Carrying The Curse: Kaitlyn Santa Juana Reignites a Horror Classic
Dress: Goldsign Boots: Aldo
A newly crowned Scream Queen discusses carnage, growing up filipino, and the idea of unlocking her confidence while conquering this stage of her life.
Words by Dio Anthony, Photography by Sela Shiloni, Styling by Leila Bani, Styling Assistant Rosemary Fisher Lang, Hair by Steven Mason, Makeup by Allan Avandaño, Makeup Assistant Ruby Vo
Kaitlyn Santa Juana isn’t concerned with seeming cool or aloof. But fresh off a press tour for Final Destination: Bloodlines—the franchise’s most successful installment to date—she’s effortlessly both.
“I think there’s this wave of people not wanting to show they care about things,” she says, speaking from an Airbnb in Los Angeles just days after her big Hollywood premiere. What she’s living now is the dream, unfolding in real time—a true pinch-me moment.
On May 12, she walked the red carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre. “Is this my life?” she thought. After ten years of hustle, it is.
For a fleeting moment, she didn’t believe she deserved it. But those feelings—doubt, imposter syndrome—have since vanished, departed, and met their own final destinations. Today, she stands tall in her conviction: confident in her talent, and certain of this truth—making mistakes is part of the process.
American Studies: I’m wondering what your first memory of fear is. Perhaps even when watching a film. Can you can pinpoint a time when you remember feeling this way for the first time in your life?
Kaitlyn Santa Juana: I think that the first time I remember being scared was watching the Exorcism of Emily Rose. I couldn't sleep for weeks.
Your “Scream Queen” debut in Final Destination: Bloodlines tackles this idea of legends and lore about death. I loved the fact that your character Stefanie Reyes is a filipino-american girl. Are there any legends or superstitions in the Philippines that you grew up with?
I'm gonna sound so kooky in this interview. But I think one of the reasons things like The Exorcism of Emily Rose scared me—and one of the reasons that the genre of horror where paranormal things happen scares me a lot—is because I wholeheartedly believe in that stuff. I'm pretty sure I've seen ghosts before—actually, I'm a hundred percent certain I've seen ghosts before. I believe all of that.
There are so many superstitions in the Philippines–where do I start? But the one that I have the most experience with is that after somebody passes, their soul stays on Earth for 40 days after they die. Saying their goodbyes and things like that.
If you're a child, you have to wear the color red so the spirit knows to stay away from you. If you're an adult, I think you wear red so the spirit will come to visit you.
My grandma passed away when I was seven years old, and for forty days after, the lights in her house kept flickering. I remember this one day really clearly—me and my siblings, my brother and sister... My brother was really young at the time. My dad always dressed him in a red shirt because he was scared.
One day, we were having our after-school snack, and the sink turned on by itself. The bowls in the sink started moving. We freaked the hell out—screaming and running outside to where my dad was.
After that, my dad made sure my brother was always wearing his red shirt. And right after the forty days ended, the lights stopped flickering. All the weird stuff just stopped.
Dress: Goldsign, Boots: Aldo
That's incredible. I love all these things—they're super interesting to me. I grew up in the Dominican Republic, and I'm always surprised at how similar the culture is sometimes to the Philippines. I have a lot of Filipino friends, and, when first meeting them, all their last names to me felt Latino. It was new to me.
It’s the colonization aspect—the Spaniards coming. I read something once, and I don’t know how true it is, but it said the Spaniards came in and settled, but didn’t entirely colonize. A lot of people who do 23andMe find out they don’t actually have Spanish blood—they just gave us their names. Which is so interesting.
That is interesting—I’d actually never heard that idea about colonization, but it’s something I’ve always thought about. Anyway, back to you being a Scream Queen—because I just love that phrase, it’s so fun to say. Do you have any favorite heroines in horror that you’ve loved or watched over the years?
I always think of Jamie Lee Curtis. Constantly. Queen of Halloween. I always think of Winona Ryder—I loved Beetlejuice. I love Lydia in Beetlejuice. I also loved the musical. [laughs] I'm a musical theater girlie too, so to have horror come into musical theater was a big thing for me. Also, some newer ones–I don’t know if she's entirely a scream queen, but Florence Pugh in Midsommar—that was kind of scream queen-ish. That was iconic. I love that movie. Also Toni Collette and Hereditary.
