The continuance of terrors and cultural touchstones of 1984 are in full effect with the fantastic elongated preview of Netflix original, Stranger Things.
And Will Byers, who was the snatched kid from last season, is now experiencing residual visions and seems to be the center of this season’s dramatic build up of otherworldly terrors coming for all of Hawkins, Indiana.
The series and the clip particularly utilize the soundtrack from the year’s epic hit album Thriller by Michael Jackson, replete with the late great Vincent Price’s reading of English songwriter, record producer and musician Rod Temperton’s rap lyrics.
The wonderfully chilling and portentous lines are brought home by Price’s voice: “Darkness falls across the land. The midnite hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood. To terrorize y’all’s neighbourhood. And whosoever shall be found. Without the soul for getting down. Must stand and face the hounds of hell. And rot inside a corpse’s shell.”
Sadly, the terrors and the upside-down world horror show does not seem to have ended for Will Byers, whose torment continues in Stranger Things season two trailer which was released at Comic-Con 2017 in San Diego, California.
The clip shows the year is 1984. It is the era of the Reagan Bush ’84 presidential ticket, and add to that Vincent Price’s voiceover from Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the nascent gamer classic Dragon’s Lair being played by the core cast, and you get an immersive nostalgic dip back in time laced with veracity.
Producers and writers seemed to have gotten everything just right as Stranger Things looks to be more promising than most films being churned out by major studios. Childhood innocence is all but lost as Will, Mike and Lucas and Dustin are forced to deal with adult level stresses, foisted into pure survival mode.
We return to Indiana as we already know how season one ended, seeing that Byers was somehow changed from his experience. Despite the clip opening with the normalcy of his gaming routine, it is evident the horrors of the Demogorgon and the secrets of Hawkins Lab are on Will’s heels, soon to reveal themselves to the rest of his family and peers.
This season is guaranteed to be even more sinister as a massive evil entity still threatens all.
Stranger Things 2 stars Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Chief Jim Hopper, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Dacre Montgomery as Billy, Sadie Sink as Max, Sean Astin as Bob Newby, and Paul Reiser as Dr. Owens.
Even the late David Bowie warned us about 1984:
“Someday they won’t let you, now you must agree
The times they are a-telling, and the changing isn’t free
You’ve read it in the tea leaves, the tracks are on TV
Beware the savage jaw
Of 1984”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgS2L7WPIO4&feature=youtu.be
All nine episodes of Stranger Things 2 debut globally on Netflix October 27th 2017.