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), 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 Bruce Campbell about why he wanted to play Sherrif Dandridge, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I loved Hysteria! so I’m super excited to talk to you about it today.
Bruce Campbell: Good!
PopHorror: What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Bruce Campbell: Writing, writing, writing. It’s like location, location, location in real estate. If you don’t have a script, the best actor in the world won’t help you. That’s what stuck out to me. I do get horror stuff that comes in and a lot of it is rehash, retread, and not that interesting, and this was a very fresh take. You don’t get a lot of shows about the Satanic panic, but if you think about it, a pretty damn good premise. This was a real movement in the 80s, based on real fears about Satanic influences of our kids through music and media and all that, and they haven’t really touched it yet. When I saw it, I’m like, great – Michigan, small town Michigan in the 80s? Oh, hell yeah! They won’t be ready for any of this. Like they couldn’t handle it. You don’t want to give it to a city that can handle it, like a big city. They’d be like, “Ah, just another freaky day in Los Angeles.” No, no, no. In Happy Hollow, Michigan, this is a problem. This is their only problem.
PopHorror: I grew up in Small Town USA, Ohio.
Bruce Campbell: Oh, yeah, awesome! I was one state above you.
PopHorror: Yeah, I can’t even imagine what they would have done if something like this happened there.
Bruce Campbell: They would have failed! They would have failed.
PopHorror: Miserably! Was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?
Bruce Campbell: No, they did a good job of rounding him out, and to me that’s the number one thing. If this guy was a cookie cutter, my way or the highway, alcoholic cop with a cigarette, the jaded approach, I wouldn’t have taken it. I would have gone, “Nothing new.” The guy listens to teenagers. He’s trying to calm his town down. You would actually go to the guy if you had a problem. You might even tell Dandridge something you wouldn’t tell your dad. He’s like a father figure. I’ve played a lot of irresponsible characters in the past and those are awesome, but it’s also nice to play someone that people might actually look up to. I kind of hope that cops like the show, wishing that I was their supervisor.
PopHorror: Yes! You are a huge horror icon with Evil Dead having such a cult following, and you can expertly weave horror and comedy, much like you in Hysteria!. What keeps bringing you back to the horror genre?
Bruce Campbell: It’s not so much the horror genre. I have a great respect for Evil Dead. It got me into the business and got me going, so I’ll always have a very, very special place. I don’t really care all that much about horror, but I do like what it does to the audience. I like that it gets them riled up. It gets them involved, it gets them talking, it gets them scared. They talk back to the movie! Evil Dead on 42nd Street in New York City at a midnight show is awesome.
PopHorror: I bet!
Bruce Campbell: Everybody’s talking. They’re shouting at the screen during that movie. That’s what attracts me. I don’t necessarily look for it, but this was a fresh approach and look. I can tell when a script is poorly written. I’ve been in the business long enough you can smell it. You just go, “Nope.” Ten pages in you can tell if it’s a dog.
PopHorror: I bet because it takes about that long of me watching something to realize…
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, you’d know. Believe me, in 10 minutes you go, click.
PopHorror: Exactly! Well, we definitely appreciate having you here in the genre with us because you have really paved the way for horror comedy, which has exploded in the last few years. We appreciate what you’ve brought for us.
Bruce Campbell: Well, I appreciate what horror has done for me so whatever I can do back for horror, I’m happy to help.
PopHorror: I love that. Just one last question for you today. What is your favorite scary movie?
Bruce Campbell: The original Exorcist.
Pophorror: That’s a good one!
Bruce Campbell: Because the premise was so adult. They thought there was something clinically wrong with the girl, so let’s get brain scans. And they have these horrible scenes and clinically, they cannot find out what is wrong with her. So they go, “Oh, my god. Okay, alright. Is she actually possessed?” So, they go to a guy. They go to a guy who’s doubting his faith. That’s who you want to put in charge of exorcising a demon from a girl. A guy who’s not even sure this shit’s going to work. That’s a great premise. So, in this case, Hysteria! works again. Small town, unprepared. Unprepared. And as a viewer, that’s what I want to see – how are these guys going to figure this one out? This crappy little nothing town in Michigan. Good luck!
PopHorror: Because you’re rooting for these townspeople.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah!
PopHorror: You’re rooting for the small people who had the unknown explode on them. You’re rooting for them to make it through this horror.
Bruce Campbell: Yeah, you’re hoping that the teenagers actually are innocent. You don’t really want to think that my granddaughter is part of a Satanic sex ritual. Good lord.
Thank you so much to Bruce for taking the time to chat with us. Hysteria! premieres on Friday, October 18, only on Peacock.
