We need to talk about Stranger Things

FROM the heavy synth soundtrack to the kids bikes to Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, Stranger Things is unapologetically nostalgic.

REVIEW

FROM the heavy synth soundtrack to the lanterns on kids’ bikes to the casting of Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, Stranger Things is unapologetically nostalgic.

Borrowing heavily from the likes of Stephen King, 80s-era Steven Spielberg and classics such as Goonies and Stand By Me, Netflix’s new series is like a trip to your childhood. That is, if your childhood was filled with the kind of terror that burst through the wall from behind your Tom Cruise poster.

Even if you’re not a horror fan, you’ll find yourself oddly addicted to Stranger Things because the central mystery just begs to be solved. It’s not the gory Saw kind of horror, it’s more like Twin Peaks or The X-Files.

There’s no question something supernatural is at work when 12-year-old Will Byers is chased through the forest by an unseen spectre and then disappears with nothing more than a terrifying pulse of electricity.

The fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where the series is set, is as boring as homebrand vanilla ice-cream. Confronted with the prospect of a missing child, former city cop Jim Hopper says the worst thing he’s seen in four years as police chief is a woman being swooped on by an owl that mistook her bouffant hair for a nest.

Tip: Inexplicably glowing shed equals danger.

It’s the kind of place where nothing is supposed to happen. Which is why the underbelly of quaint, seemingly nice places is often the preferred setting for stories that are designed to challenge us and remind us that everything is artifice.

It doesn’t help that the town is home to some secretive government labs overseen by a doctor with some, shall we say, questionable scientific ethics and a shady history.

Set in 1983, it harks back to a time when parents let their young charges wander around at night unsupervised and cops investigate by laboriously poring over microfiche instead of a simple Google search.

Will’s mysterious disappearance coincides with the just as baffling appearance of a young girl with telekinetic and psychic powers. She also happens to have the number 11 tattooed on her arm. Not at all foreboding.

Stranger Things is the first meaty role Ryder has managed to land in many years and it calls back to a time when she reined the silver screen.

She’s highly effective as Will’s working class mum, with the script calling on Ryder to play a woman whose world and grasp on conventional reality has broken down — fuelled by grief and a unshaken belief that her son remains alive.

Like Drew Barrymore is the only one who can do this?

Ryder’s not the only one bringing in a world-class performance on the show — David Harbour is excellent as the town cop trying to unravel the conspiracy. Even the kids are quite good in a Goonies-esque way as they launch their own investigation.

Along with the synth underscore composed by experimental band SURVIVE, the series is peppered with hits from the 1980s, making judicious, thematic use of The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’, which has never had a more chilling effect. You’ll also revel in the evocative use of music from the likes of Jefferson Airplane, Toto, The Bangles, Joy Division and Foreigner.

A limited series with only eight episodes, Stranger Things is the perfect binge over a weekend. If you haven’t caught it since it dropped last Friday, make this weekend the one to do it over.

Don’t just watch it for the nostalgia or the genuine creeps, watch it because it’s compelling storytelling.

Stranger Things is available to stream on Netflix now.

Continue the conversation on Twitter with @wenleima.