Alex B

I cannot adequately express how deeply disappointed and upset I am by the horrible turn the Duffer Brothers and Netflix have taken Stranger Things. In my opinion, the approval ratings only continue to soar because of a) the vast population of horror-lovers who hopped on the Stranger Things bandwagon and b) because people are just excited that Season 4 is FINALLY out; but I know MANY other fans who don’t like thrillers but gave Stranger Things a chance and loved it, at least at first. Seasons 1 and 2 are more so thrillers than ‘horror’—we love the creative storyline, the mystery-solving, the cinematography, the character development, the 80's vibes, all the iconic aspects of Stranger Things. Season 3 pushed the envelope with more gore and horror than the preceding seasons, and Season 4 is tenfold worse, AND has way more drug use. The images, sounds, demolition of the human body, satanic-like voices and hallucinations; it’s strikingly dark, gory, demented, pure evil, and utterly disgusting… It’s WAY different and these choices don’t even make sense. Those of us who despise gore and horror are very angry and upset with the Duffer Brothers and Netflix for leading us on with a very intriguing story with mild, tolerable horror—thrill, really—in the initial seasons to now a full-blown gory "horror" show that leaves me feeling sick to my stomach and absolutely repulsed that so many people can watch such gruesome images and enjoy it. Indeed, it seems the makers are catering to an entirely different crowd, in an effort to increase popularity and bring home more cash (like they need it); meanwhile, the rest of us feel betrayed and confused. Season 4 is a total botch in my opinion. There are more and more holes in the plot, and it’s all related with the elements of horror that seem very forced. Many of their choices are uncalled for, don’t make sense, and are totally uncharacteristic of the show. They could have geared it toward better explaining how the supposed experimenting with psychedelic drugs mentioned in Season 2 produced telepathic babies and provide some more of the backstory there with El/Jane’s mom, how the Russians still somehow have access to the Upside Down and have a demogorgon, etc. There is some explanation in the 7th episode, but all the others in season 4 are not very important to the overall plot. More over, it’s inappropriate to target “Mormons” by misrepresenting a large religion. It’s never cool to pick on people for their religious beliefs, but the media regularly pokes fun at LDS members and always get away with it. Just another way that season 4 stoops to a lower level. If the Duffer Brothers and Netflix wanted to make a super gory, nasty horror show that’s totally trying to be trendy and appeal to the worldly members of society, then MAKE A NEW SHOW. Don’t ruin our beloved Stranger Things! I wish that Season 4 would be redacted and altered so as to not include the entirely unnecessary disturbing content. I know this isn’t gonna happen, so at the very least, I hope some similar viewers will save themselves the heartache and spare their minds from having those horrible scenes forever etched in their memories by just not watching Season 4. Unequivocally, it should be rated TV-MA for how repulsive and gory it is. Maybe some YouTuber or VidAngel will make an edited version so we don’t have to wade through the muck to get the good scraps of the story. One can hope. Please don’t let us down with Season 5!