Peacock’s Satanic Panic Pop-Horror Sequence

Satanic Panic is having a resurgence in popular culture (see: Eddie Munson in Stranger Issues), however did it ever actually depart? You’ll be able to definitely really feel its lingering results every time social media is weaponized to unfold misinformation. Hysteria! creator Matthew Scott Kane aimed to infuse that spirit into his new Peacock sequence; it’s set in a small Michigan city circa 1989, as heavy metal-loving highschool children conflict with their conservative mother and father. There’s additionally a supernatural thriller afoot, to the consternation of the native sheriff performed by cult film legend Bruce Campbell.

Forward of Hysteria!‘s arrival simply in time for a spooky-season binge, io9 talked to Kane and his fellow author and government producer David A. Goodwin to study extra concerning the present’s origins, intentions, riff-tastic soundtrack, and extra.

Cheryl Eddy, io9: Satanic Panic “nostalgia” has popped up lately—it was a outstanding theme on Stranger Issues, and there was a documentary on its origins that got here out final yr, Devil Desires You. How does Hysteria! strategy Satanic Panic in a method that brings one thing new to the dialog?

Matthew Scott Kane: I can’t communicate to the documentary that got here out … I attempted to keep away from all Satanic Panic-related media for the final yr or so simply to remain targeted on the one I’ve in entrance of me. However I believe actually what we’re doing is we’re attempting to make connections between then and now. After I first wrote this script again in 2019, there have been plenty of anxieties on my thoughts that I believe plenty of different folks have been feeling as effectively. Sadly, I believe they’re nonetheless feeling them at the moment, which is that there are plenty of methods proper now for the reality to get mangled and disseminated, and for that dissemination to utterly change lots of people’s view of actuality and what the world is round them. 

So I wished to type of take that outlook and perspective of what’s occurring proper now and within the final a number of years and apply it again to the Satanic Panic, once I felt like one thing very comparable was taking place. This can be a time the place some folks genuinely believed that the Smurfs and He-Man and all types of cartoon characters have been attempting to lure your children into some type of secret Satanic underground. We did it this fashion as a result of it’s much more enjoyable to return and take a look at this era and discuss heavy steel and John Hughes motion pictures and Video Nasties and all that form of stuff. However that to me is the place I believe we stand out from different stuff. 

David A. Goodman: I believe that the core of the present—I got here to the present after Matt had written the pilot, and what I actually linked to and I believe [how] it connects to Satanic Panic is that this universality of a mum or dad’s worry of what their child is as much as. Is my teenager going out into the evening and stepping into bother? And the reply is sure. The worry of these mother and father, and the way it manifests, finally ends up being one thing that’s not simply [happening] throughout the Satanic Panic. Each era goes by way of some model of this. And the Satanic Panic—there’s a little bit of nostalgia for the ‘80s, the pre-internet age and pre-cell telephones, and but the world was altering. It finally ends up being an effective way to expertise that, and in addition add this stage of horror and crime procedural and comedy.

io9: You talked about heavy steel. Hysteria! was clearly made by folks with a love of steel. What are your backgrounds in that division? Additionally, did you set out with an inventory of songs you knew you wished to incorporate on the soundtrack?

Kane: To reply your first query, what my background is with steel is being gifted plenty of ‘80s steel albums for Christmas over the course of my childhood. Iron Maiden and Metallica and all that type of stuff was undoubtedly one thing that was simply form of given to me from my dad and my brother as effectively—he was two years older than me, so he was at all times the one which was two steps forward of me. I used to be in a band in highschool, however it could be a humiliation to name us steel. We weren’t even shut. 

Attending to the music for the present, we had an unbelievable music supervisor named Jen Malone, who did the songs for Wednesday in addition to Euphoria, in addition to a variety of different enormous issues. And plenty of what you hear on the present, I’d say about 75% of the songs have been within the script … the concept was “We wish to set this scene to this music for a motive.” After which the opposite 25% was a collaboration of, “We’re unsure what this second wants.” Jen has a a lot deeper wealth of data than both David or myself by way of the music facet of it. She might are available in and provides us buckets and buckets of nice choices for issues that we by no means would have discovered. 

Goodman: I’ve no background in steel. I had by no means listened to it earlier than beginning to work on this present, though I used to be shocked to find that I did like some steel songs. I didn’t even know that they have been referred to as steel. Matt gave me an actual primer on what I wanted to take heed to, and I’ve grown to adore it. It has a lot depth. I believe that’s the opposite piece of it that will get dismissed so simply as superficial and nasty and harmful. There’s a lot depth to the music, to the lyrics of those nice bands who do that music. This has been an enormously expansive inventive expertise for me as I’ve been uncovered to one thing that I had dismissed. In order that’s been my expertise on the present.

io9: Bruce Campbell performs a personality that feels each completely suited to him, but additionally totally different than something we’ve seen him do earlier than—the level-headed city sheriff attempting to roll with all of the loopy stuff occurring round him. How a lot of the function was tailor-made to Bruce as soon as he got here aboard? And is he the rationale the present is about in Michigan? 

Kane: He’s not the rationale the present is about in Michigan, however him being from Michigan helps the connection. A lot of the crew and myself, I grew up in Southeast Michigan. I appeared as much as Bruce and Sam Raimi my total highschool profession, and Bruce was despatched the pilot script whereas we have been casting. We had written the primary 4 episodes or so, and we despatched him the pilot script and he responded very well to it and signed on board. However then very, in a short time after Bruce signed on the writers’ strike hit, so we didn’t understand how this function was going to suit Bruce. However miraculously—or it shouldn’t be miraculously, he’s a tremendous actor—he got here in and he hit it out of the park within the first 4 episodes. After which after that, it was actually enjoyable to put in writing for Bruce Campbell now that we knew who we have been writing for. It was a blast. He’s a legend for a motive. He got here in and gave us an incredible efficiency. 

Goodman: Each Matt and I are such enormous followers of his. I didn’t even fairly consider it when the information got here in that he was going to be within the present. And [he was] simply such a pleasure to work with, a pleasure to put in writing for, and [he] created a component that has plenty of ranges to it. Style actors, they need to do two jobs. They need to create their characters after which make them plausible in a world that bends actuality. And that’s his resume. 

Hysteria! arrives on Peacock October 18.

Need extra io9 information? Take a look at when to count on the newest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and the whole lot it’s worthwhile to learn about the way forward for Doctor Who.