Melissa Barrera can’t stop getting stabbed and drenched in blood. The Mexican actress’ transition to Hollywood has largely been in the horror genre. After gaining a new legion of fans as Sam Carpenter in Scream (2022) and Scream VI, Barrera is continuing her journey in the genre with Abigail. In it, she portrays Joey, a woman with a dark past who, along with a group of fellow criminals, kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy crime boss for money. But, she gets way more than she bargained for because, well, this kid is a ballerina vampire who is thirsty for blood. We caught up with Melissa Barrera to chat about her love for horror, getting physical in Abigail, and more.
Nerdist: You’ve become quite the horror movie queen over the past couple of years. What is it about the genre that keeps you coming back to it as an actor?
Melissa Barrera: There’s so much about it that I love. I grew up loving horror movies. I love the thrill, love the adrenaline rush, I love being scared. I’m kind of a masochist in that way. And I learned that making horror movies is so much fun. It’s like being a child and playing in your living room with your siblings. It’s like that level of imagination and having to pretend to be scared and scream your heart out is kind of ridiculous if you want to be rational about it. So you really have to let go and let your inner child kind of come out and be fearless and do all these crazy things that horror requires. So I love that. And I also just love that it’s a genre that has a great fandom. The horror fans are the most loyal and the most dedicated.
We are indeed very loyal to what we love!
Barrera: Yeah, and I think there’s just so much room for expansion in the genre. It constantly surprises me where these new creatives are taking horror stories and getting wackier and crazier and more creative. And I think the most interesting stories come out of horror. But I love that they’re always metaphorical. There’s a way to talk about really deep and important issues in horror in a way that feels entertaining and not didactic. They’re not trying to teach you something. They’re just trying to make you think and entertain you. And if you grab onto the metaphor of it, then your mind is blown and then you want to talk about it and peel back all the layers.
There’s just so much of horror that I love, and I know that there’s a lot of incredible directors that have started in horror and a lot of incredible actors that also started in horror. And I also love that it’s a very noble genre in that people show up for it no matter what. You don’t need a big movie star for people to show up to the theaters to see a horror movie. And that’s always something that I’ve loved about it. It feels very generous, and I love that because I think we need to keep showing up to theaters. People show up to theaters for yes, big franchises and superheroes and the big movie star movies, but I think horror is keeping theaters alive.
Indeed, especially with so many inventive recent films. I think Abigail is such a fun take on the vampire genre. Just when you think that there’s not a new way to spin a vamp story, this movie does something totally cool. How did you find out about the film?
Barrera: I found out about the film through my team. They told me that [Scream directors] Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] had this new movie at Universal and that it was a vampire movie. And they were like, “Do you want us to pitch you for it?” I mean, I’ve been obsessed with vampires my whole life. I love all the monsters. Van Helsing, I was obsessed with that movie growing up. And I’ve always loved vampires and I always wanted to play a vampire. So when I found out that Joey was not a vampire, I was kind of disappointed. I’m not going to lie. [laughs]
But I was still like, “You know what? I just want to be a part of this. It sounds super fun working with Matt and Tyler again, if they’ll have me it would be a dream because I adore those guys and I think they’re brilliant.” So yeah, that was basically how I found out about it. It was right before Scream VI came out in theaters and then shortly after I got the role and I was so excited to stay in the genre, but to try something new and have more creative freedom with a character.
For sure. What was it about Joey that drew you to her?
Barrera: I love complicated gray area women, as I call them, where you’re like, “You’re not all good. You’re not a good person, really. You’re a criminal, so you’re kidnapping a girl. What the hell?!” But you also have to root for her. I loved trying to find that humanity in her and play her with vulnerability. I always like to flip things a little bit on their head and allow for women to be complicated and to have a softer side, even though they’re supposed to be badasses.
We get to see a soft maternal side to Joey as well. And I like the veteran aspect of her also because I’ve always been deeply heartbroken by the situation of so many veterans in the United States and how they live and how the government doesn’t really take care of them or follow up on the trauma that they experience. And a lot of them end up being homeless. They’re on the streets and losing their lives because they’re carrying so much pain. And so I really was interested in that aspect of Joey.
I love that. Now, Joey got super bloody and did some pretty physically challenging things too. Did you get a chance to do any of that stunt work or get physical? And what was that all over you?!
Barrera: I did. That final sequence, we rehearsed for that for two weeks, and then it was another two weeks of shooting it. I wanted to do all the stuff, but they wouldn’t let me because of insurance and stuff like that. They were throwing me through glass and stuff like that they don’t really let actors do. But I rehearsed all of it. I could do all of it. They were just like, “If you don’t have to do this, if you don’t have to be thrown from the first floor to the second and break the banister and crash into the wall and then fall to the floor, we’re not going to have you do it.”
Hannah and Ifa were my stunt doubles, and they were doing the hard stuff with falling on the bookcase and breaking it and flipping and all the very painful looking stuff. And I was just doing the final falls and I did all the punching and the stake through the chest, which was super fun.
The rehearsals are actually super fun because you get to do everything in the rehearsals. They teach you to do everything in the rehearsals, and then when you get to set, the directors are like, “Yeah, no, we’re not going to want you to do that. That feels dangerous.” So it was incredible. It was an amazing experience.
Totally makes sense to keep you all safe! But you did get to throw punches, which is awesome.
Barrera: Yeah! And the blood is like syrup, I guess. I know that it’s gooey and sticky. Actually I don’t know what the blood that they put on me and my clothes is. I know that it’s a syrupy blood because if it goes in your mouth, it tastes sweet. It’s a combination of a syrup or a gel and food coloring and all this good stuff that is so hard to get off afterwards because it stains you, it’ll stain. I kept finding blood even after we wrapped in places where I was like, “Oh, behind my knee. There we go.” And it goes through clothes. You’re just completely red. And the key to taking it off is shaving foam, shaving cream.
Ah yes, I remember Jack Quaid saying the same thing about getting rid of The Boys blood.
Barrera: That’s the only way! You got to get in the shower with a bottle of shaving foam and put it on a wet towel and then just go in all your body. That’s the only way. I don’t know who figured that out, but thank God.
Sounds like a good time. If you could describe Abigail in three words, what three words would you use?
Barrera: I would describe it as bloody, funny, and surprising!
ABIGAIL is now available to watch at home exclusively on digital platforms from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
