Saying that the 2016’s Drama/Fantasy/Horror Netflix Series ‘Stranger Things’ was inspired by 1984’s ‘The Terminator’ alone would be an understatement. As thrilling, enticing and seemingly “original” these episodes claim to be to numerous viewers worldwide it sadly is a ‘cop-out’ of many many Horror films from the 80’s and 90’s; think ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘ET’, ‘Alien’ or any of Stephen King’s bestselling novels or movies. My question would be to ask what is Stephen King’s point-of-view on the whole series!
Setting those thoughts aside, being that this new generation hasn’t been exposed to our classics from the past, and thanks to the excellent 2011 film ‘Drive’ starring Canadian Ryan Gosling, that revived and started ‘Retro New Wave 80’s music’ I can then say that ‘Stranger Things’ delivered as did it’s predecessors also have!
Garnering 36 nominations, including 2 Golden Globe nominees and another 4 wins it’s easy to see that the audience loved and would love our classic recipe for adventure, mystery and wild titilation! Created or I would rather say ‘re-created’ by American twin-brothers Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, they were able to succeed in attracting gargantuan talent Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands) and David Harbour, Natalia Dyer and some of Hollywood’s top young actors including Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp as well as stand-out actor British Charlie Heaton to bring the story to life!
The world is suffering from a sense of nostalgia and all things 80’s or anything resembling the wholesome world that made more sense is comforting to escape to. Mixing those emotions with misgiving terror and enough perplexity and cliffhangers, it brews in flying colours a massive success!
