| A thoroughly relentless vibe characterizes this gritty and rough edged effort from director Abel Ferrara (the same guy who gave you 1979's subpar Driller Killer).
The setting is New York City. A shy, mute young seamstress named Zoe (Tamerlis) is raped twice in the same day.
She retaliates by packing a .45, roaming the streets of the city, and gunning down various men she comes into contact with.
Tamerlis is a knockout as the silent Zoë (in actuality, you're never quite sure if she's really mute, or if she just refuses to talk).
The shocking finale - in which Zoë attends a costume party dressed as a gun-toting nun who ends up shooting every man in sight - sounds deliriously outrageous (and it is).
But, the sequence proves to be one of the singular triumphs of this offbeat entry in the theatre of the macabre.
Isn't for all tastes, but the Death Wish-vendetta subgenre certainly deserves the female touch. And with Ms. 45, it gets it.
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