One of CinemaBlend’s favorite scream queens, Samara Weaving is among the youngest actresses to grasp that title so firmly, with roles in horror hits such as The Babysitter movies, Scream VI, and Azrael, as well as Ready or Not and its sequel set to hit the 2026 movie schedule very soon. She’s great in every performance, to be sure, but her icon status is indeed largely due to her wildly intense screams.
It’s quite awesome that Weaving has packed so many great horror (and thriller) projects into less than a decade, and it’s perhaps no coincidence that her rise in genre stature came relatively soon after she first discovered she was capable of belting out such ear-piercing screams. While taking part in a Reddit AMA to promote the star-studded Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Weaving responded to a fan’s high praise of her screaming talents, sharing that it originated in a project co-starring another horror legend, Bruce Campbell. As she put it:
I remember I did week on a spin-off show called Ash vs Evil Dead. I was in for a couple of episodes, and it was the first horror-genre thing I'd done. I remember on the day of filming, they said 'Alright so the house is attacking you and we'll push in as you scream,' and I'd never really screamed before. And so I did it, and I remember thinking to myself 'Wow that's a good scream.'
Having made a name for herself in her native Australia, Samara Weaving hadn't yet become so familiar to American audiences, but that shift definitely started with her recurring role as Heather in Ash Vs. Evil Dead's stellar first season. Heather was part of a group of hikers who inevitably led Ash, Pablo and Kelly to that most cursed of horror cabins.
Of course, she didn't just ride calmly off into the sunset or anything. Weaving was totally schooled in Sam Raimi's patented Evil Dead mayhem, which mainly involves getting totally soaked in fake blood. But Bruce Campbell clearly doesn't have the pipes that Weaving does, or else we might have heard Ash shattering some glass with his own high-pitched screeches throughout that franchise.
Weaving said it was a wonder to her that she was able to create such a sound, and amusingly pointed out that it was quickly appreciated by others on the set.
I had never heard something like that come out of my body before. The crew even applauded haha. It made it into the show and that was it, the scream was born. Someone online called it a yoddle and that made me laugh.
Her scream is far too intense to be a yodel, and yet also too nuanced to just be considered everyday caterwauling. So I'm also good slotting it into the "yoddle" category.
To get a hint at what kind of ear-exploding screaming she'll rattle our brains with next, check out the Ready or Not 2: Here I Come trailer below, with or without earplugs inserted.
Here's hoping Samara Weaving continues to show up in as many upcoming horror movies as she aims for, but also that she gets to be the monstrous entity one of these days.
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