A decade-plus into her acting career, Maika Monroe has already solidified herself as one of this generation’s true scream queens. The 32-year-old starred in the horror films “It Follows,” “The Guest” and “Watcher,” as well as Osgood Perkins 2024’s “Longlegs,” which was the year’s highest grossing indie film and Neon’s highest-grossing movie.

Now the actress is trying something different. Monroe stars as Kenna Rowan in “Reminders of Him,” the latest Colleen Hoover book-to-screen adaptation, which arrives in theaters on Friday to an already rabid fan base. 

“It’s a lot less yelling,” Monroe says, over green tea in the lobby of The Bowery Hotel, of the difference in doing a romance-drama after so much experience in horror.

“Reminders of Him” follows Kenna, a single mom who has just been released from seven years in prison for her role in a car crash that killed her boyfriend (Rudy Pankow). She returns to her hometown, hoping to be able to build a relationship with her daughter, who is being raised by her late boyfriend’s parents with help from Ledger, her boyfriend’s best friend (Tyriq Withers).  

Monroe says she is “super excited” for fans of hers to see her in this new role.

“It is so different. And that’s what I love about it. I love showing a different side,” she says. “After the success of ‘Longlegs,’ and I’m so proud of that movie and it did all the things it did, it just kind of felt like, ‘OK, I’m feeling good in that space, let’s try something totally different.’ And then this just came across my desk.”

Unlike her previous projects, “Reminders of Him” came with a built-in fan base of book readers, both thrilling and intimidating.

“I wasn’t hesitant, but I think there was a bit of fear with such a massive fan base,” Monroe says. “You want to make sure that you feel that it’s honoring the book and that it’s done right.”

She was quickly reassured after connecting with the film’s director, Vanessa Caswill, and learning that Hoover would be on set daily. 

“I just felt like, ‘oh, I think that I might be in really good hands for this project,’” she says.

As a character, it doesn’t get much more complex than Kenna, which gave the actress plenty to dive into. 

“There’s so much going on. And she has this really incredible arc,” Monroe says. “I mean, you meet her, she’s just gotten out of prison, she’s trying to get her life back together. And she’s really a broken person, not only with the loss of her partner, the person that she loved most in the world, but also her childhood. So there’re very intense, visceral feelings. And she has this drive to be a part of her daughter’s life. I was like, ‘this definitely will be challenging, but also I think fulfilling in a lot of ways.’”

Leading up to the film’s theatrical release, Monroe and Withers have been on tour across the country, surprising fans at early screenings. 

“It’s pretty surreal. I don’t think I’m quite processing everything,” Monroe says. “Everything’s happening so fast. There’s definitely a lot of nerves because there’s pressure. So it can be intimidating for sure. But I’m very proud of it.”

Ahead, she’d like to do more movies in the romantic drama genre. She’s recently wrapped work on a romantic thriller called “Vegas: A Love Story,” alongside Brandon Sklenar, Paul Dano, Michael Shannon and Judy Greer. After some time off post “Reminders” press, she plans to sit home and binge “The Traitors,” and is hoping to keep trying her hand at new roles. 

“To me, the most important thing is who I want to work with. I want to keep enjoying my job. The job is hard. It’s really tough. It’s a lot of hours of your life that you spend with people,” she says. “And I’ve had amazing, incredible experiences, and I’ve had really bad experiences, so I’m just trying to be picky in that sense of who it is that you want to open your frickin’ chest to.”