Two of the most popular horror films from the silent era are F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu from 1922 and director Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which was first released in 1920. So while Nosferatu gets a revival of sorts through Robert Eggers’ remake, which is set to reach theatres in December, and the Symphony of Horror “remix,” it seems fitting that The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is also getting some loving attention this year, as Kino Lorber is set to give the film a 4K UHD and Blu-ray release on October 22nd! This “authoritative edition” of the film features a meticulous 4K restoration by the F.W. Murnau Stiftung, along with a new orchestral score composed by Emmy winner Jeff Beal (House of Cards). Beal’s score had its premiere performance at Carnegie Hall on June 3rd… but if you want to try out the movie with different music, the 4K and Blu-ray discs will also feature an orchestral score that was composed in 2014, and the Blu-ray has a third score option, one by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky.
The Blu-ray also features the 52 minute documentary Caligari: How Horror Came to the Cinema and a restoration demonstration. An audio commentary by composer Jeff Beal will be found on both the 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs, as will an audio description for the vision-impaired.
Here’s some more information: In 1920, one brilliant movie jolted the postwar masses and catapulted the German Expressionist film movement into history. That movie was The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a plunge into the mind of insanity that severs all ties with the rational world. Director Robert Wiene and a team of visionary designers crafted a nightmare realm in which light, shadow and substance are abstracted, a world in which a demented doctor and a carnival sleepwalker perpetrate a series of ghastly murders in a small community.
Copies of the 4K UHD and Blu-ray release are available for pre-order through the Kino Lorber website.
Are you a fan of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and will you be buying the 4K UHD and Blu-ray release? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
It’s not wabbit season or duck season. It’s celebrity season! That’s right! The hunt for Oscar hosts is on, and according to sources close to the annual celebration of stars and screen, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman could be a part of the magic. According to Deadline, they’re hearing whispers that Reynolds and Jackman could be part of an ensemble cast of rotating hosts for a portion of the show. The Academy wants to defy expectations this year and bring clever pairs to the presentation, departing from its semi-traditional solo host format.
Other names in the mix include Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, and Dwayne Johnson. If the Academy follows a rotating host plan, Reynolds and Jackman could host a more significant portion of the show, but it’s all hearsay now. For the moment, there has yet to be any public knowledge of a concrete plan.
Having Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman host a portion of the Oscars makes sense, considering the dynamic duo’s well-established friendship and whip-smart chemistry. They’re also the stars of Deadpool & Wolverine, this year’s second-biggest box office earner behind Pixar’s Inside Out 2 ($1.69 billion) with $1.33 billion. Both films fly under the Disney banner, priming the mouse for some bald statues if things swing their way.
While an Oscars ceremony hosted partly by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman sounds like a blast, neither actor may be up to the task. Disney will likely go hard in the paint for Oscar campaigns concerning Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, with rumors saying Ryan Renolds could get the Best Actor nom. In contrast, Hugh Jackman could win a Best Supporting Actor award. It’s possible that Reynolds and Jackman won’t be interested in hosting the show, or their schedules won’t allow time to rehearse.
The rotating host format is a great way to feature different presenters throughout the star-studded evening. One person who doesn’t plan to return is Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the show in 2017, 2018, 2023, and earlier this year.
Who should host the Oscars this year? Do you like the rotating host format? Let us know in the comments section below.
Last week, Audible launched the ten-part true crime podcast My Mom’s Murder, in which host Lauren Malloy “tells the story of how she believed her mother died of a heart condition but it turned out she was murdered.” Deadline reports that Malloy’s story is also being turned into a TV series that has Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick Ass) on board to star.
Produced by AYR Media, the podcast version of My Mom’s Murder tells how Malloy uncovered the shocking truth about her mother Lori’s death in 1993. When Malloy was just an infant, her mother passed away and had grown up believing her passing was natural. When she discovers that her mother’s death was actually an unsolved murder, she sets out on a journey to discover the truth. The podcast follows Malloy as she confronts family members, interviews old friends, and unearths hidden evidence about her mother’s life and death. Her investigation leads her to confront shady characters from her mother’s past and navigate conflicting stories and disturbing truths and culminates in potential breakthroughs in the decades long cold case. For the TV series, we’ll get to watch Moretz lead us through the story.
