Matt Duffer

When you read a blurb about this series, it invariably mentions a love letter to the 80's. This is an absolutely true statement. My collector's packaging has been gorgeously rendered to appear to be an old VHS movie rental. The cast were well chosen to suit the style of the series. Many people liken it to The Goonies and I disagree. I see huge homages to 1980 Stephen King movies most noticeably Stand by Me and Firestarter. You can spot bits of IT, ET, Poltergeist and straight up shout outs show more to Steven Spielberg and Sam Raimi. I was hooked halfway through the 2nd episode and am excited to see what they come up with for season 2. show less

A small town in the 80's vs. Russians and one (1) leftover inter-dimensional monster.

3/4 (Good).

There is a lot that's disappointing about this season, particularly the decision to divide the cast up into small groups (for no good in-story reason). The show is as great as ever when we're with the Scoop Troop, though - almost good enough to make up for the rest of it.

A small town in the 80's gets an inter-dimensional monster.

I think my favorite thing about this show is that, in 8 episodes, it has the amount of story that other shows would take several full seasons to cover.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: B
Dialog: B
Pacing: A
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: B

Enjoyment: A

GPA: 3.2/4