Emilie de Ravin’s fans probably know her best as Claire, the sweet young plane crash survivor who became a single mom on the first season of ABC’s mega-hit "Lost." But now they can check out the promising young actress on the big screen as she makes her feature film debut in the gruesome horror remake The Hills Have Eyes and the noir-ish high school drama Brick.



Her roles in the three projects couldn’t be more diverse and that’s exactly the way de Ravin wants it. "I’m always craving to do something different," the Australian native says.



In Hills, de Ravin plays Brenda Carter, the youngest daughter of a family terrorized by mutant cannibals. Although she’s front and center for some of the film’s most disturbing sequences, de Ravin considers the movie to be more than a slice-and-dice slasher flick and that’s what drew her to the project in the first place.



"Underneath all the gore, it’s a study of these two completely different families," de Ravin explains. "You really feel for the Carter family, and in an odd way you feel for the hill people too. You care about these people, it’s not about ‘how many people can we kill in five seconds?’ Although there is a lot of blood!"



Enough blood to give the film some ratings problems. The filmmakers had to make a few cuts in order to secure a R rating in the U.S. (so don’t be surprised to see an even gorier version down the road on DVD).



While Hills is poised to capitalize on the current craze for horror flicks (i.e. Hostel, Final Destination 3, When a Stranger Calls), Brick is a different, smaller project. The film, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival and releases in theaters March 31, is reminiscent of classic film noir detective stories but its high school setting provides a unique spin. De Ravin plays the hero’s girlfriend and it’s her mysterious disappearance following a frenzied phone call that sets the story in motion.



"I’m really excited about it," de Ravin explains. "It’s a different kind of film for young people. We’re bombarded with fluffy teen films and it’s nice to have something a little more gritty."



As for her role on the series-that-launched-a-thousand-conspiracy-theories … no, de Ravin doesn’t know what’s up with the island’s various monsters and no, she doesn’t know why the survivors wound up on that specific island. (Or if she does know, she’s not telling.)



"There’s so many theories floating around, I really don’t know what to believe," de Ravin says with a laugh. "At first I thought that we were all in purgatory, but then I had a child and with a new life on the island that doesn’t make as much sense."



Although "Lost" is filmed in Hawaii, de Ravin still manages to spend most of her time in Los Angeles, where she lives with her fiancé. That means a lot of traveling but de Ravin is used to it. She still braves the long flight back to Australia as often as she can since her entire family still lives there.



However, with her busy schedule, trips back home have been limited to once or twice a year, but de Ravin isn’t complaining. "I have the greatest job," she admits. "I’m just really lucky to do what I love."



The Hills Have Eyes releases in theatres March 10.