‘Scream’ Actress Melissa Barrera Reveals She ‘Freaked Out’ During Her First Ghostface Scene

Scream 5 is now available to own on Blu-ray and DVD, with a handful of great behind-the-scenes special features and cast interviews. In one featurette, titled “Bloodlines,” actress Melissa Barrera  — who plays Sam Carpenter — shares her experience encountering the franchise’s iconic antagonist Ghostface, revealing that she “freaked out” during her first scene with the knife-wielding murderer. Please note: Possible Scream spoilers below.

While speaking about filming the fifth , Barrera admitted that her initial face-to-face with the horror villain actually scared her, even though she knew it was fake. “I did my first scene, my first Ghostface attack that happens at the break room at the hospital,” she recalled. “We’re going to shoot the first one, and he comes from behind the door. I’m on the phone, he’s behind me, he slams the door. I turn around and he’s there with a knife, and I freaked out. It really is scary.” Barrera added, “You’re like, ‘This is acting, were doing this movie,’ but there is something really intimidating about the Ghostface mask.”

Jack Quaid, who plays Sam’s boyfriend Richie Kirsch, also shared what it was like for him to see Ghostface in real life for the first time. “There’s just something about seeing Ghostface, the real Ghostface, on the set of an actual Scream movie,” he said. “I felt star-struck.”

Scream star Neve Campbell, who has been with the franchise since the first movie back in 1996, is interviewed in the mini-documentary as well and opened up about being around when the Ghostface mask was first chosen to represent the series. “It’s incredible because I remember the process of them finding that mask. I remember different masks getting passed around on set in the first few days. To see it now be such an iconic image…” she said, then adding that it’s especially serendipitous “to see it at Halloween.” Campbell added that “it’s always fun for me to answer the door when” trick-or-treaters are “in that costume.”

The new Scream film officially opened in theaters on Jan. 12, and brings back original franchise stars Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette. In the film, Woodsboro teen Tara (played by Jenna Ortega) — Sam’s younger sister — is seen being stalked and attacked by Ghostface, similar to how Barrymore’s Casey Becker was killed in the first film. Dewey (Arquette), who is no longer sheriff of Woodsboro, contacts Sidney (Campbell) and tells her “it’s happening” again, then texts Gail to let her know as well. The chaos and bloodshed bring the final three survivors back together once more, as they are the only ones who’ve withstood the onslaught of each series of Ghostface’s murder sprees.