Every horror movie needs a protagonist you can root for, and server Lori serves up heaps of charm as Fear Street: Prom Queen’s leading lady. Despite her family’s dark past (and all the rumors swirling around it), wallflower Lori is ready to step into the spotlight in the competition for prom royalty. 

What made you want to play Lori?

I felt attracted to Lori as a character because I was a little bit like her when I was in school. I wasn’t as shy. I had some fight in me, but I wasn’t too popular. I wasn’t a part of that popular group. 

What do you want the audience to know about her? 

She’s that character that you see yourself in. She’s someone in the in-between. She’s not too quiet to be brushed under the rug. Lori won’t allow herself to be forgotten. 

Why do you think Lori runs for prom queen? 

Lori wants to be remembered. She wants to make good in the world. For her whole life, Lori has been made to feel like she’s not accepted.  So she sees prom as a way to get her foot in the door and be like, “I’m here and I have something to say.” The prospect of becoming prom queen gives Lori a chance to stop somebody like Tiffany from becoming prom queen. 

Did you have a favorite scene?

There’s a dance-off between Lori and Tiffany, so it’s probably that. Fina and I were tired during filming and we’d been dancing all day, but we were still so happy and excited about it. It was really, really quite emotional watching each other dance.

We had to do POV shots of each other at one point. So when the camera was my POV, I would go and stand at the monitors and watch Fina. Matt and Márk Györi, our cinematographer, worked their art into the way they shot that scene. Something as cliché as a dance-off turned out to be something so beautiful and fun and exciting. 

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

Matt and I had conversations about his upbringing and his interest in classic horror. But I think he wanted to keep our movie fresh. Still, there is a scene in Fear Street: Prom Queen that we felt was paying real homage to Halloween and the original Lori. 

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

Mine would’ve been Most Likely to Injure Myself because I fell over many times.  But don’t worry — I’m all good! I’m just a bit of a klutz.

What do you think is a killer prom song? 

I am going to have to say “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. I never feel it’s overplayed and it brings all the girls together.

The Agency, The Strangers: Chapter 1, The Nevers, White Lines

Megan is a Shadyside outcast with a macabre sense of humor and a flair for the dramatic. She has her best friend Lori’s back no matter what — even if she’s (gag) elected prom queen. 

What do you love about Megan?
I just naturally gravitated towards her. It was kind of organic. I just wanted to be Megan. She’s a really loyal friend. And she’s also a big stoner. I think that makes her very fun.

What is Megan’s friendship with Lori like?
Megan is like a cigarette and Lori is like a love letter. And together I just think they work in a weird way. They’re foils for each other but they work.

How did you get into character?

Immediately when they slick my hair back and put that T-shirt on, I feel totally different. I also give all my characters a perfume — for Megan, she smells really loudly of weed and a cheap body spray. I still put on the perfume every once in a while and smoke a joint.

What was it like pretending to chop off your own hand? 
That was so scary to me because it was the first time I ever screamed in public on camera and I was just terrified. I didn’t know what to think about or what to do. I was scared an embarrassing sound would come out. But everyone in the classroom really helped with that because they were reacting to me and that made it a little easier to go for it. I loved that day.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

Most Likely to Just Wreak Havoc.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

Carrie. Does that count? The original Carrie for sure.

What do you think is a killer prom song?

“Lovefool” by The Cardigans.

Red Rocket, The Idol

The queen bee of Shadyside High is ready for her crown. Tiffany is set to dominate the race for prom queen — even if that means crushing her minions (or, should we say, friends) on the way to greatness. 

What do you want audiences to know about Tiffany?

She’s feisty. She’s a drama queen. She’s determined and fabulous.

What made you want to play her?

I thought that I could have a lot of fun with all of her frills. I’ve never played a character who’s mean before. Everyone I’ve ever played has been very anxious and kind of softer and more morally grounded than Tiffany. But she’s kind of larger than life and cruel, which is a nice challenge for me.

Did the costuming help you get into character? 

Oh, totally. My prom dress made me feel on top of the world. The corseted little moment with the sequins. I felt like I could prance around and be the belle of the ball. And I mean, all the school looks were so fun. My first red sweatshirt that I wear was handmade by our costume department.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

I am such a huge horror fan. Scream is my favorite movie of all time. Halloween is everything. My mom and I used to do Halloween marathons when I was home sick from school. Our set looked just like one in either of those movies.  

