“It’s just the matter of how many days you want to wake up staring at a cellar floor covered in blood. The answer is, not many more for me,” says Campbell as he explains why he’s more hesitant to take on more horror roles … before teasing the next Evil Dead movie.
Bruce Campbell is back fighting the forces of darkness in Peacock’s new series Hysteria, but the role is a far cry from his work as the chainsaw-wielding Ash Williams in the zany Evil Dead films and TV show.
On the new show, Campbell plays Chief Dandridge, the head of police in the sleepy town of Happy Hollow. As bodies start to pile up in the thriller, the town gets caught up in the “Satanic Panic” scare of the 1980s, all while Dandridge tries to keep a cool head.
It’s definitely a more reserved role for Campbell, who explained to TooFab why he was looking to show another side of him.
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“Yeah, he is an adult, I’m an adult now. My sensibilities change just like anybody else’s,” he explained. “I read the guy as a perfectly rational character who’s trying to figure out if all of this is real or not real. I relate to it because I don’t believe any of this crap.”
Despite having such a strong resume in horror thanks to the Evil Dead franchise and cult classics like Bubba Ho-Tep and Maniac Cop, Campbell recently told Den of Geek he’s hesitant to read for other genre projects these days. Elaborating on that with TooFab, the actor, 66, explained why he’s more cautious when it comes to dipping his toes back into the genre that helped make him a household name.
“It’s just the matter of how many days you want to wake up staring at a cellar floor covered in blood. The answer is, not many more for me,” he explained.
“It’s not like I’m avoiding horror, I avoid anything that is crappy these days. I’ve done so much crappy stuff; I know what’s crappy. I know what’s going to lead to crappiness. I can smell it a mile away,” he continued, praising the team behind Hysteria and saying he was thrilled to be working with Universal again, the studio behind Burn Notice, Hercules and Xena. “I still have fond memories of those times, so, all of that adds up to me being interested,” he added.
“And if the words aren’t on the page, I now know don’t go after it. I’ve turned things down because I say to my agent, ‘I don’t know what they want me to do here,'” he continued. “It’s like anybody can say any of these lines as a dialogue on this page. Whereas each character should be distinct. You shouldn’t be able to swap a single line of dialogue with any other character. And writers do this every day. They go, ‘Ah, take half of this and give it to Joe, and we’ll have Joe say Karen’s lines.’ So that’s sloppy writing and I’m attracted by good writing.”
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Campbell’s career in horror is actually kind of surprising considering his backstory, as the actor grew up pretty religious. As someone who was in their 20s in the ’80s, he doesn’t necessarily remember a “Satanic Panic” hitting his hometown, but was aware of others challenging his beliefs.
“I’m not sure we had that phrase back then. I was more of a practicing religious guy at that time. So, I was certainly concerned about anything that might challenge all the stuff you read,” he shared with TooFab. “When you’re a kid, you go to Sunday school, you learn that this happens, this happens, and this happens. Then you hear there is a group that goes, ‘No, we like this over here. We think that this is just as real as this over here. We like this better.’ It’s just upsetting. It’s upsetting to anybody who really believes in something with all of their heart.”
He said placing Hysteria in a small town like Happy Hollow was a smart decision, comparing it to where he grew up in Michigan.
“I know these small towns. My folks had a place outside of Gladwin, Michigan, right in the middle of the state. Nothing happens in those towns,” he explained. “There’s no criminal activity whatsoever; shotgun accidents, hunting accidents, that’s it. So, it’s the right premise. I thought the writers, Mathew Kane and his group, did a very good job.”
Bruce Campbell with Sébastien Vanicek (upcoming director for the new “Evil Dead” film) at Paramount Studios. pic.twitter.com/29Hpz3Lexx
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As for what’s next for Campbell, there are more Evil Dead movies on the horizon — though it’s unclear at this point how involved he’ll be with them. The actor did, however, share a tease when asked what we should read into a recent photo of him with the director of the next film, Sébastien Vanicek, at Paramount Studios.
“Whatever you want!” he told TooFab. “There’s more coming because the last Evil Dead from Lee Cronin [Evil Dead Rise] made the most out of any Evil Dead movie of all of them.”
“We’d be silly not to let the folks have what they want. More carnage and mayhem,” he added. “We’ll beat those directors up; don’t you worry about it.”
Check out the full interview above to see more about his Hysteria role and what Campbell has planned for Halloween 2024.
See Bowen in action in Hysteria when it drops in full Friday, October 18 on Peacock. The show will also air Fridays on USA and SYFY.
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