With thirty-odd films under her slim belt (remember her tiny waist?), Amy Yip has disappeared from movie screens since 1997. The actress was known for some years as the starlet displaying the biggest chest in the Hong Kong film industry. She specialized in Category III movies, which means scripts involving sex and/or violence. Amy was seen in many sex comedies or as eye candy in other film genres. Memorable were her appearances in Sex & Zen and Robotrix, even in the short Erotic Ghost Story series. She had her way of not showing entirely what the male fans were paying to see, with the obvious collaboration of various camera angles or ingeniously diaphanous negligees.

Amy always seemed like a good sport in these many lackluster scripts but she got soon tired of only exposing her legendary chest. It was never clear if she had been enhanced surgically in that area, like many suspected, as her bone structure is quite lithe and her bust size may be unlikely considered 100% natural. But who cares? If so, she had a damn good surgeon because all that flesh seems to move around flawlessly, as far as my studies of this subject goes.

Supposedly she still lives with the same boyfriend of the last 15 years and is now an investor in some food businesses in Hong Kong and Macau.

My favorite starlet of all time turns 52 today! Yes, Tanya Roberts was mainly introduced to the world for the last season of Charlie’s Angels, but it was her presence in the horror film Tourist Trap that did it for me. In these days before video, I tried to track her more obscure apparitions in TV films and movies, sometimes staying late at night to realize that her scenes had been cut for television broadcasting (as for Fingers, thank you CBS)! Around 1980, I had her poster in my bedroom (which is proudly seen to your right), the only woman personality around those KISS and Alice Cooper photos! Ah, youth!

In those years, I was beginning to write fiction and more often than not, my heroines were Tanya Roberts prototypes: tall and slender brunettes with long limbs, gorgeous wide mouths and scratchy voices. Of course, I still remember the Playboy photo shoot and cover for The Beastmaster release, amazing pictures that oozed warmth and sensuality. I was even one of the 357 people worldwide to actually go see Sheena on a big screen… So yes, even when she turned blonde, I remained a fan.

Since the end of That ‘70s Show, Tanya has been mainly heard on radio and TV as a spokesperson for several Las Vegas timeshare companies. She was also present on the convention circuit. Her husband of 32 years, Barry Roberts (whom she had met while waiting in a movie line), died on June 2006 from encephalitis, so maybe she has recently adjusted her priorities in life… I’m waiting for a Tarantino-like director to hire her for a little homage in an upcoming cult film. C’mon guys!

In 1845, English author Thomas de Quincey wrote Suspiria de Profundis, which contained a segment called Levana and Our Ladies of Sorrow, Levana being the Roman goddess of newborn babies. It’s there that we can meet the Three Mothers: Mater Lachrymarum (Our Lady of Tears), Mater Suspiriorum (Our Lady of Sighs) and Mater Tenebrarum (Our Lady of Darkness) or as de Quincey puts it, the Three Sorrows. These writings inspired a young actress named Daria Nicolodi to write a script for her director husband, Dario Argento. Their collaborative result was 1977’s Suspiria, in my opinion one of the best horror film of all time. The success of that project inspired them for a sequel, 1980’s Inferno. But for many years, the last chapter of the Mothers trilogy was not to be.

At last this year, Argento finally proposed to the world The Third Mother, which reunites him with his past amour Daria in an acting role, alongside their daughter Asia, now an internationally known celebrity in her own right. I think this is the first time that this trio have worked on a project together. My goal here is to identify for you the various comediennes who essayed these sinister roles.

Suspiria - Mater Suspiriorum - uncredited actress
Wow, this starts very well indeed. Let’s meet an unidentified actress rumored to be a ninety-year-old ex-hooker who played the oldest Mother (here called Elena Markos), if we can believe star Jessica Harper’s memory! Lovely. Let’s move on…

Inferno - Mater Tenebrarum - Veronica Lazar
Born in Romania in 1938, Veronica Lazar played the cruelest Mother. She was in no more than 20 movies, but made some very wise choices, like Last Tango in Paris, Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond or Identification of a Woman. She used to be the wife of actor Adolfo Celi, memorably remembered as the villain in Thunderball. Inferno was of course the last film work of legendary Mario Bava, who supervised its fiery finale.

Inferno/The Third Mother - Mater Lachrymarum - Ana Pieroni/Moran Atias
The most beautiful Mother was played in Inferno by Ania Pieroni, who possessed an uncanny, almost supernatural beauty, with amazing pale eyes and generous blond hair. She has also played in another Argento movie, Tenebre, where she meets a very juicy demise. Here she’s a bewitching (in every sense of the word) musical student who suddenly (and too briefly) appears before the story’s hero.

