Melissa Barrera aims to explore her dark side in next Scream film

Melissa Barrera is desperate to explore her character's dark side in the next 'Scream' film.

The 32-year-old actress features in the slasher franchise as Sam Carpenter – the daughter of the original movie's killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) – and the chance to explore the evil side of her alter ego's personality appeals to the star.

Melissa told Digital Spy: "There are so many places that Sam could go. That's one of the reasons that, when I read the script for 'Scream 5', I was so interested in the character.

"There's so much potential here of where she could go with her mental health – she's just unpredictable. I find that the darkness in her makes her that much more interesting to play and to watch. She's the hero but she's also kind of the villain."

The 'Carmen' star added: "It's this contradiction in her that I find fascinating and, if we get to do another one, I would love to see. The writers have done a really good job with her up until this point, so I trust them just to know where to take her (in a way) that will be unexpected and cool for the fans."

Melissa is set to star in the film 'Your Monster' – which will be released next year – and explained how the picture blends a wide range of genres.

She said: "I shot a movie in February, in Hoboken. It's called 'Your Monster' and it's a horror rom-com musical. My character is a musical theatre actor, so there's a musical in the movie. There's a lot of singing and dancing in it.

"And it's like a rom-com with elements of horror. It's scary at times, and really funny at times. And it's everything that I love in a movie combined into one. So I'm excited to see how that turns out."