There’s so many good ones. It begs the question—what is a Scream Queen?
“Scream Queen” is such an interesting label, I think. There’s the Scream Queen, and then there’s the Final Girl—they kind of overlap and blend together. Something like Beetlejuice—I sort of connect the two in that case.
“ I’m a hundred percent certain I’ve seen ghosts before”
Dress: Goldsign, Boots: Aldo
It’s such a fun term. I think when it first came about, it was during the height of slasher films—so, of course, everyone was screaming. Then horror evolved, but the phrase stuck around. It’s kind of the original term, though maybe we’re due for an update. There’s so much physicality involved in horror—running, screaming, crying. Was there anything you had to train your body to do or get used to physically?
It’s hilarious, because halfway through filming, I turned to our director Adam and said, “This isn’t a horror movie—it’s an action movie.” You don’t realize it when you’re watching, but behind the scenes, the physical toll is real. So many takes, so much movement. If I do another horror movie, I’m going straight into yoga and stretching beforehand—it’s that intense. And then there’s the weather. That was a big lesson for me. Some days were warm, but then you’re doing night shoots, completely soaked, on top of a mountain? You can stretch all you want, but your body and your bones are still going to ache the next day. It’s that kind of bone-deep cold you really have to experience to understand.
So I will probably go into extreme training and yoga, and make sure that I'm physically in shape. I'm also an athletic person, and I grew up playing sports, so it wasn't hard for me to access those parts. But I think I would probably train physically for much longer. [laughs].
I wonder if there are any emotional workouts that people can do? Because people keep asking me about the physicality that you have to do. Maybe what I’m talking about is therapy? [laughs]. I am in therapy, and that’s a good thing. I think the emotional stakes that you have to be at to film a movie like this, it almost surpasses the physical stakes.
My character Stefanie in this movie is in constant fight-or-flight throughout the whole thing. And she’s choosing to fight every single time to protect her loved ones.
That’s an interesting thing I learned—that it’s not entirely just about what you’re doing physically in these physically demanding moments of stunts, where you’re jumping on garbage trucks or holding your breath underwater. It’s more about what is your brain doing? And how is your brain reacting? Because your brain and body can’t really separate that these things aren’t actually happening to you. So it’s very high-stress.
You mentioned the number of takes, which is something I’ve always been curious about. With any film, you’re suspending disbelief as an actor—but with horror, it feels like that’s multiplied by ten. There’s so much happening outside of your performance that helps build the world—the stunts, the effects, the tension. So when you were filming those wild scenes, especially the big death moments, was it like, “Alright, we’re going again”? Or more like, “Okay, cool—let’s take five and then jump back in”
You know, it was kind of a mixed bag of all the things you said. I would say for the big scenes, we only had one or two takes. So it would be longer in between, to set up shots and make sure we had the angles—because everything was practical. Almost everything—like 98% of it was practical. All the blood, all the limbs, all the body parts.They were all made practically. So it wasn’t like you were faking pulling on a blue screen stick that they’d turn into an arm in post. It was actually there. There were some days with smaller, interconnecting pieces. If you saw the script for this, you’d see a 15-second sequence described in extreme detail across three pages. Exactly how it should look, how each move happens. How we see a penny bounce exactly three times, or however many times it does in the movie. It was all so detailed.
I like to work in what I think is called a “rolling take,” where the director never really says cut. Adam and Zach and—I'm not sure if they planned it this way or if we discovered it together—but we found this rhythm. Sometimes I like to stay in the scene without a full reset, without four or five minutes of thinking between takes, going over every note they gave me.
So we’d do these rolling takes where they’d just call things out—Like, “Be scared!” “Be angry!” or “Try it this way!” And it would just be one long, continuous take.
That gave me the space to not overthink and just act. And I think by the end, they were kind of yelling stuff at me just to see what I’d do. [laughs] Because it fascinated them. It’s fun for me. It feels like an acting exercise.
