November 30, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — 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).
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.
Alexa joins fellow amateur ghosthunters Enrique Gil, Rob Gomez, Jane de Leon and MJ Lastimosa, with tarot reader Raf Pineda and content creator Ryan ‘Zarckaroo’ Azurin in a project that documents paranormal activities in a haunted, offbeat place.
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.
“Parang naisip rin lang namin what if tayo din ang mag-shoot (we also thought that we should be the ones filming the scenes),” shared Alexa. “We didn’t have any camera crew there, so kami, kami lang ang pumasok sa hospital. Nandun din yung appreciation na na-form namin for the camera (people), the people behind the cameras, behind the scenes because we know yung pagod na pinagdadaanan nila (after that, we’ve become more appreciative of the camera people. We know what they’re going through and the dedication they put in their work).”
The individual and collective journey of the celebrities and their characters unfolds when they enter an abandoned and haunted hospital. The amateur ghosthunters bravely foray into it to see for themselves possible strange frequencies that roam around and lurk within it.
“Hindi ako takot kasi sa mga ganyan (I’m not afraid of things such as this),” said Alexa about supernatural occurrences. “Pangarap ko talaga siya simula nung bata ako na maka-explore din ako around the world (it has been a dream since I was young to explore around the world).”
Aside from going to the usual tourist spots, Alexa was perhaps referring to dark tourism, in which eerie places with paranormal activities form part of a tourist itinerary.
That’s what Zarckaroo has been doing and sharing content about what is described as “the most haunted places and offbeat places.”
As she portrayed herself as Alexa, the celebrity, and Alexa, the ghosthunter character, she had her fair share of spooky experiences.
“Meron kaming mga kasama na sensitive sila sa ganun (we were joined by people who are sensitive to ‘strange frequencies’). They would feel, see or hear stuff. I personally also experienced something on the first day of the entire shoot,” said she.
That happened when they wrapped their first shooting day up. From the film location and on the way to their homebase, the vans carrying the cast and crew would go through a tunnel.
Alexa recalled that prior to entering the tunnel, she had this heavy feeling, and “someone” seemed to be whispering to her to avoid the tunnel and tell the driver to take another road.
Alexa shrugged it off because she didn’t want everybody to worry. But she was feeling some kind of “energy” that made her movements constricted. Some noticed a change in her. They showed their concern about her. Alexa cried and when their van finally passed through the tunnel, she felt that “energy” had left her. Everyone prayed for Alexa.
It had been a norm for them to do cleansing and rituals and pray before and after filming.
Gadgets malfunctioning, a table collapsing, and hearing someone mimicking their voices on a device were some of the “strange” experiences they had on set.
“I think wina-warn-ningan kami ng mga spirits or something to be careful and ‘wag masyadong makulit (the spirits were warning and telling us to be careful and not to be playful),” said she.
The film enthusiasts and moviegoers are given the creative space to see for themselves how Alexa, the actress, and Alexa, the character, are, in a way, “one and the same,” as the two Alexas cross the boundary that separates real and reel and that intersects them.
Produced by filmmaker Erik Matti and Dondon Monteverde, and in partnership with Enrique, “Strange Frequencies” opens on Dec. 25 in cinemas nationwide.
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