New screen villains bare their claws and fangs

TAUS. Dodgy mix of “contradictions.”

Most show-biz comers dream of becoming stars, but quite a number of them these days end up as TV-film villains, instead. “Blame” it on the extreme popularity of teleseryes for about a decade now.

In the past, veteran nasties had a lock on the most floridly evil characters, but time came when they got overexposed, so producers looked around for other vile viragos to make their good guys and gals exceedingly miserable. How have the new screen villains been faring?

Some of them are former stars dusted off out of semiretirement or living abroad, and given a decidedly rancid edge and bite. Others are starlets transformed into teen persecutors of their shows’ young leads.

A third batch is made up of traditionally “good” stars who are bored with bland and predictable hero roles, and want to do the nasty, oppressive stuff for a change—because it looks like the bad guys have more (sadistic) fun!

Representing the retirees given a noir twist is Antoinette Taus on “Bridges of Love,” who desires Jericho Rosales so much that she has him thrown behind bars and tortured in the Middle East, so he won’t be able to contact his real love, Maja Salvador, prompting her to look for solace in Paulo Avelino’s arms.

Shocker

It’s a shocker of a role, an older woman who turns evil for “love,” and the good news is that Taus is able to capture the dodgy mix of “contradictions” that bedevil her character.

Problem is, so many other things are happening in the “congested” series that she isn’t given enough screen time to go to town with it—sadly, that’s par for the course for local series’ “supporting” villains.

To really come into her own as a comebacking player, Taus has to make sure she gets a bigger role in her next TV-film outing.

Representing the teen viragos is Thea Tolentino on “The Half Sisters,” who is charged with the tempestuous task of making Barbie Forteza’s life exceedingly unhappy—all the time. Why, at one point, she even had Barbie buried alive!

That’s an attention-calling role, for sure, but Tolentino’s efforts are kneejerk and her heart clearly isn’t in them, so the “surprise” acting twist is a bathetic botch.

Dark, new leaf

Finally, representing the good stars turning a dark, new leaf, Gerald Anderson in “Nathaniel” plays an initially positive role, as the title babe’s loving father.

However, he quickly turns rancid and evil when he inadvertently causes the baby’s death and his wife leaves him, forcing him to turn to his mother (Coney Reyes) for solace.

Unfortunately, she’s nothing less than a disciple of the devil, so Gerald soon becomes bestial and even murderous himself—to the extent that he orders the incineration of an entire community, so he and his mother can use the property for their own dastardly ends.

The character’s shift is nothing less than radical, so it gives Gerald a great opportunity to go in for “contradictory” acting.

Sadly, however, his thespic approach blunts this challenging objective, because he opts for the usual “cold, stone-faced” approach—which makes it difficult for viewers to “understand” his now horribly twisted character.

Is there hope for Gerald in “Nathaniel?” Only if he makes it a point to sometimes do “humanizing” scenes that remind viewers that he isn’t totally the monster his character has become!