The TV series adaptation is set up at MGM Television. Moretz will be executive producing the show with AYR Media’s Aliza Rosen, Steve Stark, and Stacey Levin for Toluca Pictures, and Jackie Levine for Audible. Malloy will serve as a producer on the series, just as she does on the podcast. The podcast is also executive produced by Moretz, as well as Aliza Rosen for AYR Media, Lara Regan Kleinschmidt for Audible, Stacey Levin for Toluca Pictures, and MGM Television. A five minute audio trailer for the podcast can be heard at THIS LINK.
Moretz most recently starred in the Prime Video series The Peripheral, the sci-fi thriller Mother/Android, and the Tom & Jerry movie. She also provided the voice of Wednesday Addams in the 2019 and 2021 animated Addams Family features. She has multiple projects in the works, including a UFC movie called Strawweight that will co-star Lupita Nyong’o.
Does My Mom’s Murder sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this Chloe Grace Moretz TV series project by leaving a comment below.
Hello again. Who’s ready for a Hollywood pairing that could bring the house down? Let me hear you say Sweet Caroline because Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson will star in Craig Brewer‘s Song Sung Blue, an upcoming film inspired by Neil Diamond’s timeless music. Brewer’s musical drama hails from Focus Features, with Brewer as the project’s director and writer.
Based on the 2008 documentary of the same name by director Greg Kohs, Song Sung Blue revolves around the true story of two down-on-their-luck musicians (Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson) who form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it’s never too late to find love and follow your dreams. Michael Imperioli, Fisher Stevens, and Jim Belushi round out the star-studded cast alongside Ella Anderson, King Princess, Mustafa Shakir, and Hudson Hilbert Hensley. John Davis and John Fox are producing the film for Davis Entertainment alongside Craig Brewer.
Hugh Jackman returns to the musical arena after bringing the box office to its knees with Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine. The film, featuring Jackman as the Canadian shirt-exploding hero Wolverine, banked $1.3B worldwide, with digital sales of the R-rated buddy comedy racking up more dollars for the dynamic duo. Jackman is well-acquainted with musical theater after starring in films like The Greatest Showman, Les Misérables, Happy Feet, and Oklahoma! His latest feature, Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie, recently wrapped production. The comedic mystery focuses on a shepherd who reads murder mysteries to his flock, pretending the sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
Kate Hudson’s latest feature is Shell, a Max Minghella-directed horror thriller about a down-on-her-luck actress Samantha Lake. She is invited into the ultra-glamorous world of Zoe Shannon, CEO of wellness company SHELL. When SHELL patients begin to go missing, Samantha realizes Zoe may be protecting a monstrous secret. Elisabeth Moss plays Samantha Lake, while Hudson plays Zoe Shannon. Elizabeth Berkley, Kaia Gerber, and Mary Lynn Rajskub star as primary cast members.
Neil Diamond is an American singer-songwriter whose records have sold over 130 million worldwide. His most significant hits include “Sweet Caroline,” “Cracklin’ Rose,” “September Morn,” “Holly Holy,” “Song Sung Blue,” and more.
Are you a Neil Diamond fan? What about your parents? Will Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson make sweet music together for Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue? We’ll find out when materials for the film roll out.
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or when his romantic drama Anora was chosen as the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition. The movie has been generating Oscar buzz ever since, with Variety reporting that lead actress Mikey Madison (Scream, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) could be one of the “few sure-fire bets” in the Best Actress category, while Baker could end up being nominated as producer, director, writer, and editor. That all remains to be seen, but soon enough we’ll find out how a wider audience responds to the film, as Neon (the distributor behind Best Picture winner Parasite) will be giving Anora a theatrical release this Friday, October 18th. With just a few days to go until that date arrives, a new trailer for the film has been unveiled, and you can check that out in the embed above.
The story Baker crafted for this film has the following synopsis: Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora is an audacious, thrilling, and comedic variation on a modern day Cinderella story. Mikey Madison captivates as Ani, a young sex worker from Brooklyn whose life takes an unexpected turn when she meets and impulsively marries Vanya, the impetuous son of a Russian billionaire. However, when Vanya’s parents catch wind of the union, they send their henchmen to annul the marriage, setting off a wild chase through the streets of New York.
