Klara Castanho overcomes fears to star in her first horror film

Actress Klara Castanho, 22, had to overcome her own fears to star in her first horror film, “Apanhador de Almas”, scheduled for release in the second half of the year. The film was recorded in December last year, in São Paulo, and is one of the first starring actress after she publicly revealed that she was a victim of sexual abuse and donated her newborn son.

The film tells the story of four young people who meet in an online witchcraft group and participate in a ritual during a total eclipse of the sun. Not everything goes as planned and the protagonists are trapped in a dimensional limbo with a powerful creature: the soul catcher. He proposes a deadly game from which only one will emerge alive. We won’t say more to avoid spoilers.

In an interview with F5, Klara says she was interested in the film because it was unlike anything she had ever done – and she loved the experience. “The recording process made me recognize new ‘talents’ in myself”, says the actress, who admits: she cannot watch horror stories alone. It’s one of those that you need someone by your side to feel safe and, even so, you cover your eyes in the most distressing or frightening scenes.

This anguish, when well dosed, however, gives you a certain pleasure. “I like the feeling of not knowing what to expect from the next scenes, the characters, the story. That’s what most calls my attention in the genre [terror].”

Klara says she is not skeptical of hauntings and supernatural forces. In her opinion, there is indeed “a lot” beyond what people can see, know and understand. “It would be too shallow for me to say that I don’t believe or that there are no [coisas sobrenaturais]”.

She does not hide that she has a certain fear of spirits and non-palpable energies, so much so that, when she was younger, she was invited and refused to participate in activities typical of those who try to communicate with spirits, such as the “cup game”. “For me it was beyond what I could handle with fear, but I saw my friends doing it and I was scared just the same.”

Questioned if human beings also scare her, Klara says she feels more insecure in the face of what she cannot see or face head on. But that doesn’t mean she believes in a humanity full of good-natured people, even more so after everything she’s been through.

“They are very different fears and they come from different places. For me it is not a comparison that I can give an ultimatum because there is a lot of fear of the unknown. But there is also a lot of fear of the known, of what is palpable”.