Villains vile, virulent, vexatious–and victorious

WE’RE so unhappy about the shallow, predictable and un-scary portrayals being turned in by TV-movie villains these days that we’ve been going out of our way to study  what made the most chilling and terrifying villainous performances in the past so horrifyingly convincing.

The iconic villain and virago portrayals we “consulted” include those turned in by Robert De Niro in “Cape Fear,” Anthony Hopkins  in “The Silence of the Lambs,” David Carradine in “Kill Bill,” Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood,” Alan Rickman in “Die Hard,” Jack Nicholson in “Batman” and the actors who played  Jason Voorhees in the  “Friday the 13th” series.

What made them so terrifying that, after watching their performances, we had to sleep with the lights on? Some key elements they shared: First, the actors involved were exceptional and exceptionally versatile performers to begin with.

Before “turning rancid and evil” on us, many of them had already played sterling, highly inspirational heroes—so, they “knew” the full range and arc of human nature, which made it easier for them to plunge down to the “dark” side.

In performance, range and contrast are everything, and that’s what these actors had, in spades.

Next, the villain characters they played were exceedingly well-written, so the actors had rich and deep material to interpret and vivify, which is why their portrayals were the opposite  of the pat and predictable villain performances we get to see these days.

Third, no two villains should be alike. Each of the iconic and masterfully evil portrayals we reviewed had its unique roots, seeds and hollow heart of perversity and psychological threat.

No good actor sets out to play a “generically bad” person—the evil comes after he’s outlined his assigned role in its totality, taking the good with the bad—but, ultimately focusing and narrowing down his interest and empathy on his character’s negative motivations, back story and emotions.

Complicated mix

After this sharp and unique focus, the actor assigned to play a villain has a wide range of thrusts and attributes to choose from: Will he play his character crazy, or amazingly brilliant, or a complicated mix thereof?

Is his character disarmingly attractive, or a repulsive monster who has to hide his horrific countenance behind an even more chilling mask?

Is he a sociopath, serial killer, sexual abuser, a brilliantly psychological bully or a smilingly cool manipulator?

Is he quick to provoke into violent action, or is he unfeeling that nothing affects him, other than his ultimate goal of, not just personal vengeance, but total global domination?

Other scary options include the villain’s choice of weapons: Does he terrify his victims and viewers  just with  his genius–madman mind, or does he use an axe, finger-like knives, poison, a machine gun, a flame thrower, a chainsaw—?!

Is he even human to begin with, or is he a cyborg, a vengeful machine, a crazedly digitized clown, an alien from outer space?

How about the way he moves and talks? Please note that, most of the time, screen villains don’t say much at all, because still waters run deep (and scary)!

Which is why we really hate it when today’s local TV-film villains talk a blue streak—it’s just bad form and counterproductive, as far as professional on-screen villainy is concerned!