Madison is joined in the cast by Mark Eidelstein (The Land of Sasha), Yura Borisov (Compartment No. 6), Vache Tovmasyan (Lost & Found in Armenia), Aleksei Serebryakov (McMafia), Darya Ekamasova (The Americans), Karren Karagulian (Prince of Broadway), Lindsey Normington (All Rise), Ivy Wolk (The Bubble), and newcomer Luna Sofía Miranda.
Baker produced the film with Alex Coco and Samantha Quan. Baker previously directed Four Letter Words, Take Out, Prince of Broadway, Starlet, Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket.
Are you interested in Anora? Take a look at the trailer, then share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below. And if you happened to catch the movie at one of its festival screenings, let us know what you thought of it!
There’s the Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood’s most-liked unproduced screenplays that has been going on for nearly twenty years. For the last fifteen years, we’ve had the Blood List, a survey of unproduced thriller and horror scripts voted upon by industry professionals. In 2022, a website called the Stunt List was launched, “created as an artistic home to encourage writers to showcase their unique and original voices.” And last year, the Stunt List shared their first Dead List, a collection of “market-ready original horror screenplays.” The Dead List is back this year with 50 market-ready horror scripts, and you can check it out HERE… and to spice things up, this year’s Dead List also features three “guest scripts.” The first of these guest scripts is The Overlook Hotel, a feature-length prequel to Stephen King’s The Shining that was written by former The Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara. Next up is Halloween: Asylum, an unproduced Halloween sequel that was crafted by Matt Venne (Stephen King’s Bag of Bones) and Saw X writers Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger. The third guest script is Candy, an original action thriller screenplay by Todd Farmer, writer of Jason X, My Bloody Valentine 3D, and Drive Angry.
The Overlook Hotel has the following logline: Set in the early 1900s, this prequel to The Shining follows Bob T. Watson as he travels with his family to the Rocky Mountains to build the grandest hotel the world has ever seen, only to be greeted with one harrowing tragedy after another. This script for The Overlook Hotel was written by Glen Mazzara based on “Before the Play” by Stephen King, and was previously set to be directed by Mark Romanek. You can read the script at THIS LINK.
Here’s the Halloween: Asylum logline: After Michael Myers escapes death during a botched execution, one of his survivors must confront her darkest fears and fight for her life when the Shape hunts her down in the locked-down prison. And HERE is where you can read the script.
The Candy description: Vibe Check: Imagine John Wick with a stripper — a blood-soaked revenge flick in the vein of Taken, but with a female lead. Logline: While attempting to save her friend from kidnappers, an exotic dancer stumbles onto a sex trafficking ring and starts to eliminate them one-by-one using hammers, screwdrivers, ninja stars, and some trusty duct tape. The script can be found HERE.
Will you be reading The Overlook Hotel, Halloween: Asylum, and/or Candy? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Heartstopper‘s Joe Locke is having a week. He’s been keeping one of Marvel’s worst-kept secrets for two years, and after the latest episode of Agatha All Along, he can finally breathe a sign of relief. I say worst-kept because anyone familiar with Marvel Comics has known his character’s identity for years. Sure, Marvel could always pull a fast one, but all signs have pointed to Locke’s “Teen” being Billy Kaplan, also known as Billy Maximoff, also known as Wiccan, the Scarlet Witch’s son. Whether you’re shocked by Teen’s true identity or not, Billy’s arrival in the MCU stirs the cauldron into something fierce, especially since we don’t know if he’s a good or bad witch. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Locke opens up about waiting for the reveal and what his place in the MCU could mean for the Scarlet Witch’s return.
“It’s so nice. I feel like I’m breathing. I love it,” Locke tells EW regarding the secret of Wiccan’s identity being out in the open.
At the end of “Darkest Hour / Wake Thy Power,” Wiccan sends Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha, Patti Lupone’s Lilia Calderu, and Sasheer Zamata’s Jennifer Hale into the boggy depths of the Witch’s Road. As he watches the group sink into the dirt, Billie Eilish’s “You Should See Me in a Crown” plays as a blue crown (similar to Wanda’s iconic tiara) sits across his furrowed brow. It’s a significant moment for his character, one of Marvel’s most celebrated LGBTQ+ heroes.
