Hysteria!

Just like everything with the name Flannigan attached to it this was a few hours of good entertainment, a nice mystery at the core that got lifted just a little bit too early, high technical marks, and the kind of writing that does not waste my time, but also doesn't miss a beat. Not stellar, not genius, not a masterpiece, but even more important: Not trying to be any of that and not pretending to be more than that.

By just being solid this was one of my best TV experiences in 2024. Or, a little more poetic: In an endless stream of washed out franchises with refurbished content this was a gem washing ashore at the very end of the year and restored my faith in the medium, at least a little bit.

The cast was a pure delight, which I really did not expect from a long list of names that I had either never heard of or had not heard from in a long time. If you have a few hours to spare and like horror mysteries with an 80s twist I highly recommend this.

The good old Eighties, when some Christian conservatives attempted to stop kids from listening to wild heavy music supposedly associated with Satan and the likes. This series has playful fun with this basis, via a suburban town of Happy Hollow, where the residents and their teenagers get caught up in some strange going-ons, led by a high school heavy metal band and its wild antics - with the demonic Satan along for the ride.

Bruce Campbell as the chief of police is a bonus and an absolute hoot, as is Julie Bowen, a concerned mother who is flung around by an entity, and even gets to have visions of the evil creature with the horns. Emjay Anthony Is perfect as the son, Dylan, going to great lengths to get that girl, even if it means starting your own satanic cult!

There is plenty going on in this series; school bullying, doing anything to get attention, peer pressure, craving acceptance, and all things associated with teenage angst. Most of all it's about the hysteria parents create to deal with the situation.

As a super fan of heavy metal and fan of horror flicks and the supernatural this one was a no brainer for me. I think I enjoyed the aesthetic and soundtrack a bit more than the story it was trying to tell though and that's fine. The soundtrack alone gets a 9.5. The cast was solid enough to keep me entertained throughout for the most part. Bruce Campbell is always a welcomed delight in supernatural stuff like this and even though he was more of a background character in this he was still pretty cool as usual. It has potential in the writing and if it gets a season 2 I hope they expand a bit more on just the typical exorcising demons motif that has kinda been there, done that time and time again. It did start off strong though with the whole era of the late 80s in middle America still fearing heavy metal music and thinking everyone who listens to it and/or is in a metal band automatically is associated with giving Satan a handy or some crap. The way the season ended softly sets up a season two but it felt kind of forced in a sense. It could have ended a little better and honestly this could very well have been a one and done limited series and I think it would have fared just fine if not better than the hopes of season after season. Don't get me wrong though would I want to see more classic heavy metal tracks be well timely executed given the situations going on within each episode? Hell yeah. But I also realize that not everything is meant to go on for too long without running out of steam or losing it's luster. I don't want that to happen with this show. I hope they neatly wrap up it's story in 3 seasons or less. Less is more sometimes folks and I feel that concept would be well applied with this show as you leave them wanting more in a sense.

I stumbled upon this show by accident while browsing through a catalog of new releases and decided to start the first episode purely based on the poster. I thought, "Maybe it'll be something like Stranger Things or the Fear Street trilogy," but it turned out to be completely different. It's been quite some time since I've felt this kind of excitement-similar to when I watched The Haunting of Hill House.

This show isn't overly serious, but it's not a comedy either. I really enjoyed it overall, though I felt the ending was a bit lacking. I was expecting something different, and it ended up feeling a little cliché. That said, I still recommend giving it a watch!

I'm only on episode 3 but I have to take a second to say how Bruce Campbell is absolutely killing it in this show. I'm used to him being kind of over the top acting (not because he over acts, but because that's what the role called for) like Evil Dead but in this he really really really is doing a great job of like playing a sheriff. It's coming off like very genuine the way he's acting his. You know his hand movements and not just the words that he's saying but all of it just seems very very genuine. At this point I'm just trying to get to my 200 word mark because I'm not done watching the show.