1981 in film

The following is an overview of events in 1981 in film, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies and festivals, a list of films released and notable deaths.

Highest-grossing films (U.S.)

The top ten 1981 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows:

Events

Awards

Academy Awards:

Golden Globe Awards:

Golden Raspberry Awards:

Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):

Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival):

Golden Bear (Berlin Film Festival):

Notable films released in 1981

1981

1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1981st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 981st year of the 2nd millennium, the 81st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1980s decade.

Events

January

Ms. 45

Ms. 45, also known as Angel of Vengeance, is a 1981 American low-budget exploitation suspense film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Zoë Tamerlis Lund.

Inspired by films such as 1973's Thriller – A Cruel Picture and 1974's Death Wish, the film is a rape and revenge story about Thana, a mute woman who becomes a misandristic spree killer (not strictly a vigilante) after she is raped twice in one day when going home from work. It was critically maligned on its theatrical release, but is now generally highly regarded among fans of underground and independent film.

It was acquired by Alamo Drafthouse Films in October 2013 and remastered in HD from the original negatives. The distributor released the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy in March 2014.

Plot

While walking home from work, Thana, a mute seamstress in New York City's Garment District, is raped at gunpoint in an alley by a mysterious, masked attacker. She survives and makes her way back to her apartment, where she encounters a burglar and is raped a second time. Thana, her name an allusion to Greek god of death Thanatos, hits this second assailant with a small sculpture then bludgeons him to death with an iron, and carries his body to the bathtub. She goes to work the next day, and after encountering working with an iron, watching her boss Albert rip a shirt off a mannequin, she goes into shock state, which worries her co-workers. However, when she looks at the trashbin at her office, she decides to dismember the burglar's corpse and throw the parts away in various locations of the city.