It’s not easy to be a horror comedy on television. Evil is ending. Shining Vale got axed. Santa Clarita Diet is a distant memory. A.V. Club favorite Chucky is in limbo. Enter into this difficult ecosystem Peacock’s Hysteria teaser trailer, which seeks to freak you out and blow your mind. (Not actually—there’s just a well-timed microwave explosion.) Julie Bowen stars in the new series, which comes from writers Matthew Scott Kane (Stitchers) and David A. Goodman (The Orville) and is executive produced by Game Night masterminds John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.
According to a series synopsis, “When a beloved varsity quarterback disappears during the “Satanic Panic” of the late 1980s, a struggling high school heavy metal band of outcasts realize they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings, and reported ‘supernatural activity’ triggers a leather-studded witch hunt that leads directly back to them.” The Hysteria trailer doesn’t go full metal, but it does tease the consequences of dabbling in the occult, as Julie Bowen stares into the suburban abyss and sees a true creature of darkness staring back.
Basically, it’s a little like if the Eddie Munson plotline from Stranger Things was the entire show. That really worked for a lot of fans and for Joseph Quinn (who became a movie star and a member of the Fantastic Four on the strength of the “Chrissy, wake up” TikTok trend). Hysteria isn’t messing around with its horror bonafides, either, cleverly casting The Evil Dead’s Bruce Campbell in a recurring guest star role. The series also stars Anna Camp, Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia, Kezii Curtis, and Nikki Hahn, with other recurring guests including Garret Dillahunt, Nolan North, Elijah Richardson, Allison Scagliotti, Jessica Treska, and another modern horror icon, Milly Shapiro of Hereditary. All episodes of Hysteria premiere on Peacock on October 18.