Ms. 45 (1981) 80 Minutes

It was a calm Wednesday night indoors – 90% of the Crew could not make the occasion, including Nubs, so the festivities were instead hosted at Tooda’s crib. Along with being MovieNight, it was also the premiere of our first-ever ‘So Bad It’s Good’ rotation.

In attendance were Pat Towne and Tooda, who took their seats a little after 9:00 as Wildcard Slim took the stage with his preamble and Pick. “‘So Bad It’s Good’ is a relative term,” Slim stated, “because when I invented this idea, I thought it would be fun for the Crew to have some fun.” And after pressing PLAY, the miniature Crew settled in for ‘Ms. 45’ – directed by new-to-the-canon Abel Ferrara, written by Nicholas St. John and starring a never-to-be-seen-from-again Zoe Lund.

A few winces and grimaces were shared between the three as the first of two rape sequences happened to our protagonist, but once she sawed her attacker into pieces in the bathtub, the movie began to really come together…and ‘So Bad It’s Good’ was born.

“Sister?”

Written by: N.G. St. John

Directed by: Abel Ferrara

SELECTOR Comments:

Like I explained in my preamble, ‘Ms. 45’ holds a very dear claim in my heart. Psychologically speaking, I believe this film may be one of the very cornerstones of who I am today. Seeing this film when I was 12, with the two-for-one rapes and bloodthirsty revenge, helped shape this kid into the pillar of society he is today.

But it was all luck. I haven’t seen this film in 24 years, and I had no idea what it was called, who was in it, when it was made…the only thing I recollect from the two-plus decades since its original viewing was the rape over a trashcan and the iron to the back of the head. And when I was at the video store looking for a copy of ‘Jaws 4,’ I came across this DVD cover for ‘Ms. 45,’ and it all came back to me. And then I watched it twice over the weekend to make sure it was just as dementedly good/bad as I remember, and presented it on Wednesday.

What I had no idea of knowing at the time was that Tooda would appreciate the film so much. Yes, it’s a little twisted and heavy, but that jazz-induced magnum-opus death orgy at the end, well, that just goes down in history as the coolest finale ever for a bad 80s film.

We started our ‘So Bad it’s Good’ season off with a bang…hopefully we’ll get the double-rape and iron-to-the-back-of-the-head from all our contenders.

next >

< previous