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Mar 15, 2023 · Whether you're a die-hard fan of Abel Ferrara or just discovering his filmography, this ranking of his films provides an insightful look into one of America's unique and talented...
- Andrea Ballerini
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- Ms. 45 (1981) The rape-revenge arc and hard-boiled title may root Ms. 45 in the exploitation tradition, but Ferrara’s vision is far more audacious. Zoe Lund plays Thana, the picture’s avenging angel, exacting random and violent retribution on the men of New York.
- Fear City (1984) Though lacking the rich thematic textures that would come to define his later narratives of urban grit, Fear City is the quintessential early Ferrara policier – a lurid chronicle of nocturnal misdeeds, awash with salaciousness.
- King of New York (1990) Unlike the work of many of his contemporaries, Ferrara’s films are not derailed by big performances – they adjust to them. The best examples filter the director’s thematic concerns through performances of unhinged grandeur.
- Bad Lieutenant (1992) With Bad Lieutenant, Ferrara equated the death drive of his protagonist with that of New York itself, entwining the fate of both the man and the city.
- Gregory Lawrence
- The Driller Killer. Yes, The Driller Killer is about a killer who uses a gnarly power tool to dispatch his victims. But it’s much more than an ultraviolent, controversial video nasty — a denigrated status which moral panic disseminators tried to paint the film upon its release.
- Ms .45. Grimy, relentlessly provocative, stylish, and transformative, it is a minor miracle that Ms .45 remains this watchable in this day and age. A revenge thriller in dialogue with its contemporaries (Taxi Driver) and influential in its wake (Kill Bill), our title vigilante is Thana (Zoë Lund, involved in the conception of her character from the start), a mute clothing maker who is attacked and sexually assaulted twice in a row, resulting in a visceral, psychologically complicated descent into madness and vengeance.
- China Girl. Simply, it's Romeo and Juliet with Italian gangs and Chinese gangs. But in this simplicity, this primal scream of love among a pain-stricken world, Ferrara finds the strongest emotional pull of his career yet.
- King of New York. This just might be Ferrara’s most purely effective play into “mainstream” cinema. But even then, King of New York plays with a sense of sparseness and grimness not seen even in any of its peers during this mini golden age of crime cinema (New Jack City, Goodfellas, and Deep Cover are just some of the similar films released in this early ‘90s period).
- The Driller Killer (1979) Although he’s now considered a European auteur (though a lewd one at that), Ferrara began his career with the semi-porno “Nine Lives of a Wet Pussy” and then graduated to this nasty little slasher film that ended up with an honored spot on the Video Nasties list in the UK (mostly thanks to a particularly gruesome and eye-catching video cover).
- The Funeral (1996) The crime genre was in full swing during the 90s, thanks to the lasting effects of “The Godfather”, as well as the immediate success of “Goodfellas” and “Pulp Fiction”.
- 4:44: Last Day on Earth (2011) In anticipation of the supposed 2012 end-of-the-world predication (that clearly never materialized), a number of filmmakers crafted visions of a world facing its apocalypse.
- Cat Chaser (1989) Adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel, this mixes a 70’s style of hard-boiled neo-noir tropes with subtle 80’s aesthetics that’s sure to tickle fans of both decades.
Dec 7, 2022 · He got his start in gritty low-budget films in the 1970s, including the grindhouse classic The Driller Killer. He followed it up with Ms. 45, a cult revenge flick, before transitioning to more...
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Jan 21, 2024 · Abel Ferrara is the maverick director responsible for violent and controversial gems like Ms. 45, King of New York, and Bad Lieutenant. He also helmed the solid 1993 Body Snatchers remake and...
Nov 25, 2021 · With Abel Ferrara's "Zeros and Ones" released, we decided to look back on an iconoclastic career of films focused on crime, faith and more.