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

Most Likely to Just Start Dancing. I have trouble standing in place. So I need to move a lot. And Tiffany has two big dance moments in the movie. She’s got the heart for it. She loves to sparkle on stage.

What do you think is a killer prom song? 

After filming this movie, I only associate “Gloria” by Laura Branigan with the prom. But when I was in high school, my three best friends and I could not get enough of the song “Shut Up and Dance” by Walk the Moon.

Paper Girls, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Tyler is Tiffany’s boyfriend — although he’s been giving Lori a few too many lingering glances for his girlfriend’s liking.

What do you love about Tyler?

I think Tyler’s actually far more layered than initially expected. I think it’s easy to see him as just the love interest or the “jock,” or just a very one-dimensional person. At first, even I was quick to judge him and be like, “Oh, this is just like the jock.” But once I actually read further into the script, I appreciated how layered he was.

There’s a wonderful history of teen horror movie boyfriends. Do you have one that inspired you for this?

Can I be honest? It’s actually not from a teen horror movie: Sixteen Candles’ Jake Ryan [played by Michael Schoeffling]. It might just be because he had sideburns in that movie and I have sideburns in this movie. [But] I feel that was the first teen movie that I watched where the jock wasn’t just a jock and actually had some emotions going on.

How did you and the cast get to know each other?

They threw us in this actual high school. We were on location for, I would say, 75% of the movie, if not more. We were there every day. All of us being in this school, we had no other choice but to spend all this time together, so we really all got along very well. It felt like a school project or something.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?
I guess Most Likely to Fall Asleep. In between takes, I slept on the ground. I think it was literally the first day we shot. I was never afraid to take a nap. We would get up at 4:30 a.m., I was like, “Man, I feel like I’m in school again.”

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

I do love Scream. I feel if there’s something that I enjoy more, I’d probably go with the original Halloween, Michael Myers.

What do you think is a killer prom song?

“C.R.E.A.M.” by Wu-Tang Clan.

The Summer I Turned Pretty, St. Vincent, the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, The Flight Attendant

Melissa is Tiffany’s Wolf Pack lapdog, a classic Shadyside mean girl — although her conscience is eating away at her just a bit. 

What do you love about Melissa?
Melissa’s kind of stuck between two worlds, and stuck between the allure of coolness, and the sort of understandable guilt that she’s feeling, and should be feeling. Clearly, at a young age, she chose coolness over earnestness, or genuine friendship. And it’s catching up with her.

Why do you think she wants to be friends with Tiffany?
I don’t think she likes Tiffany at all. I think she’s maybe obsessed with her, but I think “like” is certainly not the word I’d use. I think Melissa’s a pretty insecure person, and somebody like that who’s so high on the rung of popularity in her school, giving you that kind of validation, and that kind of satisfaction that you are cool, is something that so many kids are totally romanced by.

Tell us about that Jazzercise sequence.

I am not a dancer, which you can potentially tell from the way I move in the entire film. I had to leave Canada for a while, and I came back right before we shot it, so I only had one day to learn the dance. So it felt a little bit, for me at least, like a high wire act. It was actually a lot of fun in the end. I think we were all ready to never hear that song again.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?
Most Likely to be Itchy in My Costume. Or Most Likely to Act Like an Old Lady. The cast all have great music taste. I actually felt like an old lady around them. I had no clue what was going on.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

Yes, actually, one very specifically was Drop Dead Gorgeous. I watched it before I got Fear Street. I always loved the film, and I thought it was just so fun and chaotic in the best way.

What do you think is a killer prom song?
You know what I could pick, and actually, maybe I get a bonus point, because it is ’80s, is “Like a Prayer” by Madonna. Or “Dancing on My Own” by Robyn. 

Anora, The Girl from Plainville, The Idea of You, The Sweet East

Debbie is another of Tiffany’s minions, a gossip-spreading mouthpiece for the Shadyside Wolf Pack.

What do you love about Debbie?

I think that my favorite thing about Debbie is that she seems to be almost meaner, more vicious, than all of the other mean girls, in a way that, to me, screams so desperate to be noticed and recognized by Tiffany. I’m excited for people to see how cutthroat and nasty Debbie’s jabs are. She’s funny. I mean, she doesn’t think she’s being funny, but it is funny.

How did you go about playing such a mean character?

When a character’s over the top like that, it’s so unbelievable that you can play it up. I think it’s harder to play something that’s a bit more subtle, like subtle bullying, or subtle nastiness. But having the freedom to go over the top, it’s like, “Well, let’s all go over the top.” And we’ll do it all together, and then it’s more fun.

