Scream is now available for purchase on Digital, and comes loaded with plenty of killer bonus content. The terror then comes home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on April 5 from Paramount Home Entertainment, and to mark that, we're now bringing you our full chat with star Melissa Barrera.
In the movie, she plays Sam Carpenter, the franchise's new lead protagonist who finds herself being hunted down by the seemingly unstoppable Ghostface.
Scream was met with a positive response from fans and critics alike, and a sixth instalment is already in the works. In this interview, Barrera talks about the secrecy surrounding this latest addition to the iconic franchise and the mind-blowing experience of getting to share the screen with such horror movie icons as Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell.
We also hear from the actress about what it was like to deal with so much fake blood on set and get some insights into where she hopes Sam's journey could go in the next instalment.
Check out this interview with Melissa about her Scream role in the player below:
Thank you so much for taking the time to catch up about the film today. It’s a really, really fun ride.
Thank you! We had so much fun making it, so I’m just so grateful the response has been so generous and so loving.
Something fans have always loved about this franchise are all the different twists and turns along the way, but what was that secrecy like on set and is it true you guys weren’t necessarily given the ending of the film in advance?
Yeah, the first script that I read had a completely different ending. I know they had a few going around. I think it was after the second film that the ending leaked and they had to reshoot it and there was a whole thing, so I think it’s just been a Wes [Craven] tradition as he always had multiple endings and kept it a secret from the actors. Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] wanted to honour him in that way so we all got different endings. Even when we all got to Wilmington and we had our table read, we only read up until page eighty and that was it. They didn’t want to tell us who the actual killers were going to be. It was fun! We were shooting a whodunnit and we are, in real life behind the scenes, also playing a whodunnit and trying to figure out who the killers are.
Without getting into spoilers, it goes without saying Scream is going to be a very gory film, and you get hands-on with a lot of blood at various times so what did you like about that fake blood experience…or maybe didn’t like so much?
I loved playing with this amount of blood because it was my first time doing a horror movie. It was my first time experiencing that, but I don’t know if a lot of people know that the blood we use to make movies is syrupy so it’s very sticky. Once you’re covered in it, you basically can’t touch anything because you get stuck everywhere! My phone was covered in blood for, like, three months after we finished shooting Scream. It requires a different set of patience skills to be covered in blood and because we shot the third act in a matter of few weeks, I was covered in blood for a while. It’s fun but it can also be stressful. Every time you go to the bathroom and wash your hands, you’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ You go back to special effects and say, ‘I need more’ and they have to keep covering you in blood. It was so fun.
Something else I can imagine must have been a lot of fun was getting to share the screen with Scream legends like Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell. What was it like the first time the three of you got to get together on set?
Oh my God, the first time I shot a scene with Neve and Courtney, I was freaking out. I was freaking out. I couldn’t believe it. I was telling Matt and Tyler, ‘Please pinch me. Please take pictures. I need to remember this moment.’ I was also very nervous, you know, because I had shot my first scene with Courtney a few days before and then Neve’s first day was that scene outside the hospital where Courtney is like, ‘Hey, new girl.’ It’s the three of us standing there and I was just…that’s when it really hit me. I think that was the moment it really hit me and I realised, ‘I’m making a Scream movie and get to share that with these two actresses I’ve admired and loved for so long.’ It was very surreal and honestly one of the best feelings in the world.
On another note for a second, obviously Leslie Grace has gone on to play Batgirl and Anthony Ramos is going off into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so as a performer, are you keen to jump into one of those superhero roles like your In The Heights co-stars?
Um…I mean, never say never, right? I feel like it’s cool, but I also have other things in mind for my career. I also have this…I love superhero movies, but I also feel like they’ve kind of taken over the industry. I think we need variety. I think we need other things as well to maintain a balance in the universe!
As you said at the beginning of the interview, fans have really embraced the film, as have critics, and there’s been a great response to it. Looking forward to the next film, where would you like to see your character’s story go?
Oh my God, that would be amazing. I don’t know, I feel like there’s so much that could happen with Sam. Without giving any spoilers, but with how the movie ends and this side of her that she embraces at the end of this movie…I feel like there’s so much to explore with her and it could be a very interesting journey as an actor to explore that duality of the character and her embracing a little bit of the dark side. I don’t know. It’s exciting!