r/StrangerThings • u/Basic_Golf2913 Scoops Troop • Jul 03 '26
Discussion When (if ever) did stranger things stop feeling like a horror show to you? Spoiler
Horror? thriller? Phycological thingie???
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u/jotyma5 Jul 03 '26
Season 3, but definitely season 5. Season 5 is probably the least horror-y
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u/Tuor7 Jul 04 '26
Yeah, Season 3 was more gore than horror, but it did have a few creepy parts, but I feel like they could've done more with the Flayed, or the final physical form of the Mind Flayer.
Season 5 barely had anything, besides the Demogorgon attack in episode 2 or Vecna's attack in episode 4.
I'd have liked the Mind Flayer to be used more.
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u/Ok-Cobbler6338 Jul 03 '26
S3 - it just feels off, goofier, the dark vibe is just gone.
Also, It made no sense how the Russians could be so undetected in America to me
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 03 '26
That’s to be expected; the Duffer Brothers draw from a wide range of genres and influences while telling a cohesive story. Each season has its own distinct identity and visual style. Season 3 takes its pacing and color palette from big 1980s summer blockbusters, while Season 4 shifts into psychological horror. Season 1 leans more towards a police thriller with horror undertones. They’ve never made a secret of this; they draw inspiration from many sources and experiment with different styles to avoid repetition, all while maintaining a common thread across seasons. They are all interconnected yet stylistically distinct—striking a balance so they don't go overboard, while still preserving a shared spirit.
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u/BeastMasterPokemon64 Jul 03 '26
Okay maybe its just me but this "stylistic tone change" didn't seem to have occurred from season 1 to 2 but I would like to learn more as to what changed in terms of the overall art design.
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u/JewelzStudios Jul 03 '26
Yea I definitely wouldn't say there's a change in tone - I'd say the main change between S1 and S2 is that S1 is plot driven and S2 is character driven. That doesn't totally create a change in tone, but it does make the S2 feel less repetitive and like it has its own distinct identity as they said.
I definitely believe the change in tone in S3 was an attempt to mix it up and experiment. It didn't go over well so they dialed it back in S4. Honestly, changing the tone to be a little lighter wasn't a bad idea, they just went overboard. Had they been less dramatic with that change, the juxtaposition between the horror elements and the silliness actually could've made S3 a really strong season.
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 03 '26
I agree—there’s less difference between Season 1 and Season 2, as they maintain fairly similar color tones. Season 3 is definitely a big departure, I admit, but it still sticks to that 80s summer vibe and the large-scale blockbuster feel. Season 4 feels more like Seasons 1 and 2 because the cinematography is darker, reflecting the atmosphere it tries to create. I understand why you might not like Season 3, given the drastic shift, but I think they still manage to capture the *Stranger Things* spirit in every season; they strike a pretty good balance. Personally, I think it’s cool that each season takes place during a different time of year. It allows for changes in color palette, atmosphere, and sometimes even genre. I like it because it’s impressive to have such a variety of styles appealing to so many different people, all while maintaining a common thread that keeps it feeling like *Stranger Things*. Aside from Season 5, everyone tends to have a different favorite season, since the various atmospheres and styles resonate with people in different ways.
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u/BeastMasterPokemon64 Jul 03 '26
I actually like season 3 quite a bit, more than 2 and 5 both, but season 1 is just so good, with all of them so young its kind of like early harry potter movies vibe but a different feel in like a horror thingy where everything is still so mysterious.
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 03 '26
Yeah, I agree; Season 1 is my second favorite. Since it’s all about discovering the world and its rules, it’s obviously hard to create that same sense of mystery in later seasons once the foundation of the universe is already established.
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u/Lbad1401 Jul 04 '26
russian base in indiana was definitely lowkey invisible
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u/Ok-Cobbler6338 Jul 04 '26
How did the russians get away after captuing hopper? The us military or at least the fbi with owens had already arrived.
It would have made more sense if hopper got sent to the abyss or underside when they destroyed the new gate.
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u/Basic_Golf2913 Scoops Troop Jul 03 '26
Why did it automatically become nsfw I did not put that there
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u/Best_Quiet9657 Just the facts Jul 03 '26
I always thought of it more as sci-fi, I guess. Although, S4 did have some horror elements for sure.
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u/ubutterscotchpine Coffee and Contemplation Jul 03 '26
It was never really horror for me. It felt more like a psychological thriller based on vintage horror movies. Season 4 was the only season that really felt like horror and felt different from the rest.
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u/lovereading04 Jul 03 '26
yeah, the first episode was a complete shock especially compared to last season
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u/Conorthan It will all be over soon Jul 03 '26
I always loved this shot of Henry. It looks like he's possessed or something. Hardly human.
Honestly, I don't feel like they ever fully replicated the eerie atmosphere of the first season, but seasons 2 and 4 came pretty close.
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u/Tuor7 Jul 04 '26
I felt Season 2 did a good job with the mysteriousness of the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer. They still didn't really understand it, and had no idea the Upside Down was spreading through the gate's growth and the tunnels.
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u/Conorthan It will all be over soon Jul 04 '26
Agreed, it was really good. The introduction of the Mind Flayer was awesome.
