Films from the Horror Age: Ms.45

Abell Ferrara’s Ms.45 (1981) presents a vivid and modern take on the theme of the horrific “phallic female”. The gothic image of the corrupt nun combined with the modern trope of the psycho killer closely allies Ms.45 with the characteristics of the horror film. A rarity for the genre, Ms.45 can be read as a having a feminist political philosophy even though its reliance on exploitation makes a contrary argument easy.

The men in Ms.45 are portrayed as unequivocal swine and the mute heroine, Thana, clearly symbolizes the voiceless woman victimized by chauvinism and the patriarchy. On her way home one day Thana is raped in an alley in an uncomfortably realistic rape scene that leaves little to the imagination. When she reaches home she is confronted with another potential rapist who she ends up killing and chopping to pieces. Literally unable to “find her voice”, Thana continues to fall deeper into depressed anger and insanity until the climactic finale. In this unforgettable scene, Thana goes to a Halloween party dressed as a nun and opens up with handgun on a room full of unwanted suitors. Though much of the film echoes Polanski's horror classic Repulsion (about a lonely woman who loses her mind and becomes homicidal) Ms.45 feels more like a feminist Dirty Harry or Death Wish.

In many ways the politics of Ms.45 reflects the 80’s backlash to the feminist movement. While we can sympathize with Thana’s plight, the film intends to create discomfort and fear from the idea of the phallic woman. While we are given the space to cheer Thana as she adopts the masculine traits of vengeance and violence we are meant to be shocked by her as well. Portraying Thana as a source of fear hints that there is nothing scarier than an empowered woman willing to deal death to her detractors. The film’s original poster further belies its feminist reading with its frankly exploitative nature, showing Thana in an up-skirt shot standing in front of a soon-to-be shot thug framed squarely between her legs. The film is marketed as a sexy revenge flick, not a feminist reading of the vigilante genre.

I find it hard, however, to dismiss the film outright as cheap exploitation not worthy of analytical consideration. When Thana makes her final violent statement dressed as a nun adds a theological element to the film’s complex social commentary. The Catholic (and more broadly Christian) doctrine that encourages the acceptance of suffering is directly assaulted by the stunning imagery of the film’s climax. The notion that wrongs against us are to be tolerated as God’s will and that our tormentors are to be forgiven is thrown out in place of a cathartic call for justice. Unable to express her trauma in any other way, Thana violently lashes out at the men who would seek to continue her subjugation and soundly rejects the societal pressures that would keep her a silent victim. By sharing in Thana’s experience the audience is invited to make their own rejection of oppression at a psychological level. In this light, Ms.45 is a prime example of a genre film that though conservative in nature, contains subversive content that confronts forces of control that stifle progress and perpetuates suffering.

**This post was inspired by my good friend and excellent artist Alex Holden’s take on Ms.45 (displayed on top). Check out his very cool site Salty Weepings (link under Friends to right).**