Horror Report

Tag: stranger things

  • Stranger Things 5 has ‘jumped the Demoshark’

    Stranger Things 5 has ‘jumped the Demoshark’

    SPOILER WARNINGS ahead.

    This morning, a lot of Stranger Things fans are waking up a little jaded.
    Spoiler alert: Will Byers is gay.

    Listen, fans have known that since season one, episode one, when Joyce Byers explains to Jim Hopper what people say about her son Will. That part isn’t shocking. If anything, Will having a coming-out moment was inevitable, and yes, that moment can be celebrated. But all that building up to some moment where Will and Mike would have this special embrace? Some fans longed for it and they did not get it.


    But at the same time, the show deserves criticism because the larger storyline has gone completely off the rails.


    Plotlines have become subplots that have subplots of their own. Characters endlessly gather in circles, drawing plans on boards, debating whether those plans will work, then seemingly not doing the plan at all. Instead, they get attacked by demogorgons anyway, only for miracles to happen where everyone escapes without injury.


    Which brings us to the biggest spoiler of all: no one has died.


    Everyone was bracing for a major loss. The Duffer Brothers warned us about a “very sad Christmas,” yet here we are scratching our heads. Fans will still be fans, and I’ll still be one too, but the episodes presented last night were strange and confusing. There was far too much dialogue, and characters we’ve watched develop for four seasons suddenly don’t act like themselves anymore.


    We’re still hopeful the final season and the series finale will blow us away. But so far, we’ve been blown away by boredom. It has to be said. I don’t want to say it, but there is simply too much going on.
    There’s that famous episode of Happy Days where Fonzie literally jumps over a shark. That moment became shorthand for when a television show loses its way. Jumping the shark happens to a lot of good shows. That’s part of why Seinfeld remains legendary. It knew when to end before that moment arrived.


    So the question becomes: did Stranger Things jump the shark, or in this case, jump the demogorgon?
    And if it did, when did it happen? Was it season five, episode by episode? Or did it quietly happen sometime late in season four and we just didn’t notice at the time?


    We still love the show. We still can’t wait for the series finale. But the stretch getting there has been tedious, strange, and more boring than it should be.


    And quite frankly, if the idea was that affirming Will’s sexuality would somehow make the show better, that’s fine. He did it. But it added nothing to a plot where we already knew exactly who Will was. Worse, it teased fans who expected an emotional payoff between Will and Mike, only to have Mike essentially ignore him in that moment.


    Historically speaking, Indiana had decriminalized homosexuality in 1977. But in 1986 there was a law giving restrictions on marriage. That context seems to matter but the show didn’t explore it too much given the rapidness of how they had Will–while the world was ending–decide to come out then. It was his arc.. and it was his moment. But it seemed that it was fit in during a strange time when it was not placed correctly.


    Despite season five going down a strange path, we’re still fans, and there were some genuinely cool and redeeming moments. There was an awesome reference tonight involving A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, where Holly was talking to Max and had to return to a frightening memory of being with her friends watching Nightmare 3.

    That episode was directed by Frank Darabont, who was also involved with Nightmare 3. There were also some solid nods to Phantasm, along with a few moments that were genuinely unique and well-crafted. Unfortunately, those highs are paired with negative aspects that are probably too numerous to list.

    It also gave us a really cool poster that was designed for the show that has a huge likeness and homage to NIGHTMARE 3:


    But we go from that to then Max bringing Holly along to get out of the upside down or whatever it is… just to tell her stick around and she can’t come with her? Odd..

    Fans react: https://www.facebook.com/groups/907749954301741/?multi_permalinks=1420742836335781&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen

    And speaking of botching things up? Suddenly MAX says that the song is ‘not important’? It’s not? The entire theory from season 1 is how music guided people through the darkness of the upside down..

    At this point, it feels like Stranger Things has dropped the demogorgon somewhere along the way.

    At this point it feels like fan theories of the show have better plots and storylines than what the Duffers gave us.. we think. That last show could still be redeeming but we have yet to see time travel…or anything besides Hopper and the kids debating whether they can fly helicopters and kill Vecna. Or whatever they are trying to do…

    We just have to figure out when it happened and hold our breath for one truly incredible, climactic battle at the end.

  • The official run times for Stranger Things season 5 Volume 2 officially revealed

    The official run times for Stranger Things season 5 Volume 2 officially revealed

    You’ve all been broadcasting the wrong runtimes for the second half of Stranger Things Season 5.
    The official runtimes were released today, and they’re not what’s been floating around online.
    Here are the real, confirmed episode lengths:


    Chapter 5 – “Shock Jock”: 1 hour, 8 minutes
    Chapter 6 – “Escape From Camazotz”: 1 hour, 15 minutes
    Chapter 7 – “The Bridge”: 1 hour, 6 minutes
    Chapter 8 – “The Right Side Up”: 2 hours, 8 minutes
    Yes the finale is a full movie.


    And honestly, The Right Side Up already sounds like the perfect mirror-image ending to five seasons spent trapped in the Upside Down. If that title doesn’t feel like a victory lap, I don’t know what does.