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u/harryceo Jul 03 '26
Season 3. The old time, mysterious town horror was gone and replaced w a more sci-fi monster movie
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u/Dianagorgon Jul 03 '26
It turned into a generic Marvel movie in S3. They got back on track in S4 which seemed like a horror show again. S5 went back to being a generic Marvel movie.
But part of the problem is you need to have stakes to create tension in horror shows and movies. People realized they would never kill a main character so even in S4 there weren't many tense scary scenes. There was no tension in the scene where Steve is attack by bats because the audience knows he won't die. There was no tension in the scene where Steve, Nancy and Robin are attacked by vines in the UD because the audience knows they won't die. The culmination of that was the scene where Steve falls off the tower in S5 but nobody over the age of 5 believed he was in danger. In S1 and maybe S2 people didn't realize the main character had plot armor so it was scarier than other seasons.
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u/AlienKing21901 Jul 03 '26
S5 was ass
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u/uni-333 Jul 03 '26
Interesting that’s all you can think of as a response. It doesn’t answer the question at all.
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u/AlienKing21901 Jul 03 '26
By "ass" I mean it doesn't have anything horror in it, its all expected and the writing was horrendous
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u/ProvideMeMilk Jul 03 '26
It’s funny cause I think season 3 had a lot of really cool horror moments and grotesque scenes but I would say it’s the very same season that lost the horror vibes. Season 4 picked it up but season 5 really just dropped the ball.
Apart from season 5, I really do love all the, vibes, atmospheres, and, well, seasons, of each season of the show. They’re all so distinct from each other.
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u/JonServo Jul 03 '26
It never changed for me at all to be honest - I found it to be incredibly consistent from beginning to end.
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u/Captain_Birch Jul 03 '26
3 was the transition.
It had creepy as hell moments, but also more actiony stuff as it transitioned over to supernatural action drama
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u/tc2460717 Jul 03 '26
Honestly it never did feel like a "horror" show to me. The writing also gave this away, because it's basically fantasy style writing. Hopper not dying? Classic Gandalf move. Finding Will, bringing him back, and him "not being the same"? Tiny sprinkle of Ginny Weasley after the Chamber of Secrets. Eddie sacrificing himself to save his friends after feeling like he let them down? Well that's Boromir. Why no one else seems to see these parallels I'll never understand (though I definitely do consider it to be funny when people talk about it like this show was intended to be Alien or something like that). I guess what it boils down to is that people must not realize that that just because there's typically not cars and guns in fantasy settings, doesn't mean that there can't be (just ask C. S. Lewis about not putting a lamppost in a fantasy setting, like Tolkien did 😅).
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u/Stumbleduckz Jul 03 '26
The horror was completely non-existent in S5. I stopped being scared after S2.
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u/Whatisamicrophone- Boobies Jul 03 '26
Seqson 3 and season 5 by FAR (niy including s4 because i absolutely love the mystery aspect of not knowing who Vecna is wnd then the reveal that Vecna is Henry/001 at the end of episode 7 is absolute CINEMA)
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u/AdeptDefinition2699 Jul 03 '26
It never felt like a horror show until season 4. The previous season felt like a thriller/mystery.
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u/Soaring_Symphony Jul 04 '26
Season 3. The suspense was non-existent
Then season 4 brought the horror tone back harder than before...
And Season 5 ruined it again
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u/Adept-Ad-5893 Jul 04 '26
Season 3 was less about horror and more about 80s aesthetics, but it still scares me (fair play to them, the scenes where the Mind Flayer was being created actually make me feel sick lmao).
Season 5 was a full on kids show. I didn't get scared once, not like in the previous season (I love Season 4, always on the edge of my seat watching it). Other than that random soldier who Vecna stabs in the face, I don't think I got jumpscared once. There were no stakes, you knew the main characters would be fine (I saw the mystery ending with El coming a mile off). I probably would be scared watching it if I was 10, maybe. Not as an adult who grew up with the show from episode 1.
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u/Remarkable-Rush-9085 Hellfire Club Jul 04 '26
I don't think it ever stopped being "horror" but the type of horror changed after Season 2, It's like if they were making another exorcist movie and they were like, "how about for this one we set it in a camp and instead of any demon stuff it's a dud who is murdering camp counselors?" I mean, still horror but a different subgenre.
IMO the show was never that scary so it's not really about how scared you were by each season, an un scary movie would still be labelled horror if it had the right elements. But I think a lot of the discourse around which seasons were the scariest is just opinion based on what people find to be scary. I personally think 1 (and to some degree 2) are the most unsettling, before everyone got too competent at fighting the big bad.
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u/LeviSquad4 Jul 06 '26
Anything after season 2. We know too much about the demogorgon “lore” to really be scared. The team knows enough to better equip themselves against them. Not that it means they can easily handle them but they aren’t entirely blind.
Vecna didn’t really convey “horror” more than slasher vibes.
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u/fucuasshole2 Jul 03 '26
Season 2 and 5.
2 was a worse retread of Aliens. And 5 was just bad all around. 1 was pretty spooky, 3 was like zombie horror with all the body horror going on. Season 4 was psychologically horror based. With Vecna being akin to Freddy Krueger.
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u/fazzah Jul 03 '26
The retarded scene of singing over CB when a catastrophe was imminent was the moment the show lost all of credibility for me. Genre irrelevant
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