How did you and the rest of the Wolf Pack get to know one another?

Oh, the dance rehearsals, for sure. It’s taking me back in time. That’s where I met Fina and Ilan, that first day. It was really fun doing the dance rehearsals, but shooting the dance scene was a lot — wearing those little kitten heels. It was a whole thing.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

I mean, I’m hesitant to call myself the funniest. But a lot of my castmates would say that I’m the one that’s joking all the time. So much so that it’s become a running thing that nobody can ever tell if I’m serious or if I’m being genuine, because everything I say comes out of my mouth sounds like a joke. 

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

Absolutely Carrie. And not a movie, but Scream Queens.

What do you think is a killer prom song?

“Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor seems so perfect for us. After Saltburn, that was on my playlist forever. Or “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd. I remember that being huge at my semiformal and grade 10. Maybe “FE!N” by Travis Scott.

The Good Karma Hospital, Buzzard, Let It Snow

Linda is another member of Tiffany’s Wolf Pack, a straight-A student who helps Tiffany achieve the same.

What do you love about Linda?

She’s the smart one. She’s the cunning one that people don’t really have on their radar as the big baddie. But she’s the sly fox in the group. [Debbie] and [Melissa], they’re the ones trying to get on Tiffany’s good side, and I let them fight it out.

Why do you think Linda wants to be friends with Tiffany?

She comes across as the quiet one, but you have to want to be in the spotlight on some level if you’re craving to be attached to this person who’s always in the spotlight, and this group that’s in the spotlight. I think she wants to be special and to really leave her mark on high school.

What was it like going back to high school?

I was actually homeschooled. So getting to play a high school mean girl is just new territory for me, and especially a prom queen candidate. It was just super fun and such a new experience because I never got to experience that.

How did you and the cast get to know each other?

Our first day of filming together was the scene where Suzanna Son chopped off her arm. It was super fun to be in that classroom and to be reacting to this grotesque scene. But yeah, we all hit it off right away. Especially because the girls and I had a dance rehearsal. So we got to know each other by dancing together. I don’t think any of us had any dancing experience. So we got to see the worst of each other right away.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

Probably most likely to dance. I couldn’t keep still. If we were all just huddled in a group or something, I would be tap dancing. Or most likely to say something weird.

What do you think is a killer prom song?

It’s from a different movie, but I love it as a slow dancing song. It’s David Bowie’s “As the World Falls Down,” from Labyrinth. 

Believer, Heartland, Titans, Shazam!

Meet the dark horse in the race for prom queen. Rebellious Christy is proud of her bad girl street cred, and rarely seen without her trusty cowboy boots or perfect eyeliner. 

What do you love about Christy? 

She was described to me as the coolest girl in school and people are very intimidated by her. She just genuinely doesn’t care what people think. All the other girls wish they could have that same freeness to them.

What attracted you to playing her? 

I was itching to do a horror movie, and I loved the original Fear Street trilogy. It’s so fun, and has such a great fan base. I wanted to get a bunch of fake blood poured on me, and I wanted to know who the killer was before the rest of the world.

Did any of the costuming help you get into character? 

Totally. I remember the day we did the first initial fitting for Christy, and I saw this huge inspiration wall that wardrobe had set up. I looked at that for five minutes straight. I loved the boots. I liked how she cut up her shirt. She experiments with her makeup and her style unapologetically, which I thought was very cool. Also, from what I saw from the photos, very accurate to people like her at the time.

I sneakily took one of the extra rings that they had for Christy. Because I always need memorabilia. I’m looking at it right now and it’s a really fun, cool one.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

I definitely feel like the first Scream movie is completely up there for me.

What do you think your superlative would’ve been on set?

Most Likely to Laugh —  all of my co-stars are jokesters. They were always trying to make people break character. They got me once or twice.

What do you think is a killer prom song? 

For Christy? Blondie all the way. 

Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: Ahsoka, Stuck in the Middle, In the Heights, 65, Borderlands

VP Brekenridge is a classic high school authority figure who, despite running things with an iron fist, can’t prevent mayhem from striking Shadyside’s prom.

What was your approach to the character?

 She reminds me of the vice principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Every story with teens needs that authority figure where you roll your eyes at them or do things behind their back. Matt created an environment where you weren’t just coming in and saying your lines. It was about digging a little deeper, finding meaning, even if it’s about a prom queen. You can still find depth. So it was great and the kids were great. I loved the kids.