Ania was not the main focus of the movie, however, so for The Third Mother 27 years later, Moran Atias was enrolled for the same role. Born in 1981, in Haifa, Israel, Moran has enjoyed work as a model (starting at the age of 15) and TV presenter. She actually was the hostess of Israel’s version of Deal or No Deal. We’ll soon revisit her for this blog.

The Third Mother had its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. It’s supposed to be widely released sometimes at the beginning of 2008 and the DVD will be handled by the Weinstein Company, so don’t hold your breath for both, I’m afraid… As always for an Argento project, critics had been divided between a triumph and a disaster, as read in the European press.

1965 – Catherine Deneuve – Repulsion

I actually walked alongside Catherine Deneuve for a couple of minutes some four or five years ago, here in Montreal, as she was casually shopping on rue Saint-Denis. A very intriguing woman. In 1965, at the age of 22, she gave a star-making performance in Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, one of the most convincing descent into madness ever put on screen. When an attractive young girl goes nuts, seems that it’s more profoundly disturbing than some morbidly obese lass…

But what’s wrong with Carole, anyway? She’s a young French girl living with her sister in swinging London, she has a nice job in a high-class beauty salon and an attractive guy is courting her… So why has she so much trouble being around men? When her sibling goes out for a short vacation with her lover, Carole will find herself alone in their apartment, with a skinned and uncooked rabbit in the kitchen counter as silent companion. What is pushing her over the edge? And what about that razor blade that she wields when some unknown intruder knocks on her door?

Polanski’s first English-speaking feature has not lost one second of its power to disturb. Thank God that this film is NOT in color! The repressive atmosphere works much better in icy visuals, are we’re not always sure what’s reality and what’s perverse fantasy. This masterpiece should be studied in film class, without a doubt, with its amazing cinematography and use of sounds.

I stumbled upon a curious fact: seems that Repulsion included the first depiction of female orgasm (but by sound only!) to be passed by the British Board of Film Censors! Coming out of the big success of Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Catherine Deneuve confirmed her presence in European films with this character, a brilliant turn coming from a young actress. However Carole behaves, she always remains oddly sympathetic in our eyes. Of course, Deneuve would become a movie legend two years later for Belle de jour, one of the most amazing female performance of all time.

Soon: This Angel of Vengeance passes away before becoming a great international star… a project coming from cinema’s most prolific director.

Current blog banner-girl Bai Ling is 37 years old today. She will soon be seen in the thriller The Gene Generation (intriguing glimpse just below).

Last October 3, international movie star Michelle Yeoh has been made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by the French Government, nothing less! This award, which has been created on May 19, 1802, by Napoleon Bonaparte himself, was given to her in Malaysia, the country of her birth. The 45 years old Bond Girl’s career, personal charm and involvement in many charity causes are the main reasons for this nomination.

The picture below shows French Ambassador to Malaysia Alain du Boispean pinning the official badge to Michelle’s chest… without even looking at her! She’s a tough cookie, as we know that she endured much worse physical pains than that while kicking ass in countless martial arts and action films.

Michelle is soon due to be married to Ferrari chief Jean Todt and will be seen next year in the sci-fi movie Babylon A.D. She’s currently filming the next episode in the Mummy franchise, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Sigourney Weaver, one of our favorite action heroines, turns 58 today!

I’m delighted to share with you another kind of spotlight that will be an occasional feature on this blog: hip hop hotties! Yes, the majority of them are merely perceived as deluxe eye candy, but more often than not, you’ll be surprised to meet some very interesting ladies.

Let’s begin with maybe the most fabulous of them all, Miss Melyssa Ford, Queen of steamy videos and legendary sexy calendars! She was born on November 7, 1976, in Toronto, Canada, of Russian, Norwegian and Barbadian roots. She was discovered while working as a bartender and soon began modeling, appearing in music videos alongside Usher, Ludacris, Mystikal and Jay-Z, among many others. Her voluptuous form is the reason why she’s been nicknamed Jessica Rabbit, in honor of the cartoon character. Melyssa has also done countless magazine covers for such publications as King, Maxim and XXL.

Her line of calendars will melt the paint off your walls, so beware. She appeared in a couple of movies and will even play a doctor in the upcoming film God’s Prayer, so what’s not to like? Here’s some choice links, with of course access to her official site.

• iBaller
• Perfect People
• Brown Sista
• Simply Gorgeous Women

Enigmatic beauty Laura Gemser turns 57 years old today; let’s hope she’s enjoying all this on some exotic secluded beach, like Emmanuelle used to do!

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:

Next: One of France’s greatest actress struggles with a… rabbit?