Your Monster's Melissa Barrera on trusting her Scream team, 'mortifying' shoots and wanting to become the villain

And Barrera, who is quickly becoming a major player in the horror game through those Radio Silence films and now Your Monster, admits that stepping outside of that comfort zone on new projects is pretty daunting.

While few of us have stared down sharp knives, teeth or claws, most can at least relate to that.

"It's always scary [to enter a new set]. I've been working with the same people for the last three years, basically with the same group of people.

"And now I'm shooting this show in Toronto for Peacock, and I realised when I got there, I was like, 'Oh, I don't know anybody.' And I immediately got mortified, because I'm so not used to that anymore.

"I'm used to showing up and knowing everybody, and so it was like, wow. I mean, it's fun, because you get to know different people and get to make different relationships. But it's scary, you know, because you never know if you're going to get along well or work well together.

"It's a coin toss. And you hope that you do and then everything flows, but you never really know."

Luckily for Barrera, that coin toss worked out well with Your Monster, a passion project of writer-director Caroline Lindy, which sees main character Lucy develop a somewhat unorthodox relationship with the monster in her wardrobe (Tommy Dewey), all while recovering from cancer and trying to break through on Broadway. Hefty stuff.

Befitting of such a wild concept, the fun new film blends elements of horror, comedy and musicals into one neat package – a package that was so perfect for Barrera that any hints of social anxiety were quickly put to the back of her mind.

"When I got the script, it was like I conjured it up out of all of the things that I love, and then it showed up in my inbox. And so I was just like, 'Is someone pranking me? What is going on?' Because this is exactly what I would love to do."

Luckily, this level of excitement continued through the shoot itself. "I think it's probably the most fun that I've ever had on a movie set. I was just laughing all day," Barrera reveals.

"And, you know, when you have so much… because it was a very ambitious shoot to do in 20 days, I think you normally feel a lot more stress because there’s so much that you have to do each day.

"But it didn't feel that way. It just felt easy and we flowed. And, you know, everyone was so funny, we just laughed all day. It was really fun."

The Mexican actor largely credits that to rising star Lindy, who ensured that the vibe on set matched the playful tone of the story playing out on screen.

"I saw what a great captain Caroline was. She's so good and so sensitive, and she's an actor herself, so she knows how to talk to actors and how to work with them and how to give us space, and how to also push the right buttons to get you to where you need to get.

"And so it was a beautiful, very wonderful place to work."

For all that Barrera is known for tales of murder and mayhem, with the star admitting she is drawn to "pain and suffering" as an actor, this focus on fun is something she tries to find in every project – and it’s a key reason for that continued collaboration with Radio Silence, who, like Lindy, make the workplace feel less like, well, work.

"I feel like finding friends that you can collaborate with, that you have a shorthand with, that you trust, where they trust you, and you get to, like, go on different adventures together, that's the goal.

"I remember growing up watching Adam Sandler work with the same people over and over and over again. And I was like, 'Oh, that must be so cool. He just works with his friends. I want that.'

"And I feel like I have a little bit of that with Matt and Tyler now that we've done three films together."

Unfortunately, following fallout over her social media posts on the conflict in Palestine, Barrera will not return for Scream 7, and nor will Radio Silence – who walked away from the franchise before the star’s departure – but that hasn’t stopped the actor from wanting to work with the pair again, perhaps this time dishing out a little of that "pain and suffering" to others – including, maybe, Samara Weaving in the upcoming Ready or Not 2.

"I think it would definitely be fun to hop in with them for, like, maybe a few days and do something with them," she teases.

"I don't know a lot of specifics about where they're taking the movie, but I think it's… it has lots of villains, right?

"Like, the first one, everyone was a villain, except for [Weaving’s character Grace]. I would love that."

After so many films as the tortured hero, Melissa 'The Villain' Barrera could soon become more of a thing, if she has anything to do with it.

And that ambition doesn’t solely apply to the horror genre, with Barrera wanting to wage war on some more wholesome characters than just Grace Le Domas.

"I would love to be an epic Disney villain type. Just iconic. Just evil," she smiles.

"I love it when villains are just villains. Because I feel like nowadays, everyone wants to justify their backstory of why they became that way, and I like it when there’s no reason – they're just mean. I would love that."

Elsa and Moana better watch their backs – after years of torment from Ghostface, Barrera is out for blood herself. Social anxiety be damned.

Your Monster is in UK and Ireland cinemas now.

If you're looking for something to watch tonight, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Film hub for all the latest news. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.