Talking about the big reveal night, Locke told Entertainment Weekly he took four doses of melatonin to help him sleep. “I’m in the U.K. The episode drops at 2:00 a.m.” he said. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep, so I’m just going to drug myself and then wake up to my phone blowing up, which it did. The thing that I’ve kept so secret, guarding it with my life is now just in the ether.”
According to Locke, Wiccan’s arrival marks a turning point for the series. “The show starts getting real,” he continues. “The show starts with Billy being very much the familiar, the secondary to all the witches. Now we know he is also a witch, and that changes things. Also, we now know that he has the ability to cause harm to them. Therefore, he is now the most powerful person on the Road. What does that change in the dynamic of the group and how does that change the future of those relationships?”
Episode six of the nine-episode season explores Billy’s backstory, including what happened to him when he was 13. Time tends to bend around Billy, with the character appearing at multiple stages of his adolescence throughout WandaVision. “At the end of episode 5, we don’t know what happens to those witches, but he’s not doing a good thing. We played a lot with, does that make him a bad person? Is he a good person? Which then draws parallels to the motherly figures in his life. Wanda does evil things but isn’t necessarily evil. Agatha, questionably, is evil, but there’s more to that, as well.”
In addition to working with Jennifer White, Elizabeth Olsen’s movement coach, to ensure his posture and conjuration are similar to Wanda’s, Lockes says working on Agatha All Along has been a dream. He hopes the role leads to him playing a significant role in the MCU’s version of the Young Avengers, a group hinted at in the after-credits scene for The Marvels. Rumors about Locke’s Heartstopper screen partner, Kit Connor, playing Billy’s boyfriend, Hulkling, continue to swirl, but the jury’s still out.
Does Wiccan’s arrival in the MCU signal Wanda’s return? Does Marvel Studios have big plans for the Scarlet Witch? What happens when she finds out Agatha’s escaped her hex prison? Come on, Marvel, give us the good stuff!
Apple TV+’s post-apocalyptic science fiction series Silo (read our 8/10 review HERE) is based on a series of stories written by author Hugh Howey. It started with a short story called Wool, and at one point the plan was to call the Apple TV+ series Wool as well. There’s plenty of Howey stories to continue pulling inspiration from is Silo has a multiple season run: Holston, Proper Gauge, Casting Off, The Stranded, Legacy, Order, Pact, and Dust... with more to come. We’ll get to see more of this Howey-inspired story play out when Silo season 2 begins airing on November 15th – and with that date just one month away, a trailer for the new episodes has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.
Silo follows the last 10,000 people on Earth as they navigate life in their mile-deep underground home protecting them from the toxic outside world. The catch? No one knows when or why the silo was built and anyone who goes snooping for answers faces fatal consequences.
The series has an impressive cast that includes Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption), David Oyelowo (Selma), Common (John Wick: Chapter 2), and Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation).
Howey began his series in 2011, and attempts to bring those stories to the screen have been coming and going since 2012. Ridley Scott and Steve Zaillian were going to produce a film adaptation for 20th Century Fox. LaToya Morgan was developing a Silo series for AMC. Writer Graham Yost (Speed) is the behind the Apple TV+ Silo series and serves as an executive producer on it alongside Ferguson, Howey, Remi Aubuchon, Fred Golan, Nina Jack, Ingrid Escajeda, and director Morten Tyldum.
Yost had this to say about Silo getting a season 2: “We cannot wait for audiences around the world to immerse themselves in the epic world we have created to bring Hugh Howey’s novels to life. Apple has believed in our vision from day one and it’s an honor to have the opportunity to dig deeper into this story and peel back the layers to our characters in the Silo.“
Did you watch the first season of Silo, and will you be tuning in for season 2? Take a look at the trailer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
The first film in writer/director Damien Leone’s Terrifier franchise had a running time of 85 minutes, which I feel is just about perfect for a slasher movie. Then Leone went wild on Terrifier 2, letting it go on for 138 minutes… which a lot of viewers didn’t mind, while others (like me) thought was painfully excessive. So when he was working on the recently released Terrifier 3, he promised this one would be shorter. And it is, slightly. Terrifier 3 has a running time of 125 minutes – and during an interview with Coming Soon, Leone took a moment to defend the length of the Art the Clown sequels.
