ALEXA MIRO CROSSES THE LINE BETWEEN REAL AND REEL IN HORROR FILM

Alexa Miro straddles between real and reel in "Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital," an official entry at this year's Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

- By JERRY DONATO

She is bringing her actress and celebrity personality to it while interpreting a newbie ghosthunter.

This is not strange, but a possibility and a "reality" in a movie, done in meta, where real people portray themselves, and told in a found footage filmmaking. The genre is horror.

There are aspects in it that also inform the audience that what they're watching remains a film, if one may add.

"Growing up, I've always been passionate (about) and a fan of horror," said Alexa in a recent press conference for the film that also stars Enrique Gil, Rob Gomez, Jane de Leon, MJ Lastimosa as her fellow ghosthunters, with tarot reader Raf Pineda and content creator Ryan "Zarckaroo" Azurin.

"Pangarap ko rin at napanood ko kasi ito (it's also a dream and I also watched it)," added Alexa of doing a horror movie and "Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum," where "Strange Frequencies" was based on. The latter is a local adaptation.

The narrative is somehow born out of the situation when Zarckaroo, described as "a local video creator known for filming actual footage in some of the region's most haunted places and offbeat places," in a piece of information given to this paper, invites Enrique to do an episode for the former's YouTube channel. They both decide to turn it into a film, where the talents of Alexa, Jane, MJ and Rob have been tapped by Enrique, who takes on the role of an actor and co-producer.