Olivia Scott Welch gives frightened young women a believable stubbornness. We rate her work in Fear Street: 1994 for the care she brings to its central romance, and would welcome more parts that give her relationships worth playing.
Fi1m perspective
Olivia Scott Welch plays the cheerleader in Fear Street: 1994 (2021) without letting the type do all the work. As Samantha Fraser, she lets fear show without making it Sam's only quality. The performance is promising, especially in the central romance, where the connection feels worth protecting. She gives the physical demands of the horror the same attention. We can still recognise Sam when the film starts asking more of her body than her conversation.
Leigh Janiak makes room for those attachments, giving Welch and co-star Kiana Madeira more to work with than a succession of attacks. We found the violence unpleasant because the film had first made us care about who was facing it. The lengthy setup still holds the film back; taking time over characters does not make every minute necessary. Welch's contribution helps justify the wait, particularly if slashers are already your sort of evening.
After the supporting role of Jess Malmquist in Shithouse (2020), the leads in Fear Street: 1994 and Panic (2021) marked a change of scale. In Panic, she plays Heather Nill in a dangerous small-town game. These roles give her young women under pressure, with limited room to escape it. That suits the combination of vulnerability and stubbornness she brings to Sam, though it also leaves a question about what less perilous material might ask of her.
The Sacrifice Game (2023), in which she plays Maisie and serves as an executive producer, extends her involvement in horror beyond performing. Her lifelong enthusiasm for the genre makes that continuing commitment unsurprising. We would welcome another part that gives her time for the ordinary difficulties between people, which make Sam worth following before the physical demands take over. Start with Fear Street: 1994, provided a slasher that takes its time is your idea of an evening.
Biography
Olivia Scott Welch is an American actress. She was born on 11 February 1998 in Hurst, Texas.
Welch began acting as a child, appearing in guest roles on Modern Family (2009) and Marvel's Agent Carter (2015). She is known for her performances as Samantha 'Sam' Fraser in the Netflix Fear Street trilogy (2021) and as Heather Nill in the series Panic (2021). Other credits include Shithouse (2020), Unbelievable (2019), The Sacrifice Game (2023) and Lucky Hank (2023).
