SPOILER WARNING: THERE ARE MULTIPLE SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 IN THIS ARTICLE
Netflix original series Stranger Things has captured the hearts and imaginations of the Netflix generation. A deeply nostalgic breath of fresh air amidst re-runs, reality television shows, endless talent contests and period dramas, the brainchild of Matt and Ross Duffer bears all the hallmarks of a future cult classic.
Stranger Things is set in small-town America during the ’80s and for those who spent time immersed in ’80s and early ’90s horror, sci-fi and coming of age stories, the echoes of the past will clearly resonate. The group of nearly-teenaged misfits could be the boys of Stand By Me, the Losers Club of Stephen King’s It or the comic book-obsessed vampire hunters of Lost Boys. The school is populated by a teen-genre cast of clichés that wouldn’t look out of place in Pump up the Volume or Heathers. The Duffer brothers have further ramped up the nostalgia factor by casting Winona Ryder in a lead role. Ryder is an inspired choice and her very presence evokes fond memories of late ’80s and early ’90s cinema - the “strange and unusual” goth Lydia Deetz of Burton’s Beetlejuice, the beautifully weird romance of Edward Scissorhands and the mawkish blood-lust of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Netflix original series Stranger Things has captured the hearts and imaginations of the Netflix generation. A deeply nostalgic breath of fresh air amidst re-runs, reality television shows, endless talent contests and period dramas, the brainchild of Matt and Ross Duffer bears all the hallmarks of a future cult classic.
Stranger Things is set in small-town America during the ’80s and for those who spent time immersed in ’80s and early ’90s horror, sci-fi and coming of age stories, the echoes of the past will clearly resonate. The group of nearly-teenaged misfits could be the boys of Stand By Me, the Losers Club of Stephen King’s It or the comic book-obsessed vampire hunters of Lost Boys. The school is populated by a teen-genre cast of clichés that wouldn’t look out of place in Pump up the Volume or Heathers. The Duffer brothers have further ramped up the nostalgia factor by casting Winona Ryder in a lead role. Ryder is an inspired choice and her very presence evokes fond memories of late ’80s and early ’90s cinema - the “strange and unusual” goth Lydia Deetz of Burton’s Beetlejuice, the beautifully weird romance of Edward Scissorhands and the mawkish blood-lust of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.