Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia and Kezii Curtis are three friends whose efforts to free themselves from their outcasts lead to them becoming the targets of their small town in Hysteria!. Although they had different starts to their careers, both Anthony and Aurelia found early success in the horror genre, with the former starring in both well-received horror comedies Krampus and Aaron Eckhart-led IncarnateWhile the latter starred in both Mike Flanagan Play Gerald’s game adaptation and Fear Street Part Two: 1978. Curtis, on the other hand, is better known for his young-demographic-skewing fare, most recently including the Owen Wilson-starrer Secret headquarters.
The trio star in Hysteria! Like Dylan, Jordy and Spud, three friends in a small town in Michigan in the 80s struggling to get a fan base for their metal band, Deathcrunch. 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-worshipping heavy metal band to capitalize on it, drawing. The attention of his longtime crush, Judith. But when more strange occurrences occur around their town, the trio find themselves the target of local ire, and question whether they’ve inadvertently unleashed a real evil.
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Along with Anthony, Aurelia and Curtis, the ensemble Hysteria! throw incl Evil Dead Veterinarian Bruce Campbell, Modern familys Julie Bowen, Nikki Hahn, Pitch perfect Vet Anna Camp, iconic voice actor Nolan North and Garret Dillahunt. Hailing from creative duo Matthew Scott Kane and The Orvilles 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 premiere of the show, Screen Rant Interviewed Emjay Anthony, Chiara Aurelia and Kezii Curtis to discuss Hysteria!The former two’s return to the horror genre, the latter’s introduction to it, Anthony now has two Modern family Moms play his on-screen mom, how Jordy’s relationship with a former friend will evolve over the course of the show, and how Curtis picks up on working with Campbell.
Anthony loved to get “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’s great to meet you all and talk about Hysteria! I’m six episodes in, eagerly awaiting the last two episodes. Emjay and Chiara, I would like to turn to you first. This is kind of your return to the horror genres. Emjay, I’ve been a fan of yours ever since KrampusAnd Chiara, I especially love these Fear Street Movies. How does it feel to come back to the genre with Hysteria?
Emjay Anthony: First of all, thank you very much, I love Screen Rant too. I just heard it was you guys, and I was like, “What? No way!” So, it’s an honor to be here. It’s 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 go back to the horror genre as an adult and be able to experience it.
Chiara Aurelia: I think that this project was such an incredible experience to be a part of. I was very grateful to be a part of the horror genre and other productions as well. But, diving into it, there are so many breadcrumbs and there are so many layers to hysteria! Which cover horror and thriller and a little bit of comedy with, like, a splash of ’80s nostalgia, and a little bit of coming-of-age. So, we’re pretty much all over the scope here, but hopefully, we’re making 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 have not done such a thing before.
Kezi, I’ll come back to you with a similar question, bearing in mind that this is really, as far as I can tell, your first time in the horror genre, even if it comes, as Chiara said, from older elements, Comedy elements. How does it feel for you, though, to dive into horror, especially when you have scenes with a genre legend like Bruce Campbell?
Kezii Curtis: It was daunting. Honestly, at first 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 to attack it, and it worked. I mean, I was told it wasn’t a sucker. [Chuckles] So, it’s cool to use this collection of all the information I know and give it my best shot.
Dylan’s parents created an interesting setting for Anthony
“It was great working with them both.”
Emjay, I will get back to you. I love the dynamic with your parents, especially since I love Julie Bowen and Nolan North. But what was to find the dynamic with them, especially when Julie begins 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 can’t believe he was my dad. And Julie Bowen, it’s kind of funny because I worked on Chef with Sofia Vergara, and now Julie Bowen is my mom, so I kind of got both 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 like, “Oh, I don’t believe you,” and it’s just old. But he definitely does a good job of not being the annoying dad who just doesn’t listen. So, I think that’s definitely refreshing.
Jordy & Faith’s friendship could not be a smooth road
“I don’t necessarily know how I feel about their friendship until the end…”
Chiara, I will get back to you. I love seeing the dynamic between you and Faith throughout the show, how you try to almost regain a friend, but there’s also a lot of drama. What was it like exploring the relationship with Nikki as the show progressed?
Chiara Aurelia: I think it was a really exciting one, because it’s very different from the relationship she has with the boys. Obviously, there’s a kind of natural butterfly in the Spud-Geordie-Dylan relationship. But I think that faith is a best friend from childhood, and she gets under my skin and understands me in a way that I think maybe the boys don’t.
So, to explore the relationship over the course of the season, and see how much it changes, and how many ups and downs there are. I don’t necessarily know how I feel about their friendship until the end, but I think you’ll 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 “Full credit“To Campbell for the dynamics of their characters
“… He found a really good medium to where we both could be heard in the scene …”
Kezi, I will get back to you. I mentioned it a moment ago, but I really love the character dynamic of Spud and Bruce Campbell. It feels really refreshing, and he also really feels like a father figure to Spud. What was it like to find that dynamic with him, even if it was only in a couple of scenes during the show?
Kezii Curtis: I give full 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 took our own natural off-screen butter and just put it on the screen, and it worked. It worked flawlessly. I give all the 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.
About Hysteria!
When a beloved varsity quarterback disappears during the “Satanic Panic” of the late 1980s, a struggling high school heavy metal band from Outkas realizes they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band. , until a strange series of murders, kidnappings and reported “supernatural activity” triggers a leather-studded witch hunt that leads directly back to them.
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Source: Screen Rant Plus