Over the past week you are likely to have seen friends on social media raving on about this new Netflix series Stranger Things. In the name of research, we watched the whole thing so now Goos3D can bring you the low down and whether or not it’s worth the watch.
You get the feeling throughout the series that you’ve been thrown back into the eighties. There are no cheap scares in this series with the writers instead opting for great characters that develop throughout. You’ll root for some, while some you want to just smack in the face, but none of them want to make you want to turn it off.
What’s Stranger Things about?
Being a fan of Stephen King myself, you can really feel that his writing may have inspired the creators in the making of this. You know that the unfolding events wouldn’t happen in real life – but you don’t care. Stranger Things isn’t supposed to depict a realistic serial killer or a mysterious “who dunnit” adventure leaving you disappointed at the end as it turned out to be ET: actually, you nearly expect ET to turn up. Stranger Things is supposed to be fun, giving you break from real world drama, present in most series these days. If a UFO lands, you don’t think, ‘that’s ridiculous’, you think, ‘uh oh, the gremlins have arrived. Shit’s going down.’ Like I said, we’re brought back to the old 80’s horror movie classics, but they execute it perfectly so that you don’t think it’s stupid and switch back to Fargo.
So without giving too much away, Stranger Things follows a town that has been shaken by the disappearance of a young boy named Will. Throughout the series we see strange science experiments, supernatural events, and meet a young girl who makes us ask ‘what the flip is going on’ at least once per episode.
We see the first ‘what the fudge’ moment before the 80’s style retro opening credits, taken straight from a page out of X-Files. Yep, the very start of the first episode and we love it. It’s the kind of scene that’s leave you a bit confused, but keeps you interested enough to keep watching, the way any good film or series should start – with a hook. The series will continue to leave you asking ‘how did that happen’ rather then ‘what happens next’. You demand answers, and Stranger Things delivers.
The characters
We meet our main characters, a couple of young lads that make you feel like your watching a remake of King’s IT. You can’t help but love one particular character, Dustin, because of his slightly over the top lisp. You’ll probably think will be annoying throughout the series but you really start to enjoy as you start to grow fonder of him and his friends. They decide to take the law into their own hands and try find Will.
Along the way, they meet ‘Eleven’, played by Millie brown, who gives a masterclass performance of a traumatised girl who says very little in the series but still manages to peak our curiosity. Immediately after showing up out of no where, we know this girl has seen things by the look in her eyes. We know this girl has answers and we just want to shake her and ask ‘what is going on?’ But her past has left her scarred and she doesn’t understand how a normal girl her age should act, never mind how to interact with society. Even stranger, Eleven can do things. Things that normal people can’t do. We’re left wondering where is she from and why she is here?
And then we meet Will’s mother, played by Winona Ryder (remember her?) who is about to enter a psychological and supernatural roller coaster in order to find her son. She begins receiving phone calls and hearing Will’s voice, but the authorities think it must be in the distraught mothers head. Lights start flickering around the house. She tries to communicate with the lights to try and contact Will, or something that knows of Will’s whereabouts.
During the series, another girl, older, in her late teens is captured. A very vague picture of her captor is taken by Will’s older brother. With abnormally long arms and and legs (Slenderman-esque), we instantly know that the captor isn’t human but also not an animal. Could it be an alien? A demon of some sort? Or are we left disappointed to find out it’s just a guy dressed up in a disguise? As I said earlier, this isn’t that kind of series.
The verdict
All that on top of walls warping into strange monstrous shapes, portals leading to a strange unknown territory, strange science and a secret government plot – this series is definitely lives up to its name. If you’re planning a bank holiday hangover, stock up on goodies and have a good binge. Stranger Things is very different to any other series on Netflix at the moment. After my 8 hour binge, I was annoyed at myself for not savouring it a bit more and watching it over a couple of days. It’s a fun watch, immediately after I wanted to watch it again because I enjoyed the characters and story so much. Well worth the watch. And good news, it’s already gotten the go ahead for Season 2, so prepare yourself for the signs of Netflix addiction.