Suit: Mugler from Mine & Yours Co. Shoes: Stylists own
“your brain and body can’t really separate that these things aren’t actually happening to you. ”
That’s so fun and amazing. Another thing I was thinking about—can you walk me through that first really gory scene for your character? The one during Iris’ death? The blood was so perfect. It was almost beautiful and poetic. How was that applied? It was so perfectly laid.
We actually did a few different versions of that, just to figure out how much blood was going to end up in the movie. One version was sort of like a paintbrush flick off–camera that just kind of hit me. I think there’s a photo of it somewhere. Then there’s the version you’re talking about—where it’s just coming down my face. That was one of those scenes where we had two takes to get it right, because you have to clean it all off afterward, and it gets really messy. So, how we did it was—they built this blood gun, basically. And it’s not something you can really rehearse. We didn’t have time for that. They had this blood gun rigged beside the camera, right in the eye line where Iris was supposed to be for me. They didn’t lead into it or anything. They just held it up to my face. And I’m staring down the barrel—like, what’s presumed to be a gun. And it was windy that day, so I was shaking a bit, holding onto this book. They gave me a 3, 2, 1… and then shot it at my face.
It helped that I wasn’t expecting any of it. I remember in the final cut, I take these two big inhales that look like I’m in shock—but it was actually just me saying to myself, don’t ruin this take right now, don’t laugh—because the sound it made was like a fart sound. The thing is, it didn’t throw me back like I thought it would. It just felt like getting hit with a wet fish. It was so gross. It got in my mouth, and it tasted sweet and gooey. So those two breaths were me trying not to laugh—because I really didn’t want to do that again.
I love that even with how meticulously planned everything is, there are still these moments where things just have to happen, it's left to chance. It’s going to be what it’s going to be.
Exactly. And it looked beautiful.
It looked really beautiful. What do you think was the scariest part of this whole experience for you? If we take the scare factor out of the movie and into your life—what’s been the scariest thing?
Oof. When I was prepping for this role—about a month out—I got so in tune with the script that I actually started having psychotic dreams. And now that we’re doing press, it’s started happening again, which is kind of wild. I had one dream where I had to identify my brother’s body in a room… and it was just his head. So maybe I’m super method in that way?
Suit: Mugler from Mine & Yours Co. Shoes: Stylists own
Extremely, I’d say!
I was having insane dreams throughout the whole process. It was actually hard for me to sleep. I had dreams where some of my actual cousins were dying in fires that I had to try and save them from—but I never could. Now, a year out, I’ve kind of put those dreams to rest. But during the press recently? They came back. I’ve been having dreams where my managers are falling off hotel balconies–into pools of blood. I haven’t told them that yet because I didn’t want to freak them out—but now they’re definitely going to hear about it. [laughs].
I’ve been weirdly connected to the dream aspect of Stephanie. And it’s so bizarre because it’s not something I’m in control of. It’s not like I’m walking around afraid of sidewalk cracks or pennies because of the movie—it’s affecting my subconscious. That’s wild to me.
That’s terrifying… but also kind of fascinating? Super scary for you—but it almost feels like the plot of another film.
Yes! We should write a Final Destination about the making of a Final Destination movie. Where everyone starts having horrible dreams and weird stuff starts happening on set.
Do you have any irrational fears?
I’m so afraid of little organized holes. I think it’s called trypophobia. It’s disgusting. Have you heard of this?
I have not. please enlighten me.
So, if you look at a beehive— the texture of a beehive freaks me out. Look up trypophobia. I might have unlocked a new fear for you.
Okay, perfect.
It’s so gross. Stuff like that scares me, I don’t know why. I think it has something to do with brain chemistry. Maybe I’m just crazy. I’m also constantly afraid that I’ve left my hair dryer plugged in. I’m so afraid that I’ve accidentally left it plugged in, it sets something on fire, and then my whole building goes up in flames and a million people die.
Shirt & Skirt: A Bronze Age Necklace: wolf circus Hair clip, socks, and shoes, stylists own.
That’s terrible. Same with me–but the iron instead. I’m wondering, what has been the most “Is this my real life?” moment you’ve had during this whole experience?
