Binge watch ‘Stranger Things’ in one week

Over the summer, Netflix released a hit new series that captured the interest of many. “Stranger Things” is a Netflix original mystery-thriller, set in a small Indiana town in the early 1980s. It centers around a young boy’s disappearance and the efforts of his mother and his friends to find him while uncovering several mysterious and supernatural occurrences.

Many viewers recognized the style of the show as a tribute to ’80s pop culture and the work of filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg.

After premiering in July, the show’s popularity seemingly went viral after the series collected a lot of positive reviews from critics, as well as fans. The widely recognized film and television review website Rotten Tomatoes scored the show at a very impressive 95 percent, summarizing it as exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary. The show’s hype only grew when fans began to rave about the show online, tweeting and posting about how great the show was and that everyone should be watching it.

The show stars award-winning actress Winona Ryder. She won praise for her performance as a single mother who has lost her son, in a frantic, relentless effort to find him. She also proved to be a  brilliant casting decision in regards to the 1980s setting, since she was so widely known for her roles in ’80s films such as “Beetlejuice” and “Heathers.”

The child actors and actresses, specifically Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, and Millie Bobby Brown, have become a sensation after the show’s surge in popularity. As a viewer, I found myself making lots of comparisons to movies such as “The Goonies” and
“E.T.” while watching the kids on screen, and it may have been the youthful camaraderie between them that gives viewers a sense of relatability. Since they range from 12 to 14 years old, their acting was seemingly unfiltered due to their youth, and they give noticeably genuine performances.

The young talent was so beloved this summer the young cast members were invited to this year’s Emmy Awards, giving interviews on the red carpet and riding their bikes on the floor during one of host Jimmy Kimmel’s skits, handing out sack lunches to all the celebrities in the audience.

The fresh child stars have been receiving attention from all sorts of big names. Daniel Radcliffe spoke on a BBC radio interview about how big of a fan of theirs he is, saying he wasn’t near as good when he was their age doing the early “Harry Potter” movies. They also were invited to “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and visited Louis Vuitton’s headquarters in Paris to chat with the house director there about a possible fashion project.

“Stranger Things” was watched by nearly 14 million users, making it Netflix’s third-most-watched season series among its original content, all attained within the first 35 days of its release. As with many popular Netflix series, and since it only spanned eight episodes, a lot of people binge-watched the whole first season in one sitting, judging by social media reaction.

Fans of the series will be happy to know the series was renewed for a second season, containing nine episodes, slated for release sometime in 2017.

Advocate Staff