I t's fair to say that Skins had its fair share of horror scenes – if your idea of horror is teenage debauchery and angst.

But for Bristolians April Pearson and Larissa Wilson, landing parts in teen movie Tormented has taken their careers to the next level.

"It was very strange working on a horror film," says 20-year-old April. "We certainly didn't have any prosthetics and fake blood on the set of Skins, but it was everywhere while we were filming the movie. It was great fun."

Filmed in a school in Birmingham, Tormented tells the story of a bullied schoolboy who comes back from the dead to haunt his tormentors.

"It sort of mixes high school movies with American-style horror films," April explains, as we meet for a coffee in a central Bristol hotel.

"It was fun to film, but it didn't feel too different from filming a TV series like Skins.

"I think it only really struck me that I'd been working on a film when I went to see it after it was made. It was so strange to look up and see myself on a cinema screen. I just kept thinking, wow, that's a really big version of my face."

April, who grew up in Bishopston, was just 16 when she was chosen for the part of Michelle in the first series of Skins.

"I went to Colston Girls' School, and one day a casting director came into school looking for a posh girl to play a part in the show," she says.

"He walked straight up to me and said 'you'd be good'. So I said, 'ok', and that was that. Within a few weeks I'd put my education on hold, and I was filming a TV series."

The success of the series changed her life – within weeks she was posing in sexy photo shoots for men's magazine FHM and being recognised in the street everywhere she went.

"It was amazing," she says. "But my parents were very careful about making sure I kept my feet on the ground, and I went back and completed my A Levels, because at that age I couldn't be sure that I'd be able to keep working as an actor.

"That kind of overnight success was all very surreal, but I loved every minute of it. I'd wanted to be an actor all my life – I've been performing in amateur theatre at Bristol Old Vic since I was three years old, so to see my dream suddenly becoming a reality was brilliant."

After filming Tormented last year, April went on to get her first professional theatre role in Suspension at the Bristol Old Vic in March.

"It was really very emotional for me to go back and act professionally at the Old Vic, because the studio there had virtually been my second home for as long as I can remember," she says.

April found herself working alongside fellow Skins star Larissa Wilson on the set of Tormented.

"It was great to find ourselves working together again," says Larissa, also 20. "I'd been through the same surreal experience as April of becoming famous for appearing in Skins, and suddenly being recognised in the street."

Larissa grew up in St Annes, and was studying at John Cabot Academy when her drama teacher handed her a flyer with details of auditions being held for a new E4 television series.

"I never imagined I'd get the part," she says. "I went along to the audition joking about ending up playing the girl with the clarinet, and sure enough I ended up with the part."

Unlike April, Larissa chose not to return to college to finish her A Levels after the success of Skins.

"I thought I'd better keep going now that my career had found its own momentum, so I managed to land parts in shows like Holby City and Kingdom," she says.

"Then this part came up in Tormented, and it was a chance to act in a film, so I jumped at it."

April and Larissa are still living in Bristol, although Larissa has now moved out of the family home.

"We were acting in Skins at the age when most young people go off to university and find their independence," she says. "So I found myself a nice flat in Bristol, and I'm having a great time."

Tormented is released at cinemas from Friday.