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Hysteria!

Hysteria!

7.2

It’s not easy balancing comedy with horror, but this coming-of-age series pulls it off

TV Show

United States of America
English
Drama, Mystery
2024
rt
wiki

TLDR

A campy, more toned-down Stranger Things.

What it's about

1989. A high school band capitalizes on the Satanic scares in suburban Michigan by pretending to be a demonic rock band, but mysterious events threaten to blur the lines between what’s real and not.

The take

It’s hard not to think of Stranger Things after seeing the first few minutes of Hysteria! Like the hit Netflix show, Hysteria! is set in a suburb in the ‘80s and appears to be an ode to the slashers and supernatural movies of that era. But unlike it, Hysteria! doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a comedy as much as it is a horror, and it revels in its campy treatment of things like the Satanic panic scare and extreme conservatism. In removing that excess, the series gets to hone in on its characters. It’s ultimately their fear—of their future, their children, their selves—that drives the show. The metaphors and their poignancy aren’t buried in layers of CGI; they’re apparent and welcome, even if they do come with jump scares and chilling screeches.

What stands out

The jump scares are truly scary. Brace yourselves.

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