    So please stop spreading fake runtimes. These are the official numbers.
    And remember: everything drops in just hours on Christmas Day.


    The countdown is officially on.

  • 19-year-old killed in fall from vacant building used in ‘Stranger Things’

    19-year-old killed in fall from vacant building used in ‘Stranger Things’

    19-year-old woman named Leah Palmirotto died after falling from the roof of an old, abandoned building in Atlanta, Georgia..


    She was with friends exploring the building at night (around 1 a.m.). They climbed over a fence to enter, despite it being fenced off with “no trespassing” signs.


    The building is on Emory University’s Briarcliff campus. Built in the 1960s as the Georgia Mental Health Institute (a psychiatric hospital), it closed years ago.


    It is famous for being used as the exterior (and some interior) of Hawkins National Laboratory in the Netflix show Stranger Things
    She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are investigating, but it appears to be an accident during urban exploring (visiting abandoned places).

    FOX5 Atlanta has more information ..

  • We really don’t think that the Duffer Brothers based Mr Whatsit about a 1962 incident despite everyone saying they did

    We really don’t think that the Duffer Brothers based Mr Whatsit about a 1962 incident despite everyone saying they did

    So everyone has been talking lately about Stranger Things Season 5 and the idea that Mr. What’s It is based on a true story from 1962, a supposed incident where a group of children all saw and drew the same mysterious man wearing a hat.


    Here’s the scoop. There probably is no true story from 1962.


    What seems to be happening is that the same urban legend keeps getting repeated over and over across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, with no facts to back it up. There is no documented mass sighting of a Hat Man in 1962. There is no verified location. There is no teacher testimony. There are no archived newspaper articles. And there is no evidence anywhere that the Duffer Brothers ever said Henry’s Mr. What’s It character was based on an incident like this.


    In fact, if anything, the character feels closer to something like A Wrinkle in Time than it does to a real world event. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something familiar about him, though. Because while the 1962 story appears to be made up, the Hat Man himself is not new.


    The Hat Man has existed in human stories for a very long time, just under different names. In past cultures, shadow figures wearing cloaks or wide brimmed hats show up in folklore tied to night terrors, death omens, or spiritual visitations. Medieval Europe had depictions of dark watchers who stood at the edge of the bed. Victorian ghost stories often described tall men in hats appearing in doorways or hallways. Even older traditions talk about night spirits or watchers who observe silently rather than interact.


    What’s interesting is how consistent the imagery is across time. A tall figure. A long coat or cloak. A hat. No clear facial features. No speech. Just presence.


    In modern times, most Hat Man encounters are tied to sleep paralysis or intense fever dreams. People who experience it often describe being awake but unable to move, with a crushing sense of dread. And there he is, standing in the corner of the room, in the doorway, or at the foot of the bed… watching.


    That idea was explored directly in the 2015 documentary The Nightmare, which focuses entirely on sleep paralysis experiences. The film features multiple people who had never met each other, all describing nearly identical encounters. In that documentary, the Hat Man is essentially the final boss of sleep paralysis. He doesn’t scream. He doesn’t chase. He just looms, silent and terrifying, while the person trapped in that half awake state cannot escape.


    So while it may not be true that the creators of Stranger Things based Mr. What’s It on a specific mass sighting from 1962, it is very possible that the Hat Man mythology itself influenced what they created. The idea of a shadow figure that exists between worlds, between sleep and wakefulness, between childhood fear and cosmic horror, fits perfectly into that universe.


    But here’s where we have to pump the brakes.


    There is no real story that connects a 1962 Hat Man incident to the show. The posts making these claims all recycle the same language. They use AI generated images. They never give an exact location. They never cite a real source. And they never link to an actual quote from the Duffer Brothers.


    If anyone out there can find a legitimate source, a real interview, a verified quote, or documented evidence that such an incident occurred and that it inspired the character, send it our way. We will research it. We will correct ourselves. We will say we were wrong.


    But until then, this is an urban legend built on top of another urban legend.


    We’ve been studying paranormal history for decades. We know about mass UFO sightings. We know about documented cases of mass hysteria in schools in Africa. But when it comes to the Hat Man and California in 1962, there is nothing. Not a single credible mention.


    So for now, we’re sticking with this. The Duffer Brothers did not base Mr. What’s It on a 1962 incident because there is no evidence that incident ever happened.


    And if the Duffer Brothers ever want to reach out and say otherwise, we’d absolutely love to talk.

  • Squawkless on TuneIn? It wasn’t just my problem

    Squawkless on TuneIn? It wasn’t just my problem

    Stranger Things fans are getting a little sneak preview of what life will be like when their favorite radio station disappears. Let me explain.

    You might have read on my site (and plenty of others) about WSQK—a.k.a. The Squawk. It’s that now-famous “radio” station that was really just an online stream but felt like a real 80s station straight out of Hawkins, Indiana. It had 80s DJs, 80s music, the whole nostalgic vibe.

