Talitha Bateman always had something to shout about.

“I grew up with six brothers, so I perfected my scream then,” says Bateman, the second-youngest of nine kids. “I’d yell, ‘Mom, the boys are picking on me!’”

Her lungs were put to the test in the horror flick Annabelle: Creation. “I screamed so much that my voice really hurt,” adds the actress, whose polio-stricken character Janice is haunted by a demonic doll. “I always had lemon and tea on set.”

The 15-year-old gives Us a fright.

Us Weekly: How does this movie differ from other horror flicks?

Talitha Bateman: It’s mostly female, which you don’t see a lot in horror movies. It’s about a girls’ orphanage and there are only two male characters. It’s really cool because the women carry this film.

Us: Do you relate to Janice at all?

TB: Janice is vulnerable. She sees the girls running around and she can’t. But she doesn’t want sympathy, she wants to shove everyone out. I don’t want people to see me hurt, either. But I’m tougher than Janice.

Us: How did you master her limp?

TB: Well, I didn’t want to go to set and wing it. So two weeks before, I started limping around my house or the grocery store with a cane. My leg got pretty sore! Now, one is probably larger than the other because I was lugging it around.

Us: After filming, were you more wary of dolls?

TB: I don’t believe in that supernatural stuff. But dolls have a creepy smugness to them. They’re angelic looking, which freaks me out. The first time I saw the Annabelle doll was at a table read and she had her own script. I was cracking up.

Us: Are you a scary movie junkie?

TB: I am! I watched The Shining when I was 5 or 6, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The Sixth Sense is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Us: Ok, be honest: When you’re watching, are you the person who covers their eyes?

TB: It depends! Sometimes I will. But with some of them I’m like, ”Are you serious? What are you doing?”

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Annabelle: Creation hits theaters Friday, August 11. 

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