Picking up nine months after the events of Season 3 , our young heroes take on their two biggest threats to date - terrifying villain Vecna and late adolescence.
Creators Matt and Ross Duffer continue to take us on a dark path amid a pounding eighties soundtrack and do a great job maintaining our interest in characters we could easily have been getting sick of by now.
It’s clear A Nightmare on Elm Street was a huge inspiration for this fourth season; there are nightmarish visions complete with a nursery rhyme-esque score, claw and tentacle-spouting antagonists, one of the cast newbies is called Fred and Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund, pops up in an important, edgy cameo.
Vecna is the teenagers’ most disturbing and deadly opponent thus far and his ability to communicate with them, and toy with their minds, makes him a well-rounded tormentor.
The special effects are the best they’ve ever been and the Duffer brothers throw in some strong action sequences, including a chilling opening flashback involving Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven and a one-take house shoot-out.
And Vecna’s bone twisting and breaking methods of dispatching his prey are the gruesomest kills in the show’s history.
Stranger Things’ biggest issue is its young cast’s growth spurt. Finn Wolfhard ( Mike ), Caleb McLaughlin ( Lucas ) and Sadie Sink ( Max ) in particular look so much older than they did in the previous season.
But they all convince as troubled teens going through growing pains, with bullies, cliques and popularity contests annoying them as much as a supernatural demon.
Sink and Bobby Brown in particular are wonderful, the former dealing with her step-brother’s death and the latter with the loss of her super powers and move to a new State.
There’s a surprising, and sweet, development for Noah Schnapp’s Will and Russian-set capers keep Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) busy, while adding a different aesthetic to the show.
An achingly teasing climax perfectly sets up Volume 2 , which drops on July 1, as Stranger Things continues to wow, scare and sadden in equal measures.
● Pop me an email at ian.bunting@reachplc.com with your movie or TV show recommendations.
● Strangers Things Season Four: Volume 1 is streaming on Netflix now.
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