Modern Family star Julie Bowen unrecognisable in new horror series Hysteria

A beloved TV star known for her role in an award-winning series is back on the small screen like we’ve never seen here before.

Actress Julie Bowen is back on the small screen like we’ve never seen here before.

Known for playing beloved TV mum Claire Dunphy on Modern Family, Bowen looks unrecognisable in the official trailer for the upcoming Peacock pop-horror series, Hysteria!, which premieres on October 18 on BINGE.

Gone is the cherry yet often chaotic persona we grew accustomed to seeing on the award-winning comedy, instead Bowen is coiffured and composed in character as Linda Campbell.

Hysteria! stars Bruce Campbell and Julie Bowen. Picture: Peacock

In the series, Bowen plays a mother in a sleepy town where a high school star quarterback named Ryan mysteriously goes missing during the “Satanic Panic” of the late 1980s. Adding to the mystery, a pentagram is painted on the teen’s garage.

“For tonight’s top story, we go to Happy Hollow where police are searching for clues as to the whereabouts of high school student Ryan Hudson,” a newsreader says in the trailer.

“The cryptic message left behind has people asking, ‘Do you believe in the devil?’”

Stream Hysteria! from October 18 on BINGE, available on Hubbl.

Bowen plays a mum who thinks her son is possessed. Picture: Peacock

The school’s dismissal heavy metal band of outcasts, which includes Linda’s son Dylan (played by Emjay Anthony), realise they can capitalise on the town’s sudden interest in the occult following Ryan’s disappearance by rebranding as a Satanic metal band.

However, their makeover as Satanists soon triggers a series of murders, kidnappings and supernatural activity, and sparks a witch hunt which leads back to the band.

Bowen is unrecognisable in this scene. Picture: Peacock

Evil forces mess with Linda’s head in the thriller. Picture: Peacock

Likewise, even Linda starts to question if her son is involved in something sinister.

“What if Dylan fell into something and we just didn’t notice? I think there is something evil here,” Linda says in the trailer as she becomes the victim of something supernatural and is dragged up the stairs by the unseen force.

Bowen played the beloved mum on Modern Family, seen here with co-stars Nolan Gould, Ariel Winter, Ty Burrell and Sarah Hyland.

The thriller also stars Pitch Perfect actress Anna Camp as resident pot-stirrer Tracy and iconic horror movie actor Bruce Campbell, who plays Chief Dandridge – a cop hellbent on solving the case.

“Hysteria! is about both sides of that generational fear,” executive producers Matthew Scott Kane and David A. Goodman teased in a statement last month.

“It’s about the thrills of being young, rebellious in spirit and aspirational at heart – and the horrors of growing up and realising that the world you thought you knew has shifted beneath your feet. That fear haunts every generation.”

Hysteria premieres Friday, October 18 on BINGE, available on Hubbl, and Saturday, October 19 at 7pm on FOX8 and available On Demand

Originally published as Modern Family star Julie Bowen unrecognisable in new horror series Hysteria