I watched Ms .45 last night for the first time, so it is kind of weird that it is mentioned so soon after. Abel Ferrara not only does not show nudity he also has a generally slimy/sleazy set of male characters, doing things that generally at the time (in film at least) were not looked down upon and he films it in a way to make it slimy/sleazy. It is not a film to watch if you want to feel great as a male. It was a really good film.
In 1987, we rented and watched that when I was 16 and it generated laughter among both of the sexes I was watching it with; what I distinctly remember was that it came across as so cartoonish that the female member of our viewing audience took it as a male director mocking feminism (complete with the veminist detail at the end) for a primarily male viewership. I just rewatched it for the first time at age 48, and to be honest, I don’t see it any differently; however, the current culture being what it is, my overall impression from Letterboxd is that it’s considered an artistically accurate representation of “rape culture.”
While I would say that neither film is very well made at all, have read a few books by female film scholars on the subject, I would say that I have more respect for what I believe was being attempted by more popularly reviled I Spit on Your Grave (1978) than by Ms. 45.
To bring it back to the thread’s topic (somewhat), what I would also say is that I see a world of difference between those (and the other “canon” film of the subgenre, The Last House on the Left (1972)) and Revenge (2018) - not just in the quality of the filmmaking, but in the latter’s knowing meta-excessiveness and it’s #MeToo coding (even though it was made and hit the festivals before #MeToo became a thing in November 2017). Now, to 1SO’s observation, as debuts go, I would say that Hereditary is ultimately a more adeptly made film and Sorry to Bother You is certainly more interesting on a socio-political level. But in terms of reaching an audience that most needs to “hear the message,”
having seen all three films in theaters, I would assert that Revenge has a much better shot at reaching young male consumers of horror/action than the overtly didactic and ideologically pure diatribes, BlackKklansman and The Hate U Give. (Show me a Trump supporter in a red state who’ll pay good money to see either of those and I’ll show you a $3 bill; in fact, I’m not sure I would have Sorry to Bother You so high on my 2018 top 10 list if there weren’t such critically lauded films tailor made to appeal to the bubble to the Left to contrast it with.)