ELLA CRUZ has done many horror movies like “Cry No Fear”, “Dark Room”, “Biyernes Santo”, “Shake Rattle & Roll”, “Dilim”, and a horror TV series, “Parang Normal Activitiy”, but the irony of it all is that she’s not a fan of horror movies.
“I don’t watch them kasi madali akong matakot,” she says at the presscon of her new horror movie, “Rooftop”, now streaming on Vivamax.
“That’s why I didn’t go sa premiere night ng ‘Rooftop’ sa SM Cinema. Kung manood man ako, I usually cover my eyes so I won’t see the scary scenes.”
In “Rooftop”, she plays the role of Wave, a student who doesn’t go home to her family during their semestral break and decides to stay with her friends in their school dorm.
At night, they drink and party on the rooftop and they pull a silly prank on their school janitor, Epy Quizon, who unfortunately dies because of their mischief.
“Ako yung youngest sa grupo namin nina Ryza Cenon, Marco Gumabao, Rhen Escano, Marco Gallo and Andrew Muhlach,” she says. “Ang challenge is first time ko sila lahat nakatrabaho, so I was thinking of our group chemistry.
"Magje-jell ba kami and how we will react to each other sa ganitong film na lahat kami, mga bida. Buti na lang, we all got along fine easily kaya naging madali ang shoot.
"Pero mahihirap ang mga eksena ng katatakutan ha. Si Kuya Epy kasi, minumulto niya kaming lahat, isa-isa, to get even with us kasi lahat kami involved sa nangyaring krimen that we tried to cover up.”
Epy Quizon is actually the eldest member in our group. How is it working with him?
“Matagal na siya sa industry, pero wala siyang kayabang-yabang at all. Ginagabayan niya nga kami. Mahilig siyang mag-guide on how to do a scene para lumens on screen na mas natural. We enjoyed his company.”
How is it working with their director, Yam Laranas?
“Nakakabilib kasi mabilis siyang mag-work kaya maaga lagi kami natatapos. Siya rin kasi ang sumulat ng script so planado niya bawat eksena and he helped us in building our characters.
"Nakakatakot talaga yung movie kasi sa shoot pa lang, kapag lumalabas si Kuya Epy as the multo na naka-prosthetic, luwa ang mata, disfigured ang mukha na parang zombie, natatakot na kami.
"Tapos may scene na bigla akong lumutang sa ere dahil sa multo. Abangan nyo yun.”
They shot the film in the abandoned Quezon Institute and it’s said it’s really haunted. Did she feel anything creepy?
“Actually, second film ko yun na doon ginawa. Kasi yung ‘Edward’, where I won as Cinemalaya best supporting actress doon kinunan.
"I died in that movie at inilagay pa ako sa morgue. May energy ka talagang mapi-feel na naiiba.
"May presence, but I think harmless naman sila dahil hindi naman nila kami inaabala.”
It’s common knowledge she is officially on with actor Julian Trono, with whom she did several romantic films. He seems to be missing in action. What is he doing now?
“Ayun, happy naman siya at busy siya ngayon sa kanyang business.”
Since Vivamax now is the most active movie company where nymphets do several sexy flicks in quick succession, doesn’t she have plans of also going sexy so she will also have more assignments?
“Ay ibang klase yung sexy films sa Vivamax ngayon, hindi ko kaya. Nakakaloka. Sa horror films na lang muna ako,” she laughs.