film is that what happens to her initially, while lurid, doesn't exactly have an exploitation vibe (nudity and so on). And it respects its subject enough that we actually see her struggling with horrific PTSD. None of that turning into a badass overnight. And this is a mute character, given no voice in a world of macro and micro aggressions. It's a well-used metaphor, and makes the character rather iconic. Ferrara has always had a relentless quality to his films, and this one is no different, but I do find its look unusual and quite beautiful. Bathed in a kind of pastel light, it creates a number of stand-out violent vignettes quite unlike the gritty feeling of 70s and early 80s fare.