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Stranger Things
Stranger Things
Tv series
Drama, Horror, Mystery
12
Netflix Original series
Creators: Matt Duffer, Ross duffer
Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard
Netflix, Netflix oh Netflix. You are taking the entertainment industry by storm. Not only have Netflix given life to some of the ‘B’ listers in the Marvel world but they have created a world without adverts. A place, where you can click next episode for £6.99 a month if you live in the UK and binge on some of your favourite TV shows. They have also produced some down right shocking stuff but I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder as to what is actually great and what is not. Daredevil and Jessica Jones have raised the bar for what is possible in TV. I would suggest that they have only been surpassed by shows like Game of Thrones and Fear the Walking Dead. Those two shows are perfectly written and acted. I’m sure the budget doesn’t hurt either.
Netflix took a chance and produced gold. Now they have done it again. When I mention the names Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer what does that conjure up in your mind. Probably nothing. I can normally put a name with a face of a film or tv series. That is not the case with Mr and Mr Duffer. They have both directed and produced a couple of shorts and written a few episodes of Wayward Pines but largely they were unknowns in the eyes of who’s who in the zoo of Hollywood. Probably not the case anymore.
Stranger Things has already been green lit for a second series.
Within the first five minutes of the first episode of Stranger Things the story manages to make me care about the Winona Ryder character Joyce Byers and what is happening to her family. A feat that currently many Hollywood Blockbuster films are having great trouble with. Enhanced by a phenomenal synth like 80’s soundtrack. Stranger Things will grip by the throat with all the feelings it can muster from you. Every once in awhile you will look up from the screen annoyed at the world for taking you out this magical land or perhaps it’s simply the end credits. You will quickly put the next episode on. A word of warning. Plan a day. You will not be able to put this down, like a great book that makes you blurry eyed and late for work the next day. The world created here is Pandora’s box. Once opened you will not be able to unsee the majesty that is Stranger Things. Only two errors could I find in this tv series. One, is that it has eight episodes and will leave you wanting more like a junkie, you will be hooked. Two, they have set the bar too high. When you leave the world they have created it makes pretty much all other series’ dull in comparison.
Stranger Things harks back to films like ‘Stand by me’ and ‘IT’. They have managed to find the perfect combination of horror, fantasy and science fiction. In places this series is genuinely scary. It has flavours of Poltergeist and John Carpenter's, ‘Thing’. It’s set in 1983 Indiana. It manages to emulate the best bits of these films without copying but often nodding to the greats with respect. In one of the episodes there is a Thing poster on a wall. A child with gifts, without giving too much away is dressed up as Elliot from E.T. Needless to say they hit it spot on. So there is horror and fantasy but none of this would work if the actors and writing was not on an even playing field with the genre’s so perfectly integrated. Four nerdy best friends who play dungeons and dragons in their mom's basements and get picked on by the local school bullies. A drunk cop trying to forget about his past. A single mom trying to raise two boys by herself in a dead end job and then there’s the government funded research lab. Stir the pot with some phenomenal performances by each well defined character and what do you have? Quite frankly, it’s a masterpiece.
There is no over the top gratuitous nudity or sex. Instead things like sex and violence are woven into the fabric of the story. There is violence but it’s there only to further the story.
There have been times as a writer, film critic and film maker that I have walked out of a cinema and wanted to go straight back in and watch it again. The original Matrix was one of these. But never have I wanted to do that with a tv series. Sure Game of Thrones is good but not really for repeat business, not straight away anyway. Stranger Things seems to be an anomaly.
I could put it on right now and watch it from beginning to end again, all glorious eight episodes of it and just like Firefly it will leave you wanting more. In fact I think I’ll do just that…
Stranger Things 5/5
Ruben Lee Shaw
Tv series
Drama, Horror, Mystery
12
Netflix Original series
Creators: Matt Duffer, Ross duffer
Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard
Netflix, Netflix oh Netflix. You are taking the entertainment industry by storm. Not only have Netflix given life to some of the ‘B’ listers in the Marvel world but they have created a world without adverts. A place, where you can click next episode for £6.99 a month if you live in the UK and binge on some of your favourite TV shows. They have also produced some down right shocking stuff but I guess that’s in the eye of the beholder as to what is actually great and what is not. Daredevil and Jessica Jones have raised the bar for what is possible in TV. I would suggest that they have only been surpassed by shows like Game of Thrones and Fear the Walking Dead. Those two shows are perfectly written and acted. I’m sure the budget doesn’t hurt either.
Netflix took a chance and produced gold. Now they have done it again. When I mention the names Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer what does that conjure up in your mind. Probably nothing. I can normally put a name with a face of a film or tv series. That is not the case with Mr and Mr Duffer. They have both directed and produced a couple of shorts and written a few episodes of Wayward Pines but largely they were unknowns in the eyes of who’s who in the zoo of Hollywood. Probably not the case anymore.
Stranger Things has already been green lit for a second series.
Within the first five minutes of the first episode of Stranger Things the story manages to make me care about the Winona Ryder character Joyce Byers and what is happening to her family. A feat that currently many Hollywood Blockbuster films are having great trouble with. Enhanced by a phenomenal synth like 80’s soundtrack. Stranger Things will grip by the throat with all the feelings it can muster from you. Every once in awhile you will look up from the screen annoyed at the world for taking you out this magical land or perhaps it’s simply the end credits. You will quickly put the next episode on. A word of warning. Plan a day. You will not be able to put this down, like a great book that makes you blurry eyed and late for work the next day. The world created here is Pandora’s box. Once opened you will not be able to unsee the majesty that is Stranger Things. Only two errors could I find in this tv series. One, is that it has eight episodes and will leave you wanting more like a junkie, you will be hooked. Two, they have set the bar too high. When you leave the world they have created it makes pretty much all other series’ dull in comparison.
Stranger Things harks back to films like ‘Stand by me’ and ‘IT’. They have managed to find the perfect combination of horror, fantasy and science fiction. In places this series is genuinely scary. It has flavours of Poltergeist and John Carpenter's, ‘Thing’. It’s set in 1983 Indiana. It manages to emulate the best bits of these films without copying but often nodding to the greats with respect. In one of the episodes there is a Thing poster on a wall. A child with gifts, without giving too much away is dressed up as Elliot from E.T. Needless to say they hit it spot on. So there is horror and fantasy but none of this would work if the actors and writing was not on an even playing field with the genre’s so perfectly integrated. Four nerdy best friends who play dungeons and dragons in their mom's basements and get picked on by the local school bullies. A drunk cop trying to forget about his past. A single mom trying to raise two boys by herself in a dead end job and then there’s the government funded research lab. Stir the pot with some phenomenal performances by each well defined character and what do you have? Quite frankly, it’s a masterpiece.
There is no over the top gratuitous nudity or sex. Instead things like sex and violence are woven into the fabric of the story. There is violence but it’s there only to further the story.
There have been times as a writer, film critic and film maker that I have walked out of a cinema and wanted to go straight back in and watch it again. The original Matrix was one of these. But never have I wanted to do that with a tv series. Sure Game of Thrones is good but not really for repeat business, not straight away anyway. Stranger Things seems to be an anomaly.
I could put it on right now and watch it from beginning to end again, all glorious eight episodes of it and just like Firefly it will leave you wanting more. In fact I think I’ll do just that…
Stranger Things 5/5
Ruben Lee Shaw
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