Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia, and Kezii Curtis are three friends whose efforts to break free from being outcasts lead to them becoming the targets of their small town inHysteria!. Though having different starts to their careers, both Anthony and Aurelia had early success in the horror genre, with the former having starred in both the well-received horror-comedyKrampusand Aaron Eckhart-ledIncarnate, while the latter starred in bothMike Flanagan’sGerald’s GameadaptationandFear Street Part Two: 1978. Curtis, on the other hand, is better known for his young-demographic-skewing fare, most recently including the Owen Wilson-starringSecret Headquarters.
The trio star inHysteria!as Dylan, Jordy, and Spud, three friends in a small Michigan town in the ’80s struggling to get a fanbase for their metal band, Dethkrunch. When the local varsity quarterback goes missing, and the talk of the town becomes about the possibility of Satanists being involved in his disappearance, Dylan comes up with the idea to rebrand the band into a Satan-worshiping heavy metal band to capitalize on it, drawing the attention of his longtime crush, Judith. But when more bizarre occurrences happen around their town, the trio find themselves the target of local ire, and question whether they inadvertently unleashed a real evil.
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Alongside Anthony, Aurelia and Curtis, the ensembleHysteria!cast includesEvil Deadvet Bruce Campbell,Modern Family’s Julie Bowen, Nikki Hahn,Pitch Perfectvet Anna Camp, iconic voice actor Nolan North and Garret Dillahunt. Hailing from creative duo Matthew Scott Kane andThe Orville’s David A. Goodman, the show proves to be a joyous combination of John Hughes-style teen drama and wild horror-comedy.
In anticipation of the show’s premiere,Screen Rantinterviewed Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia and Kezii Curtis to discussHysteria!, the former two’s return to the horror genre, the latter’s introduction to it, Anthony now having had twoModern Familymoms play his on-screen mom, how Jordy’s relationship with a former friend will evolve throughout the show, and how Curtis picked up from working with Campbell.
Anthony Loved Getting “To Be Able To Experience” Horror As An Adult
Aurelia Loves The Show Is More Than Horror, While Curtis Found The Genre Attachment “Daunting”
Screen Rant: It is great to get to meet you all and to talk aboutHysteria!,I’m six episodes in, eagerly awaiting those final two episodes. Emjay and Chiara, I’d like to turn to you first. This is sort of your return to the horror genres. Emjay, I’ve been a fan of yours sinceKrampus, and Chiara, I especially lovetheFear Streetmovies. How does it feel to sort of come back to the genre with Hysteria?
Emjay Anthony: First of all, thank you very much, I love Screen Rant, too. I just heard that it was you guys, and I was like, “What? No way!” So, it’s an honor to be here. It was definitely really cool, because Krampus was amazing, but that was when I was a lot younger, so it’s really cool to be able to come back to the horror genre as an adult, and be able to experience it.
Chiara Aurelia: I think that this project has been such an incredible experience to be a part of. I’ve been super grateful to be a part of the horror genre, and other productions as well. But, diving into this, there’s so many breadcrumbs and there’s so many layers to Hysteria! that cover horror and thriller and a bit of comedy with, like, a splash of the ’80s nostalgia, and a bit of coming-of-age. So, we’re kind of all across the scope here, but hopefully, we’re creating a show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, and keeps you really engaged. And I think Jordy was a really fun character to dive into, so I was excited to do it. And I haven’t done anything like her before.
Kezii, I’ll turn next to you with a similar kind of question, in the sense that this is actually, as far as I can tell, your first time in the horror genre, even if there are, like Chiara said, coming-of-age elements, comedy elements. How does it feel for you, though, to dive in to horror, especially when you have scenes witha genre legend like Bruce Campbell?
Kezii Curtis: It was daunting. Honestly, initially, it was daunting, because I had the same thought of like, “Oh, I’ve never done horror before.” But it’s really cool, because — at least for the most part — my job was to find the comedy in it. But then, I found the horror elements through the coming-of-age part of the story. It was really cool to find my different angles, and try and attack it, and it worked. I mean, I was told it didn’t suck. [Chuckles] So, it’s cool to use that gathering of all the information that I could and giving it my best shot.
Dylan’s Parents Created An Interesting Trend For Anthony
“It was awesome working with both of them.”
Emjay, I’ll turn back to you. I love that dynamic with your parents, especially since I love Julie Bowen and Nolan North. But what was it like finding that dynamic with them, especially as Julie starts to come under the influence of something dark?
Emjay Anthony: It was awesome working with both of them. First of all, I’m a huge fan of Nolan North, the Call of Duty games are literally my childhood, I could not believe that he was my dad. And Julie Bowen, it’s kind of funny because I worked on Chef with Sofía Vergara, and now Julie Bowen’s my mom, so I kind of got both the Modern Family moms.
But, back to Nolan, he’s such a great performer, because there’s a lot of horror movies where the dad is just kind of like, “Oh, I don’t believe you,” and it’s just kind of stale. But he definitely did a good job of not being that annoying dad that just doesn’t listen. So, I think that’s definitely refreshing.
Jordy & Faith’s Friendship Might Not Be A Smooth Path
“I don’t necessarily know how I feel about their friendship by the end…”
Chiara, I’ll turn back to you. I love seeing your and Faith’s dynamic throughout the show, as you attempt to almost regain a friend, but there’s also a lot of drama there. What was it like exploring that relationship with Nikki as the show progressed?
Chiara Aurelia: I think it was a really exciting one, because it is very different from the relationship she has with the boys. Obviously, there’s kind of a natural banter in the Spud-Jordy-Dylan relationship. But I think that Faith is a childhood best friend, and she gets under my skin and understands me in a way that I think maybe the boys don’t.
So, getting to explore that relationship over the course of the season, and seeing how much it changes, and how many ups and downs there are. I don’t necessarily know how I feel about their friendship by the end, but I think you’re gonna have to watch and see how it all goes and make that decision for yourself. Look out, seven and eight, they’re coming for you, October 18.
Curtis Gives “Complete Credit” To Campbell For Their Characters' Dynamic
“…he found a really good medium to where we both could be heard in the scene…”
Kezii, I’ll turn back to you. I mentioned it a moment ago, but I really do love Spud and Bruce Campbell’s character’s dynamic. It really feels refreshing, and he also really feels like a fatherly figure to Spud. What was it like finding that dynamic with him, even if it was in only a couple of scenes throughout the show?
Kezii Curtis: I give complete credit to Bruce. He saw the scene in a way that I didn’t, and then once we discussed it, I was like, “Oh, okay, I see.” And from that, we kind of took our own natural off-screen banter and just put it on screen, and it worked. It worked flawlessly. I give all that credit to Bruce. Honestly, he found a really good medium to where we both could be heard in the scene, but the message still got across.
AboutHysteria!
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.
