PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Ah, the 80s. Such a simpler time. Or was it? That’s something to think about while watching the new Peacock Original series, Hysteria!. Set in a small Michigan town in 1989 at the height of Satanic panic, Hysteria! is a fun mix of comedy and horror, and what makes that even better is the amazing cast. Starring Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead – read our interview with him HERE), Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect), Chiara Aurelia (Cruel Summer), Emjay Anthony (Krampus), among others, Hysteria! is a bold and exciting flashback to the crazy 1980s.
Follows a struggling high school heavy metal band of outcasts who use the town’s sudden interest in the occult to start a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a strange series of events triggers a witch hunt that leads back to them.
To celebrate the release of the show, I chatted with stars Anna Camp and Nikki Hahn about time travelling back to the 80s, Anna’s bitchin wig, crafting their characters, and more!
PopHorror: Hysteria! was a lot of fun so I’m super excited to hear more about it.
Anna Camp: Yay!
PopHorror: What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Anna Camp: Oohh, I love a mystery. I love a thriller. I like dark, fun… It was such an exciting world to read and anything in the 80s I love. The high school nostalgia, right? Everybody can relate to coming of age. Also, this very intense religious aspect of the show that my character is really living in. Just the dichotomy between rock and roll and religion. It was something that super excited me and I could not wait to get started shooting.
Nikki Hahn: I think for me, the writing really drew me in. I thought the script and Matt (Scott Kane), our writer, was so talented. The scripts were so refreshing to read. For me, I’m a huge fan of the 80s. I live in the 80s so I was so excited to get this audition. I also love 80s metal. I love Def Leppard so a show called Hysteria, I was like, I need this. I’m so happy to be a part of it.
PopHorror: They definitely got the 80s aesthetic down perfect. Anna, I wanted to ask you, was your bitchin hair a wig?
Anna Camp: Yes, it was! But wasn’t it bitchin? Very appropriate.
PopHorror: Yes! I’m bringing the word “bitchin” back.
Anna Camp: I’m going to help you! I am on your team to bring bitchin back. Let’s do it! Yeah, that wig was everything. I named her Trace. Her name was Trace and every time I would go in the hair and makeup trailer, I would be ready for Trace to grace my head and as soon as it happened, I would sit differently, I would walk differently, I would talk differently. It was just everything and it’s such a gift as an actress to get such great hair and makeup that really was just the cherry on top of this character that I had worked on. It all kind of clicked and fell in line, and I just felt like a different human being as soon as I put it on.
PopHorror: I love that. From the hair and the glasses, the dresses… It was perfect. Was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?
Anna Camp: I always want to make somebody, especially if they’re the quote unquote adversary, or quote unquote villain of a show, I want to make them a very full, well-rounded person. I never want to go in and be like, “I’m going to be mean!” She doesn’t have a lot of confidence at the beginning of the season. No one is coming to her church group. She knows that the town thinks she’s a little weird. She knows that she’s not good socially. She’s self-deprecating. She has a little bit of humor about it, and you get to see throughout the season progresses just what made her who she is today. I just wanted her to not be just what you think she is. There’s a lot brewing underneath the surface and you get to discover that thanks to the wonderful writing of the show. I want to be very well rounded and I would fight for keeping my glasses on at this moment because I want to protect myself from the world because I’m a broken person, really and carrying a lot of shame. I would fight for certain things just so it didn’t come across as one note.
Nikki Hahn: I think for Faith, what was really fun to play with and explore was she has so many traumatic situations and so many intense scenes and moments that I think her lighter moments, I really wanted to bring a fun aspect. I think because she’s kind of experiencing normal teenage life and high school for the first time – prom and friendships and relationships – I thought how would somebody who’s just experiencing this for the first time… Somebody’s who’s never been to a dance, you’re going to be a little awkward dancing. So, I thought those were really fun moments in the midst of trauma to play with.
Anna Camp: That was so good, Nikki, by the way. That scene where you start dancing. I love it so much.
Nikki Hahn: Thank you!
PopHorror: And what better time to go to prom than the 80s. I’m kind of jealous of people who actually got to attend and wear those clothes unironically. And the music!
Anna Camp: Me too!
Nikki Hahn: I had a blast! That was one of my favorite episodes to film.
Anna Camp: Sometimes I would get really jealous of Nikki’s dresses and all the other cool kids that rock and roll. I was like, ahhhh.
Nikki Hahn: I took a handheld film camera and was taking pictures on set of the prom and now I have those. I feel like those are my old 80s photos. I feel like I lived in the 80s and these are my prom pictures.
PopHorror: I love that so much.
Thank you so much to Anna and Nikki for taking the time to chat with us. Hysteria! premieres on Friday, October 18, only on Peacock.
