1964 – Nobuko Otowa – Onibaba

She was born on October 1, 1925, and played in more than 125 movies in Japan. Her name was Nobuko Otowa and you probably don’t really know who she is. Well, she was cast as one of the biggest female monster ever to be seen on film, as the mother in Onibaba. See, she and her daughter-in-law, living in poverty in medieval Japan, have come up with a devious trap to survive: luring and murdering passing samurai to eventually sell off the belongings of their victims. Since they live in a small hut near a swamp, there’s not many witnesses around. But the youngest woman begins a relationship with a neighbor, much to the distress and anger of her elder, whom will begin a game of terror that is must seen to be believed. You want sexual rejection? Great hysterics? It’s all here, with the most amazing demonic mask face to ever grace the screen. Symbols abound and it would be a shame to tell more.

The murdering force of Nobuko Otowa’s performance is simply astonishing. This is a list about female performances in horror films, but it should be included in any general listings, without regard to a particular genre. The black & white photography, the oppressive landscape, the grim composures of the characters, all play to create a hellish universe, a kind of merciless purgatory. This is one movie that can still produces nightmares, without any kind of fancy special effects.

Nobuko Otowa had made her film debut in 1950 and she continued to work until 2000. She won many acting awards in Asia, even at the Venice Film Festival in 1979 for Kôsatsu (charming English title: The Strangling). Here’s a career they should be urgently (re)discovered.

The demon mask actually inspired William Friedkin for The Exorcist, as he included subliminal shots of a similar grim face at some key points in the story. Halloween night is coming soon, right? I can’t more recommend a movie to send chills down your back.

You’ll see below an international poster that implies more exploitative sex content that is actually displayed in the final product:

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