SHE'S been a television actress since 2010 in notable productions, such as 'Juvana', 'Bunga-Bunga Syurga', 'Ema Emyliana' and 'Istikharah Cinta'.
On the big screen, Eyka Farhana was last seen in the 2022 romantic comedy 'Autumn in Wales'.
In her latest role, the petite 28-year-old artiste has decided to do something unexpected by starring in a horror movie.
The movie — 'Anak Perjanjian Syaitan 2' — sees the Ampang-born star convincingly carrying out various challenging scenes like walking on glass, writhing in a freshly dug-out grave and getting possessed, among other things.
"I was not familiar at all with the horror genre. This is my first horror movie. Before this, I've never acted in any film or drama in this popular genre.
"I never even watch these kind of movies. Honestly, I'm really a scaredy-cat," she said with a laugh.
Eyka added that she was unsure whether to take on the lead role when she first heard about the offer from her manager.
"The next day, when we met the team to discuss the matter, the first thing I said was, 'I'm a scaredy-cat'.
"But, at the same time, it was a good opportunity to challenge myself as an actress. So I took on the role just to experience something different," she said.
In the movie, Eyka plays the main character, Azlinda, whose life starts to unravel after she turns 21.
From becoming an orphan to experiencing progressively scary hallucinations of an impending evil event, things get worse when she relocates to a rural religious school.
She eventually has to make sense of her mysterious past and gets some help from the unlikeliest of places.
"I had to learn a lot of things to play this role effectively. I did lots of research on this genre to get a clear understanding of what was required of me," she said.
Eyka added that working with director Ahmad Idham was also an eye-opening experience.
"He's good at what he does, is very meticulous and knows what he wants. But the thing about working with him was that there were a lot of surprises.
"Not everything that was in the script was there on the set. And during the filming sessions, he would then inform me of new things that I had to do or that would take place.
"So if you watch the movie, there are scenes presented that were originally not in the script.
"One example was the scene where I was inside a grave. That was nowhere to be found in the script.
"I guess it was his way of eliciting more natural reactions from the cast and everything turned out well," she said.
Talking about strange things that happened during the filming, Eyka shared that she fell ill after completing the grave scene.
"The whole production team, including myself, had fever after that. But it may have been caused by the rainy weather during that particular filming session.
"I didn't feel frightened on the set since I knew that there was always an ustaz to look out for us," she said.
Eyka shared that there was only one minor incident that sent chills down her spine during production.
"There was one time after I finished my filming session between midnight and 1am, when I was walking back to my car with my sister.
"It was really quiet but I could hear the voice of someone singing. I looked at my sister and she had heard it too.
"For the entire journey heading home we just kept quiet. Once at home, I had a feeling like someone was watching us. Thankfully, that was just the extent of it," she said.
'Anak Perjanjian Syaitan 2' also stars Alif Satar, Fasha Sandha, Azlan Komeng, Azizah Mahzan, Dian P. Ramlee, Shaharuddin Thamby, Nadzmi Adhwa, Sera Melissa, Elly Arifin and Z. Zamri.
The movie, distributed by Primeworks Studios, is set to be released in cinemas nationwide on Jan 4.