When he was asked about running time complaints and lessons learned while making these movies, Leone said, “I’m happy with what Terrifier 2 is. I’m happy with the length of it, but what wasn’t working for a lot of people was the length. It was too much for just a mass audience. Especially now we’re living in TikTok era. 2 hours, 18 minutes, which is the runtime of Terrifier 2, is a lot to ask of the audience. So I don’t think it was a mistake, so to speak. That was just genuinely the movie, the story I wanted to tell. But I don’t wanna double down on that now and say, ‘Well, you didn’t like 2 hours, 18 minutes. Here’s 2 hours, 40 minutes. Deal with it.’ That’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to make this as accessible for people while not losing what’s important to the franchise. So, that’s the reason why (Terrifier 3) came in at now 2 hours. I think it’s 2 hours and 5 minutes. So it’s like two hours, not including credits. But this could have been longer. Again, my original cut was like 2 hours and 20 minutes, and I had to just cut out like five or six scenes because I really didn’t want to deliver that 2 hour, 18-minute movie again because it’s a lot to ask. So, again, it doesn’t mean I won’t make a two-and-a-half-hour movie if that’s genuinely the story I want to tell, and I don’t feel like it’s dragging. I’ve spoken to people before. You’ll hear people say, ‘Oh, there’s all this filler in these movies that could be cut out,’ or it’s ‘unnaturally long.’ I don’t think that’s a fair criticism. I think that they’re underestimating or they’re not realizing what’s padding these runtimes isn’t the stuff in between that you think is dragging. It’s the big Art the Clown set pieces that make these movies unorthodox, and that adds to the longer runtime. Everything else, if you took it out, it would be just as long as the ‘filler,’ so to speak, that’s in your typical slasher movie. Your typical slasher movie is an hour and 20 minutes, an hour and 30 minutes, and your killer’s only in the movie for five minutes, like seven minutes. The kill scenes add up to about three minutes of the entire movie. You know what I mean? So you probably have more filler and more drama in your typical 80-minute slasher than you do in Terrifier 2. It’s just there are so many big scenes with Art the Clown where he’s toying with his victims for four minutes, where he’s killing somebody for four minutes. You don’t want just one kill. You want a bunch of kills. That’s what this franchise has become known for. So again, it’s a very unorthodox slasher film, and I think it gets unjustly criticized for its runtime.“
Terrifier 3 has the following synopsis: Art the Clown is set to unleash chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. Here’s some more information: After surviving Art the Clown’s Halloween massacre, Sienna and her brother are struggling to rebuild their shattered lives. As the holiday season approaches, they try to embrace the Christmas spirit and leave the horrors of the past behind. But just when they think they’re safe, Art the Clown returns, determined to turn their holiday cheer into a new nightmare. The festive season quickly unravels as Art unleashes his twisted brand of terror, proving that no holiday is safe.
David Howard Thornton reprises the role of Art the Clown, a character who was first introduced in Leone’s 2013 anthology All Hallows’ Eve (although Thornton didn’t start playing him until Terrifier). Also in the cast are Lauren LaVera, who’s back as Terrifier 2 heroine Sienna; Elliot Fullam returns as Sienna’s brother Jonathan, Samantha Scaffidi is returning as Terrifier and Terrifier 2 character Victoria Heyes, and Daniel Roebuck, who has been cast in the role of Santa Claus. FX legend Tom Savini also shows up, as do Jon Abrahams, Antonella Rose, Krsy Fox, and legendary character actor Clint Howard. Chris Jericho, who had a cameo in Terrifier 2, is back in Terrifier 3 – but he made sure to let everyone know that his appearance in the film doesn’t last very long.
What do you think of what Damien Leone had to say about the running times of the Terrifier sequels? Do you think the length is justified, or could he have found ways to trim the movies down some more? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Plot: 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.
