Maika Monroe knows there’s certain baggage that comes with being called a “Scream Queen” in Hollywood. And she’s totally fine with it.
The star of horror coming of age drama “It Follows” stopped by TheWrap’s video suite, presented by SodaStream at the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about her new movie, filming it back-to-back with another horror movie — “The Guest” — and playing strong women in dangerous situations.
“There was just something different about it,” Monroe said of the horror that tells the story of a spirit that appears to be spread throughout a group of teenagers through sexual encounters. The 21-year-old was also intrigued by director David Robert Mitchell‘s inspirations for his film from his own childhood nightmares. “And then I saw his first movie [“The Myth of the American Sleepover”] and just kind of fell in love with this idea.”
Monroe is well aware that making “It Follows” and “The Guest” concurrently could lead to some typecasting, but she’s embracing her new Scream Queen role. “It just happened that way with those two films,” Monroe said. “I love them both so much. They are very different [experiences] but can be categorized under the same genre.
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“I grew up such a horror fan, it’s kinda cool being named ‘Scream Queen,’ I like that,” she said.
She was also drawn to both parts due to the rarity of strong female roles in Hollywood. “You read so many scripts, and having that type of character in a script … I fell in love with both of these girls. Very different, but both very, very strong.”
“The Guest” will be released on Sept 17 and “It Follows” early 2015.