There are worse directors to imitate than Steven Spielberg. He’s made some of the most crowd-pleasing movies of all-time, including Jurassic Park, Jaws, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, not to mention his “prestige” work on Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. His style — awestruck faces, children in danger, so many flashlights, etc. — has been often imitated (looking at you, Super 8) but rarely duplicated. The latest project to try to tap into that Spielberg magic is Stranger Things, and based on the thrilling new trailer, it looks like it’s going to stick with you far longer than The BFG will.
Netflix’s supernatural drama is about a young boy, Will, who vanishes. While his friends, family, and Winona Ryder (I’m ready for the Ryderissance) try to find him, they’re “drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl.” Stranger Things looks like a mashup of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goonies, and Poltergeist, all of which Spielberg was involved with.
Even the nostalgic poster looks like Short Round should be on it.
Between Midnight Special and, hopefully, Stranger Things, it’s been a banner year for Spielberg’s spiritual successors. All eight episodes of Matt and Ross Duffer’s Stranger Things will be released on Netflix on July 15.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