Review: There have been many 1980s-set retro horror movies in recent years, ranging from My Best Friend’s Exorcism to Totally Killer and more. The 80s were a bastion of paranoia about the impact of Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal, a thread used in Netflix’s Stranger Things. The new series Hysteria! goes back to the heart of the Satanic Panic to see how one small town in Michigan deals with its own devilish challenges. Led by genre legend Bruce Campbell along with Julie Bowen, Anna Camp, Garret Dillahunt, and more, Hysteria! has a sense of humor but is at its heart a creepy horror romp through a period in recent history that eerily parallels our contemporary culture of fake news, misinformation, and widespread panic about what our neighbors could be up to.
Set in the town of Happy Hollow, Hysteria! centers on Dylan Campbell (Emjay Anthony), a mild-mannered and somewhat nerdy teen who is part of a heavy metal band with his friends, bass player Jordy (Chiara Aurelia), and drummer Spud (Kezii Curtis). When a popular football player disappears and a pentagram is painted on his family’s garage, the town begins to suspect evil may be lurking in their suburban paradise. Dylan decides this may be the time to lean into the Satanic side of their musical tastes, which conjures attention from his crush, Judith (Jessica Treska). Dylan’s mother Linda (Julie Bowen) is not sure how to feel about her son’s new style nor is local religious zealot Tracy Whitehead (Anna Camp). Heading the investigation is Chief Dandridge (Bruce Campbell), who must quell the fears of his constituents while addressing the seemingly supernatural goings-on in Happy Hollow.
I can say with sincerity that Hysteria! caught me off guard. Based on the trailers and the cast, I anticipated a comedy, but this series is a dark and semi-serious horror story involving demons, exorcisms, and the danger of crowdthink. The eight-episode series starts with some tongue-in-cheek moments, gradually giving way to some truly scary imagery and a more complex web involving most of the ensemble cast. Anna Camp echoes great horror zealots from Carrie‘s Piper Laurie to The Mist‘s Marcia Gay Harden, while Julie Bowen delivers a performance I did not think she had in her. Equally, the great Bruce Campbell is deadly serious as the lead law enforcement officer without any hint of Ash lurking in his demeanor. Hysteria! plays it straight, accentuating the horror while adding to the sense of dread as the story goes in a direction I did not anticipate.
The benefit that Hysteria! has over other period-set horror projects is the multiple narratives, none of which feels weak compared to the rest. While the adults focus on blaming Satan and trying to find a scapegoat, there is a sinister plot lurking underneath. Meanwhile, the three main teens, Dylan, Jordy, and Spud, get to play Harry Potter and investigate both to clear their names and figure out what is happening in their town. There is also another thread involving the teens and the cult they manufacture as the paranoia grows. All of these stories culminate in the final episode, which offers closure to the story without leaving anything hanging. Some of the plot elements are wrapped up too neatly, but they work overall.
Creator Matthew Scott Kane makes an impressive debut as a showrunner with this project influenced by the last decade of political and social division in the United States and around the world. There is most definitely an ulterior motive hiding in this story that is not too in your face to detract from the horror of Hysteria! but helps drive it home. Hysteria! includes a solid writer’s room, including Mike Flanagan’s sibling Jamie, who boasts a writing credit and appears in a supporting role. Longtime Seth MacFarlane collaborator David A. Goodman is involved as a writer and producer, but don’t let his resume fool you, as Hysteria! is not a Family Guy-style project. The series also boasts a top crew of directors led by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of Kong: Skull Island, who directs the first and final episodes.
Full of classic rock tracks from the 1980s and a neon aesthetic full of big hair, acid-washed jeans, and Reagan-induced fear, Hysteria! has just the right amount of fun to complement the scary. This series unfolds and teases a lot of relevant themes while doing so in a fun and entertaining way. You may be looking for just pure terror this Halloween season, but you will get your fair share of blood and jump scares from Hysteria! but this series is possessed of something altogether more terrifying: a message. Enjoy Hysteria! for the scares, you may learn something eerily true about how easy it can be to convince the world the sky is falling or even that the Devil is among us.
Hysteria! premieres on Peacock on October 18 with a simulcast on USA Network and SYFY. USA Network will air episodes each Friday.
