A Satanic Panic series that offers fun, mystery, horror and coming-of-age in a small town with small minded people.
- Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
- Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
- Psychological factor: ★★★★☆
- Coming-of-age vibes: ★★★★★
- Murder mystery factor: ★★★★☆
Hysteria is a Peacock tv-series that sadly was cancelled after the first season. Although it does have a sort of an end, it also ends with a set-up for a next season, that unfortunately didn’t get the chance to see the light. Despite the fact that it only has one season that just begged for more, it is very much worth your time to watch the first and only season anyway. It offers a lot of fun, eighties nostalgia, murder mystery, coming-of-age and horror, all during the satanic panic rage.
It stars Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia, Kezil Curtis, Jessica Treska, Nikki Hahn, Anna Camp, Bruce Campbell and Julie Bowen. The series was created by Matthew Scott Kane.
It consists of 8 episodes.
Plot
Dylan, Jordan and Spud are three outcasts in the small town of Happy Hollow in 1989, when the Satanic Panic epidemic is very much alive. Together they form the heavy metal band Dethkrunch but don’t have a big audience, or an audience at all. That all changes when a teen from school is missing and a girl who Dylan has a crush on, loves the idea of a heavy metal band cult. So to impress her Dylan pretends that their band is a (Satanic) cult and that raises some interest with their schoolmates. Their little concert is well visited and their band has some new fans. But they are fans because they want to be in a cult and Dylan has to keep up the appearances, although Jordan and Spud think this has gone too far.
They are right when murder hits the town and Faith a former friend of Jordan goes missing. Dylan and his band get accused of being Satan worshippers and responsible for the deaths and missing kids. Now a real witch hunt is making its way to the suburbs. While Dylan is under the spell of his crush Judith, the cult soon spirals out of control, and out of Dylan’s control. All the while real supernatural evil, rears its head and tries to possess Dylan’s mother.
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Short Review
It is set in 1989 and the nostalgic eighties vibe is fully alive. Although it is presented as a thriller it actually is a real horror series. While it all seems to be a coming-of-age about a boy whose hormones speak louder than his brain and therefore gets involved in a psychological game, in the background some real supernatural evil is at work.
Unfortunately this only plays out in the background when it becomes apparent that Dylan’s mother becomes possessed and is going through the stages of possession. But because of Dylans antics, all the focus is on him and his stupid choices instead of what is actually happening to his mother. She not only has to deal with her possessions and strange things and hallucinations that are happening to her and what she is seeing, but also with the super religious mother Tracey whose daughter Faith was kidnapped.
These murders and kidnappings that are going on are a mystery that the sheriff has to solve and turns out to be a shocking truth. At the end of the season these murders and kidnappings are solved and we get to find out who the culprit is and why. Although this mystery is a very human evil that is at work, it does relate to supernatural evil from the past that could have been more elaborated in a second season.
While a part of this story has human mysteries, it also does have supernatural mysteries. The possession scenes are surreal and frightening and have some hallucinatory imagery. While the big story arc seems to be about normal teen problems that are exacerbated by the idiots that scream Satanic Panic. That contrast is very interesting and it could have turned out to be a great interesting and fun horror series. Because it’s only the first season this possession feels like a build-up to something much more and something much worse than the townspeople think that is going on.
The characters are as to be expected. Dylan is a loser boy, a nobody, Jordan is a loner and bad-ass girl who’s fine on her own and with herself and Spud is the guy who wants to play it safe. Dylan’s parents are the usual eighties parents who worry about him, but do not pay much attention to what actually is going on with Dylan, until is it already gone way out of control.
Dylan’s mother struggles with Dylan being accused of Satanism and she’s not welcome at church anymore. It shows how short-minded people can easily shut people out who need help the most and therefore don’t see the real evil or what is really going on. That is very well displayed and often feels frustrating and you really feel for Dylan, who’s just a normal boy who wants to be liked by the cool pretty girl at school. The townspeople proof that fear and narrow-mindedness are the worst evils and even open up the way for Evil with a capital E.
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