Ruffa shines in ‘Regal Shocker’ despite defective script

I'm not a big fan of Ruffa Gutierrez, but in the November 12 episode of TV5's "Regal Shocker," she shone as a retired fashion stylist turned nasty fashion blogger. She spent most of the hour fending off an evil…no, not an aswang, a tiyanak or a manananggal but an evil pair of red shoes. True to her character, Ruffa goes through more than a dozen costume changes. She's wearing a different outfit in every sequence and is dressed to the nines even in her more terrifying scenes. More important, she was credible as a girl from a poor family who attains success as a fashion stylist. She then uses her newfound power to put down the affluent people who used to laugh at her.

Uncredited

I must, however, chide producers TV5 and Regal Multimedia Inc. for not giving credit where credit is due. JM Costales is listed as episode writer and Rahyan Carlos as creative head but they forgot to include one important name, Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author of the fairy tale "The Red Shoes." The least they could have done was include a credit "inspired by a fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen." Andersen's story, published in 1845, concerns a peasant girl whose life is taken over by a pair of red shoes and ends up with her feet chopped off. A Korean movie "Bunhongsin" (The Red Shoes) did the honorable thing and gave co-writing credit to Andersen.

Back to "Regal Shocker." In the local version, Ruffa plays Karina, a popular fashion critic who ruins the lives of many entertainers with her vicious commentaries. She discovers a pair of red shoes in an ukay-ukay right in front of her house (how convenient for the production). Feliz, the unfashionable owner, refuses to sell the shoes but Karina manages to steal them later, dressed as an old crone.

Shoes from hell

Karina's troubles are minor at first. She experiences hallucinations—there's blood on her shoes, worms surround her feet, an angry woman asks Karina to return her shoes. Then the shoes take over her feet. She dances with her husband's guests, kicks her mother-in-law. The ukay-ukay owner, Feliz, who never suspected Karina of stealing the red shoes, reveals the secret of the cursed footwear. They belonged to her aunt Olga (Precious Lara Quigaman) who was a famous fashion model with a mean streak. Without any logical explanation, she suddenly dies during a shoot, blood dripping on her white shoes. That explains why the shoes are red. They're covered with Olga's blood.

Karina begs for forgiveness from Olga for stealing her shoes and miraculously, the shoes are finally off her feet. Ah, but that's not the end of the episode. As Karina and her husband, played by Wendell Ramos, go to bed, the spirit of Olga, who now has horns (the devil's messenger?), wants Karina to take back her shoes (why were they removed from Karina's feet in the first place?) and become Satan's disciple.

Karina drives Olga away with her rosary but a few seconds later, she reappears and succeeds in getting Karina to wear her shoes. Karina attacks her husband, who conveniently has a flask of holy water with him. She backs away but her shoes still control her so her husband also conveniently has a mini "flame thrower." He asks her to burn her shoes and finally her ordeal is over. I wonder, though, since the devil controls her shoes, wouldn't the shoes be impervious to fire?

Holes in the story

In the final scene, Karina has learned her lesson and shuts down her blogsite while another ukay-ukay customer tries to buy the red shoes from Feliz. Wait a minute, weren't the shoes set on fire by Karina? There are just too many holes in the story line.

At least, Ruffa saves the show from being a complete mess with her performance. Her command of the English language is also commendable. Very few local actresses can pronounce the word "despicable" (accent on the second syllable) correctly. Precious could have stolen the scenes from Ruffa but she wasn't scary enough. Give her credit though for accepting an offbeat role. Soxy Topacio is a fine director but the poorly-written script did not give him a chance to show her creativity.

Disclaimer: The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! Southeast Asia on the issue or topic being discussed.