Carla Abellana is Regal’s horror princess

MANILA, Philippines - Regal Entertainment’s Mother Lily Monteverde has found a new horror princess in Carla Abellana, star of Aloy Adlawan’s Third Eye.

In the new Regal shocker, which opens in theaters nationwide on Feb. 26, Carla plays a woman gifted with the power to see supernatural creatures.

Carla confessed that she loves watching horror flicks. Among her favorites are The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Evil Dead and The Shining.

“But I get scared easily,” she admitted. “I can’t stand to be on my own and I can’t sleep with the lights off after watching a horror film.”

Among local thrillers, she singles out Shake, Rattle and Roll — particularly episodes directed by Peque Gallaga.

“I love the ones with Aiza Seguerra and Manilyn Reynes,” she said.

Carla won the Best Performer award from the Young Critics’ Circle for Jerrold Tarog’s Punerarya episode in Shake, Rattle and Roll 12. She also won as Best New Movie Actress at the PMPC Star Awards for the same film.

She is gratified by the unexpected honors. “It’s a big bonus. It’s rare to win for a horror film these days. Plus my part was just one-third of a popular trilogy. I am proud of that award.”

Coincidentally, Punerarya was written by her Third Eye director Aloy.

“It was a breeze working with direk Aloy,” she said. “But he has a different directing style from Jerrold who is a perfectionist. Direk Aloy can be considered an expert in horror. That’s his forte. Our shoot went without a hitch. It was quick and fun. The entire team was efficient.”

She also enjoyed working with the entire Third Eye cast: Camille Prats, Denise Laurel, Alex Medina and Ejay Falcon.

“With every new project, there’s always an excitement — especially, if you are working with people for the first time,” she said. “But with this cast, everything went smoothly. It was as if we were united by the common goal to make a good film.”

Although Camille plays Carla’s enemy in the film, they hit it off instantly. “I’m a fan of Camille, from her Princess Sarah days pa,” Carla shared. “I learned a lot from her, when it comes to blocking and other technical aspects of acting.”

After the phenomenal hit GMA 7 series My Husband’s Lover, Carla once again gets to hone her acting chops in a Regal thriller.

“My role in Third Eye was very challenging. It’s not just full of thrills and chills, our movie is also brimming with emotions,” Carla explained.

She plays a woman betrayed by her husband in the film. “My character was in a difficult situation. If I were her, I would forgive my cheating husband, but it would also be important for him to learn his lesson and value our relationship.”

Her own three-year relationship with Geoff Eigenmann is going strong, thank you. However, they have no plans of getting married anytime soon.

“We still want to accomplish a lot of things,” she said. 

A bona fide Regal baby, Carla has two more big projects with the film company for 2014 — Let’s Take a Chance with Tom Rodriguez, to be directed by Jun Lana and Somebody to Love to be directed by Jose Javier Reyes.

Carla is looking forward to making more Regal movies in the future.

After all, she is a true-blue (and award-winning) Regal princess.

Third Eye opens in theaters nationwide on Feb. 26.