The delightfully evil witch of ’Aquamarine’ is trying her hand at horror in Japan.

Arielle Kebbel just turned 21, and celebrated that birthday with some very nice notices as Cecilia, the "mean girl" in teen mermaid fantasy Aquamarine. If the alternative L.A. Weekly says "Arielle Kebbel acquits herself with verve and aplomb in the fun role of the bad seed (bottle-blond, fancy threads, not nice at all)," it’s a good day in Hollywood.

But the Winter Park native — mom Sheri is a talent manager — didn’t have time to bank those notices, or watch DVD sales of American Pie Presents Band Camp, which just hit video stores. She was in Japan, shooting The Grudge 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar and company, which is where we caught up with her.

Question: Did you have anybody in particular in mind when playing Cecilia, anybody you went to school with?

Kebbel: No, I didn’t have one person in mind when playing Cecilia . . . which made "creating" her so much fun! With Cecilia, there are no limits. No limits to the amount of fun she has, the number of accessories she wears, the emotional games she plays. The people in life who smile at the "rules" and think that they apply to everyone else but them — those, to me, are the scariest people in this world! And that’s where Cecilia’s evil is rooted.

Winter Park girls aren’t like that, are they?

Q: What’s fun about playing "the bad girl"?

Kebbel: That there are no rules to follow! Haha! My powers suddenly became endless when I realized I didn’t have to be apologetic at any time for any of my actions . . . unless of course, saying ’sorry’ was a part of another devious plan. Plus, it was a lot of fun creating a character who needed attention from every corner of every room. Once we started shooting, I found that the more sincere I made Cecilia — and the more I was able to smile when I actually wanted to be grinding my teeth — the more layers I was able to discover with her. When a girl’s world is her pink car, and it suddenly gets taken away from her as punishment, she will do anything to get it back.

Q: Any single thing about Australia that made you think, "Yeah, this could be Florida" [Aquamarine is set in Florida] that you noticed while shooting there?

Kebbel: Surprisingly, yes. The neighborhood that we shot my backyard pool-party scene could have been many coastal Florida homes. There were water canals in the back of the homes that could have been Fort Lauderdale or Boca. There were palm trees and boat docks and marinas. Even though I love Florida, I consider myself lucky to have shot ’Florida’ in Australia, for pure selfish reasons! Maybe I do have a bit of Cecilia in me after all!

Q: Any special preparations you made for tackling The Grudge 2? Any skills you had to pick up — language, mastering the blood-curdling scream?

Kebbel: Well, thanks to fun Orlando, I think I nailed the blood-curdling scream with all of the theme park/roller coaster auditions I had! Even though I traveled quite a bit around the world this past year with my work, the language barrier is definitely the biggest culture shock to deal with. Everyday I go to work here, I’m amazed that our crew, working on The Grudge 2 is split 50/50 — half Japanese, half American, and yet we’re all there on the project working together telling this story. I feel so blessed that I’ve been given the opportunity to live this experience. It’s funny though, because once I booked the part, I only had 14 days before I left for Tokyo. And now that I’m actually here, I realize that no amount of preparation could adequately have prepared me for all that I’m experiencing here on and off the set.

Q: What is it about Japan, you think, that makes these Grudge/ J-horror movies so horrific?

Kebbel: I think that this movie’s success is directly related to the fact that it’s a Japanese story. Their interpretation of life and death is similar, yet different, from ours. Traditionally, American horror films include much more gore, and most of the time, the killer is very much alive and dressed in some sort of disguise. Whereas in The Grudge, the ’killer’ is the rage and emotion that is left with a spirit who now thrives off of rage. Combining the terror that lies in the spirit world, with [director Takashi] Shimizu’s clean-cut lines in his stylized way of shooting, is what makes the movie so great for me. He knows how to light every scene dramatically, and he is so into expressing terror through one’s entire body movement — not just in the face and scream — that it has become actually frightening to watch as we shoot! I never knew how powerful body language could be until I worked with Shimizu. He’s taught me that the more precise and mechanical he wants a particular scene, the more shocking the revelation.

Plus, I can’t think of anything scarier, for any age group, than a woman in rage, can you?