You’ve appeared in so many great horror movies. Why did you want to do this one?

It’s really the director. The way Matt Palmer was talking about it –– he loves film and he had cool ideas. And for me, that’s it. I just want to work and collaborate with an artist, really.

What was your favorite scene to film?

Just being around the whole prom. We shot that over 10 days or something, and it was like being transported into this world and that gymnasium. And for me, it was all familiar because it’s from the ’80s, so I was just having all these memories from high school.

Did it feel accurate to you?

Totally. I don’t like when period pieces have these token things that shine too brightly. I like when it’s more integrated and authentic, and that’s what Matt did, even down to the costumes, which felt almost like they had gotten them from a thrift store. There was an authenticity to them that I loved.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

I have to say that my horror is more a classic sort, like Rosemary’s Baby. I’d like to get into more fun horror. I didn’t see Scream until way late. Whenever I walk by, and my kid’s watching something like that, I’m like, “Oh my god, this is so great!” 

The Conjuring, The Nun, Hemlock Grove, Six Feet Under 

Dan is the father of prom queen candidate Tiffany, and a Shadyside teacher. He’s also a prom chaperone, and is keeping a close eye on the evening.

What made you excited to play Mr. Falconer?

Dan Falconer is the quintessential suburban dad, doting father, loves his daughter, adores his wife, and loves being a teacher. He’s hard on the kids, but it’s all out of love. 

What was it like teaming with Katherine Waterston, who plays your wife?

Katherine is absolutely fantastic. Of course, she comes from an incredible lineage in the acting profession, and so to have the opportunity to work side by side with her and to share scenes with her and develop this husband and wife duo together was just a very, very cool opportunity for me that I was really excited about.

What was it like working with India Fowler?

The cast is just so top-notch. For anybody that doesn’t know about production and how it works, there’s no possible way that they could appreciate how hard the No. 1 cast member on a horror movie like this has to work. It’s just a lot of work, and there was no point at which it got too big for her. And that’s just a testament to her and her abilities and mindset. 

What about the rest of the cast?

Fina Strazza, another up-and-coming wonderful young lady who plays Tiffany Falconer [Chris’ daughter], I can’t say enough great things about. It would sound like I’m a record on repeat because I’d say the same things. I’d say the same things about Suzanna Son, who plays Megan Rogers. I thought she did fantastic. And then two more actors who I have to sing the praises of: Lili Taylor and Darrin Baker. Whose résumés both read like the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Do you have a favorite teen horror movie that Fear Street: Prom Queen reminds you of? 

I’m a monster fan, no pun intended, of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween and Friday the 13th of course are incredibly scary. The Halloween franchise is probably my favorite horror franchise because it’s terrifying.

Sweet Magnolias, American Pie, American Pie 2, The Flash, Wilfred, Rollerball, Election, We Were Soldiers

Nancy is Tiffany’s fashionable mother. She’s her daughter’s de facto campaign manager for prom queen.

What made you want to take on this role?

I saw Matt Palmer’s film, Calibre, and I was so disturbed by it. It just really stayed with me. The performances were incredible. It was stunningly realistic and a really uncomfortable watch. I loved it. We met during the pandemic and hit it off. I basically said to him I’d work with him anytime, anywhere, and then he held me to it. I never really think about my career in terms of whether or not I’d do a certain genre. You just follow your gut and try to follow talent. I’m glad I did it and would continue to follow Matt wherever he asks me to go.

What was it like to work with him?

When you have a director who looks to the actors and gives them the feeling that he’s simply awaiting what you have to offer, you offer more. It’s an incredible thing when you get that feeling from a director that they’re excited for the day because you’re going to do some bananas stuff and they’re going to get to be the first person to watch it. It’s fuel for your performance and it’s a great quality in a director. He’s just such an enthusiastic person. He’s really smart and he has great taste, but he brings this enthusiasm to everything he does and it’s contagious.

Did your costume in the film help you get into character?

It was so much fun to play within an era that is so visually exciting and in terms of costume, rather extreme. Those shoulders, the color, the sizing –– I loved all of it. The shape and the kind of power the lines create, it can be intimidating while also being totally absurd. I loved that Jazzercise workout outfit so much. I actually wanted to make it bigger. Costume always helps feed the character.

The Fantastic Beasts franchise, Inherent Vice, Alien: Covenant, Logan Lucky, Mid90s