Playing nice girl among bitchy high school babes did wonders for Winona Ryder's career in Heathers. Same could happen for Kentucky-born Rebecca Gayheart, who stars in the recently released Jawbreaker.

"It's about the cruel politics of high school," says Gayheart, "a sort of mix between Heathers, Carrie and Grease. It's a really cool film. I play the good girl fighting for justice."

And as those justice tales go, "I start off being in the popular group, then get kicked out, and later get revenge on the bad girls."

In her next film, she plays it good-turned-bad in The Hangman's Daughter. "I'm a Christian missionary going to Mexico to spread the word of God ... until I get bitten and become this nasty vampire."

Speaking of getting bit, last year, when filming the horror Urban Legends in Toronto, Gayheart had a near-bat experience when one flew into her bedroom late one night and perched itself.

"It looked like a rat hanging there," cringes Gayheart at the memory.

"Me and my friends got a bunch of towels and tried to scare it away. I kept thinking, if it gets in my hair it will stick there and bite me.

"We got a broom and we just kept screaming, 'Get more towels! Get more towels!' It was such a nightmare," she sighs.

Shooting screaming horror scenes by day didn't help matters.

"When you make a horror film, it plants a seed of doubt in your mind," notes Gayheart. "Every night when I went home, I made sure the door was locked."

But the fear just brought out the Southerner in her, she admits.

"I used to have this really strong Southern accent, and it comes back if I get really scared, really tired or really drunk," she says, "or when I get on the phone with Mom or Dad."