It's 1989. Dylan, Jordy and Spud are the outsiders who nobody notices and have a heavy metal band that nobody cares about. When the star football player dies in an apparent Satanic cult ritual, Dylan is inspired by cheerleader Judith to exploit the situation to get the band some notoriety.
It's impossible not to compare this show to Stranger Things, since there are similar characters, and it treads the same ground as that show's fourth season subplot. But speaking as someone who was ACTUALLY falsely branded a Satanist (yes, Satanic Panic was very much a thing), I feel like Hysteria did a much better job with that story. The show has a supernatural slant, but it's more grounded in reality than Stranger Things ever was. And as someone else mentioned, the fashions and music run the gamut of the '80s (even stretching back to the '70s), but that's also an issue with the other show -- it's difficult to replicate an exact time, so I can overlook it.
A cast can make or break a show, and they clearly had a great casting director. As Dylan and Judith, Emjay Anthony and Jessica Treska each exude 80s charisma. As Jordy, Chiara Aurelia feels like an authentic goth girl. Bruce Campbell perfectly cast as the town's sheriff, who provides most of the funniest moments. Julie Bowen is great as Dylan's mother, who has the acting chops to sell it when her story descends into cliché. And I have to mention Nolan North as Dylan's father, a character that's wonderfully written and performed (it's weirdly refreshing to see a dad who's not a clueless buffoon). Sort of typically, they underwrote the black Spud character, but Kezii Curtis still made him loveable. However, the second black lead, a bully named Cliff, was imbued with tremendous depth by Elijah Richardson.
There are a couple things that keep Hysteria from being as great as the first season of Stranger Things, but it's definitely better than some of the subsequent seasons. The story's wrapped up nicely with a few teases for another round.
