Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse.
Stranger Things is a 2016 supernatural horror sci-fi television series by Netflix. It was created by the Duffer Brothers and stars Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, David Harbour, Sadie Sink, and Matthew Modine. The show followers the various residents of Hawkins, who must fight the supernatural threats that emerge from an unknown world called “The Upside Down” which is teeming with terrifying creatures who seep over into our world, and an insidious Government lab that hides its own secrets.
UNDER THE LENS: Runtime & Return to Horror
Runtime: The major change to Stranger Things this season was an extra packed runtime for each episode, every episode was at least 75 minutes, with a few clocking in at over 90 minutes. While some took issue with this, I found it allowed the show time to breathe, over the series of four seasons we have seen the cast grow larger and larger. With many fan favorites stepping out from the shadows so to speak, having movie-length runtimes has allowed those characters to grow and come into their own, would Max’s standout episode “Goodbye Billy” have been as powerful crammed into a 42min runtime? I think not. This padded-out runtime has allowed Hawkins and Stranger Things cast to really develop into fully rounded individuals. It also allowed us to fully follow the separate journeys of our heroes and get full stories for each of them, nothing ever felt rushed or cut off.
Return to Horror: Stranger Things has always been a horror TV program, seasons 1 and 2 fully embraced many horror tropes to great effect, however in S3 the show took a campier tone, with a lot more humor and wacky body horror that felt out of place with the previous seasons. In S4 the shows darker tone of S1 and S2 is back in full swing. The season is not afraid to show full-on body horror as we see the villain viciously snapping people’s bodies until they are a pretzel, haunted house set pieces, and existential dred as we see kids fearing their own gruesome demise.
I for one appreciated the show delving back into horror, as it upped the stakes and showed that our heroes were in real mortal peril, from a villain who could snatch them out of their own minds.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Max’s action sequence set to Kate Bush’s “Running up that hill” is outstanding
- The Vecna twist was well done and managed to take an obvious reveal and turn it on its head
- Season 4’s VFX is on point and looks amazing for a TV show, almost movie quality at times
QUOTABLE QUOTE
- Hopper: Everyone I love, I hurt. See, I was wrong this whole time. I wasn’t cursed. I am the curse.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
- Have you ever had a loved one move far away? How did you handle the separation?
CONCLUSION
Overall Stranger Things S4 Part 1 is a dark and sometimes twisted horror adventure, it raises the stakes higher than ever before, and places our heroes and villains into the darkest story we have seen yet. By splitting the characters up and giving them their own adventures to go on we get to see them grow and figure out who they are without their companions. For those who had issues with the campier tone of the last season, season 4 will be a welcome change of pace, however, those with younger family members should be aware that this season is a much more violent and dark story than previously told.
So jump into the world of Hawkins as the final fight for the fate of the world begins!
