General News

MS 45 Playing Midnights This Weekend at The Hi-Pointe

By Tom Stockman | December 30, 2013

A restored MS 45 has been making the rounds and the guys at Destroy The Brain.com will present it for lucky St. Louisans at their monthly Late Night Grindhouse midnight series this weekend (January 3rd and 4th)

Abel Ferrara’s 1981 cult thriller MS 45 is a feminist take on the good-old-bad-old days of ’70s-’80s Manhattan that gave rise to similar films like DEATH WISH and “TAXI DRIVER. Lonely mute garment-district seamstress Thana (played by the ethereal Zoe Tamerlis – who died of a heroin overdose in 1999) is raped in an alley after a hard day at work. When she returns to her Hell’s Kitchen apartment, she’s raped again! (and you thought you were having a bad day!) This time she turns the tables on her attacker with an iron and takes the titular weapon from the assailant. And this all happens in the film’s first ten minutes! Thana heads out into the night taking her vengeance out on random men in a cathartic, Bronsonesque killing spree that climaxes at a Halloween party where she’s dressed as a nun.

MS 45 could be called a feminist exploitation movie as it methodically defies the rape-revenge thriller by fulfilling all of its requirements (NUDITY, VIOLENCE, RAPE) while holding them up for examination. Ferrara, whose other credits include DRILLER KILLER, BAD LIEUTENANT, and KING OF NEW YORK, has always been a thoughtful and provocative director, and MS 45 Is one of his VERY best films.

It’s a shame that when MS 45 was finally released on DVD, a few minutes of footage was cut from the original version. Ferrara’s film is a significant time capsule of a particular era in American culture. MS 45 is filled with droll humor, a great soundtrack, and a determinedly unsanitized view of New York in the early ’80s. And it has one hell of a sexy poster!

So get smacked baby, and see MS 45 this weekend when a full-restored MS 45 plays midnights at the Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Avenue). The pre-show begins at 11:30 and admission is $7.