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Scream 4's Hayden Panettiere Reveals Real-Life Scary Situation

Actress recounts her experience when she was alone in her house with a burglar

By Marc Malkin Mar 21, 2011 11:59 AMTags
Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Scream 4Dimension Films

It's not exactly method acting, but Hayden Panettiere had some good practice leading up to her work in Scream 4, the much-anticipated resurrection of the Ghost Face killer movie franchise.

Turns out the former Heroes star was once home when a burglar tried breaking into her house. And if that wasn't bad enough, she was home alone!

What happened? Read on to find out in the first installment of Scream 4: New Generation Week, E! Online's exclusive chats with the movie's young newbies...

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"It was the scariest moment of my life," Panettiere remembers about the break-in. "The alarm was going off and off and off, but no one was coming. As soon as I knew what was happening, I grabbed my Taser and my cellphone and locked myself in the bathroom."

Oh, it gets better.

"I called a friend that lived close and I called my dad," she said. "I was sitting and shaking by the toilet, but then was like, 'Screw this! I'm not waiting for somebody to come barging in.' So I crawled out the window.

"I'm running with this Taser in my hand and I run around the corner of the house and I've got like seven police with sniper rifles and lasers on me. I'm going, 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot me, please!'"

Um, how friggin' crazy is that?!

As for Scream 4 (out April 15), Panettiere isn't allowed to be so forthcoming. We do know that she plays Kirby Reed, film geek best friend of Emma Roberts's character. Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell reprise their starring roles.

"I can't tell you if I live, die, am the killer or not the killer," Panettiere laughed, adding, "You get a lot of scripts for horror movies and as we know horror movies either can be amazing or there can be really horrible so I was always nervous about doing one. But then this came along and with the cast that was involved and Wes Craven directing it? It seemed like such a blast."