Definitely walking the carpet on the premiere day. I love watching people do interviews and watching the behind-the-scenes stuff. So that was insane for me. Also, I think the biggest thing that I’m walking away from with this was the day on set with Tony Todd. Getting to work with such a huge icon in the horror franchise—the Candyman, are you kidding me? Getting to meet him and sit in a makeup chair beside him and learn about his life, and him ask about mine, and become friends through something like this— was the craziest experience of my life. It is something that I will take with me throughout the rest of my career, because he was such a beautiful soul, and he was such a lovely human being. He truly, truly just gave a shit-–sorry for swearing—but he just gave so many fucks about filmmaking.
And about the franchise itself. He fought to be there with us. It felt like such a beautiful moment. One of the things that he said to me– in between takes on the day we were shooting—was that I needed to remember that we were creating “God-conscious art.” And I'm not entirely sure exactly what he meant by it, but it's kind of like–you know when you hear things and you just understand them? It's not something I can really articulate to you—what it means. I think it's more of a feeling. When he said that to me, it just stuck with me. It was such a beautiful phrase. And it really did feel like we were creating something bigger than humanity. It felt... logical. I feel like the universe is taking care of us, and was taking care of us during that moment. It truly does feel like it was God-conscious art.
That’s beautiful. I think that even though you somehow feel like you know what he meant–I think there will be moments in your life, in your career, where you'll know exactly what he meant—again.
I feel like there’s a “Kaitlyn pre–Final Destination” and “post–Final Destination.” What are you walking away with? Is it that moment? Or is there also something a bit more personal to you?
I had never been number one on the call sheet ever in my life. And for this to be the thing that changed that. I was doubting myself a little bit at the top. Why did they pick me? Why would they? I’ve not done anything of this caliber. Why are they trusting me to be the lead of this film—and the legacy of the Final Destination franchise—after it hasn't been a thing for 14 years? Like, why me? Why is it this? And I wish I never did that, because I think I came into it a little bit scared, and I lost a lot of sleep at night—just with imposter syndrome—before we got to camera. Once we got to camera, and once things locked in, I met the cast, things changed.
I don't know—there was this switch that flipped in me, where I was like, No. I deserve to be here. I worked my ass off for this. For ten years of being an actor. And if I come into this with confidence—and if I come into this making mistakes—it’s totally okay. That’s something that I'll walk away with. There was this idea that I found with my acting coach. I think there’s a lot of people in the world who think that apathy is kind of cool and trendy right now. And I think that there’s this wave—this weird essence—of people not wanting to show that they care about things. And I was also falling into that trap. But I came up with this idea with my acting coach that I would rather look like an idiot who gives a shit about something, than an idiot that doesn’t. Because I truly and deeply care about the work that we make. That idea gave me the space to make mistakes on something like this–on such a big franchise–and to come in feeling confident, and wanting to show that I cared in so many ways. If I look like a nerd, who cares? This is something to nerd out about.
“. If I look like a nerd, who cares? This is something to nerd out about. ”
Shirt & Skirt: A Bronze Age Necklace: wolf circus Hair clip, socks, and shoes, stylists own.
Finish these sentences.
The first time I screamed on camera: I was on top of a garbage truck. [Laughs]
I think horror lets us: Reach the furthest part of our emotions. It lets you reach the fullest potential of your emotions.
If I wasn’t acting, I’d be: A barista. My family owns a café, so I’d be over there making some espressos for you.
Scream or cry on command– which one? Ooh, scream.
What’s more terrifying? jump scares or bad reviews? Jump scares. I'm not afraid of a critic.
What’s the most haunted piece in your closet? A piece of clothing that is saturated with memory:
Probably the shirt that I wore for my callback—or for my audition and my callback. I've had that shirt since I was like 16 years old, and I've kept it just for auditions for teenage roles. That shirt, for sure.
It’s a good omen now.
Yes. I'm keeping it forever.
After this interview, I’m going to: I gotta check out this Airbnb. [Laughs] That’s what I’m doing.
Kathryn Gallagher lends her voice to Netflix’s Woman of the Hour.