Bruce Campbell Talks ‘Hysteria’, Reflects on Satanic Panic: “What Started It?” (Exclusive)

When viewed through a nostalgic lens, the 1980s are remembered as a dazzling ball of neon that produced some of our favorite films, music, and fads. But there was another side of the era in which oppressive social strain erupted in various forms. One was satanic panic, a wave of unfounded conspiracies that led to widespread fears. Bruce Campbell, a horror icon since 1981’s The Evil Dead, has a unique perspective on the decade.

Campbell’s most recent role is as Chief Dandridge in Peacock’s Hysteria. Set in the 1980s, the show follows the town of Happy Hollow, Michigan, as the disappearance of the varsity quarterback sparks satanic panic. However, this allows the high school heavy metal band Dethkrunch to capitalize on the town’s newfound interest in the occult by establishing themselves as a Satanic metal band. Following a series of murders, kidnappings, and reports of supernatural activity, suspicions are cast on them.

We talked with Campbell about the show and how the topics remain relevant today. All eight episodes of season one are now available on Peacock.

HGL: Going into Hysteria, I expected your character to be the comedic relief because we’ve seen you play Ash and do horror-comedy. But you’re the opposite, and I was pleasantly surprised. What compelled you to take on this role?

Bruce Campbell: I thought it was well written. TV has improved tenfold since I did my first Knots Landing episode in the late ‘80s. Also, ‘80s TV sucked, by the way. You saw three shadows on everybody’s face; the dialogue was awful. There were ten pounds of makeup. It was about pretty clothes and cars, and that was it. Actors were either on their way up or on their way down if you did television. So I was on my way up when I did Knots Landing.

Now, everyone’s going to TV; I don’t know what started it—HBO, AMC? What started that whole “We’re gonna make TV as good as a movie now?” Whoever did that, I’m thankful because now all the crappy stuff is somewhere else. I don’t know where it went. Maybe it went to movies on the Syfy channel, I don’t know. But TV is not crappy anymore. And that’s what really attracted me.

Matthew Kane and David Goodman, they wrote a good premise. I’m from Michigan. My parents had a small property in Gladwin, Michigan, and the teenagers in Gladwin would race from one stoplight to the next and go back to the next one, steal a beer out of their dad’s fridge in the garage when they got home. That’s it. So that’s the place to do satanic panic—in a small town. They don’t have these problems. I live in a small town in Oregon right now, and if that happened here, we’d be doomed.

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HGL: I’m from rural Texas and a child of the ‘80s, so I can relate. Many shows and movies made today that are set in the ‘80s get it wrong. People were more closed-minded, and I think Hysteria captures that truth better than most. Would you agree?

Bruce Campbell: Newsflash: America is religious, and large segments don’t like the concept that you might actually be conjuring something that they don’t want conjured. And if you’re a person of faith, you don’t want guys dressed up like KISS— Knights in Satan’s Service—looking like they’re Satan worshippers. I don’t know what these guys were thinking because you interview them now, and they all think it’s hilarious. But if you were looking for trouble, man, that’s the way to do it in the ‘80s when Reagan was president. Don’t be spouting that stuff because it really got in the news.

But I’m also curious: what started it? Was there a satanic ritual they found out in the woods, and some animal was desecrated? After it was all done, you go back and look at that time period, and there was no blip in weird murders. America’s always had weird murders and freaky stuff. It was no different. It just got more press at that time.

But it’s a good premise for a show because I feel that it’s underexploited, the concept of the satanic panic. What’s cool in our show is like, is it real or is it not?

HGL: Decades later, I feel like we’re circling that drain again and seeing parents clutching their pearls. It’s relevant today as much as it was back then.

Bruce Campbell: Yeah, and look, the concept of disinformation, we all know it so well now. It’s fun to deal with it from a fictional point of view because, in this town, no one’s taking pictures of stuff. There’s no one whipping out their phone or videoing stuff. It’s all hearsay. Did you see it? Did you not? Even the chief of police sees stuff and it’s like, did he see that? He’s starting to question his own reality. That’s the fun part of the show because they take it to a point where you go, oh, wait, wait. Is it really happening? Even the cop is flummoxed after a certain point.

I think the writers did their job. They set up a cool premise, interesting characters. Like how my character is written. He’s the cop that I want in my small town. I want an approachable cop. I want to be able to come up and talk to my chief of police and tell him my problems and have him actually listen and go, “Wow, let’s see if we can do something about that.” So it’s fun.

And I play the normal guy. I’m not the wild-eyed, chainsaw-wielding guy with blood on his face. It’s nice to just be a rational human being playing age-appropriate roles.

HGL: Absolutely. I liked that your character wasn’t stereotypically heavy-fisted.

Bruce Campbell: He’s also not the happy-go-lucky guy winking at the camera. I like that too. I’m an actor. This is what I do. If you write a character that’s written like this, I’ll play that. I don’t have to foam-inject Bruce Campbell into everything that I do. I’m attracted to certain material. But this I’m attracted to because the writing was good and writing is everything. And I realize that now.

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HGL: I also love that by the time you get to maybe the third episode, you still have no idea what’s happening. At the end of every episode, I thought, wow, what now?

Bruce Campbell: To me, that’s compelling writing. The network always tells actors, “Don’t give spoilers out,” and I’m like, I couldn’t spoil this show if I tried. There’s so many twists, even the end of it.

HGL: Before we wrap up, I must mention that I loved the Evil Dead references and that you still embrace that role. The trilogy and franchise are so beloved.

Bruce Campbell: I have nothing but warm, fuzzy feelings about the Evil Dead movies. It got me into the business. It taught me how to start acting. It put us through a lot, and it taught us a lot. It still is. We’re still making them.

The movie we made last year [Evil Dead Rise, 2023] made the most money of any Evil Dead movie so far. So safe to say there’s more coming.