    You could find it on TuneIn Radio. But now a bunch of people, myself included, are getting these weird warnings that The Squawk is suddenly “not available in our region” or country.

    At first, I thought, “Hey, maybe this is some kind of promo stunt, like the Demogorgons hijacked the station for a bit.” But nope, it’s not part of the show.

    It’s just a glitch or a regional licensing issue on TuneIn.

    The good news is you can still get The Squawk on the Global Player app. I tried it, it works, and others have done the same. So you can keep listening for now.

    Just know that come January, The Squawk is reportedly going off the air for good as that little promo run ends. So yeah, consider this a taste of what life will be like when the station disappears for real.

    Enjoy it while you can!

  • A decade that went upside down: From nostalgia to despondence

    A decade that went upside down: From nostalgia to despondence

    As we get closer to the two-night finale of Stranger Things dropping December 31, 2025 and January 1, 2026, it’s worth remembering one thing: we didn’t just watch a show for a decade .. we lived one.

    When Stranger Things started filming, David Letterman was still hosting late-night. Jay Leno had only recently walked away from The Tonight Show. Conan O’Brien was still on TBS. (We really miss him).. It was when late night was waning but two kings were still reigning.

    The streaming world was a completely different universe.
    Netflix was king and pretty much alone on the throne. There was no Disney+. No Paramount+. No HBO Max. No Peacock. CBS All Access was barely a whisper. Streaming was simple compared to the buffet line it is today.

    Politically? Well… it was Barack Obama’s America. Donald Trump hadn’t even been elected yet. There was no constant chaos cycle, no decade of non-stop political adrenaline. If you told someone in 2016 what was coming for the next ten years, they might have said you were living in the Upside Down.

    Celebrity culture? Justin Bieber was still with Selena Gomez. Prince William wasn’t even married yet. That’s how far back we’re talking when you think of it…

    Music-wise, the world was dancing to “Closer” by The Chainsmokers and “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber. In theaters, people were lining up at midnight screenings of Rogue One, dressing up, filling auditoriums — back when opening nights still felt like events, not a casual option between Netflix binges.

    Even in sports, the snapshot is wild:
    The Chicago Cubs broke their 108-year curse and won the 2016 World Series.
    The Denver Broncos, led by a retiring Peyton Manning, won the Super Bowl.

    We were just beginning dabbling in the nostalgia that the mid 2000-teens were about to present us.. We were just waiting for a show to come around and really bring it home.

    And television? Entire shows began and ended during the Stranger Things era while we were still waiting for the next season in Hawkins.
    Shows like Cobra Kai, The Umbrella Academy, The Good Place, Westworld, and others completed their entire lifespan before Stranger Things even got to its final chapter.

    And now here we are…

    When we look back at this time capsule — this Upside Down decade, if you will — it shows just how much everything has changed, and how much we have changed with it.

    The question becomes:
    Did we change the decade, or did the decade change us?
    Did we create Donald Trump, or did he create us?
    Maybe historians will be arguing about that long after we’re gone.

    What we can say is this:

    A full decade of life passed while this show unfolded. And our entire experience the this entire reality has altered.

    If your child was six when Stranger Things premiered, you’re now staring down the day they get their driver’s license.
    If they were Eleven (*like our star*) you are nervously waiting for that first legal drink.

    Time moved. Life moved. We just didn’t notice how fast.

    We watched these kid actors in a weird, neon-tinted horror-sci-fi show grow up on our screens. And the joke was always, “By the time season five comes out, they’ll be in a retirement home.”

    But guess what?
    So are we.
    Or at least we’re a lot closer than we were in 2016.

    The decade went fast .. and slow all at the same time. When we began 2016 the show tapped into nostalgia .. We were immersed in it. But by COVID and the arguments during the pandemic, the age of nostalgia vanished away.. we were instead enraged on an hourly basis, streaming actively and killing cable, staying at home and killing malls.. and wondering what our collective purpose was in this place and time.

    Now, as the final season airs a decade on, nostalgia–at least what it was then–is dead. The show seemingly has tried to stay stuck in a time that moved on… a decade is a long time. Especially THIS decade.. THIS upside down period of time..

    So take a breath.

    Take a moment and look around.
    A decade has passed in the blink of an eye.

    As we gear up for the final Stranger Things episodes, maybe even seeing it in a movie theater, surrounded by others who’ve taken the same ride, remember this:
    This was a snapshot of our lives.

    And just like Hawkins, we all came out a little older, a little wiser, and definitely changed.

  • Stranger Things finale in theaters will be a cultural moment

    Stranger Things finale in theaters will be a cultural moment

    Netflix unveiled the full list of cities and theaters participating in fan screenings of the Season 5 finale of Stranger Things, which has been confirmed to have a runtime of 2 hours and five minutes.

    The screenings will take place in over 500 theaters in the U.S. and Canada starting on December 31, 2025 at 5:00pm PT, timed to the finale’s global premiere on Netflix, and run through January 1, 2026. The full list of theaters and RSVP information can be found on Netflix’s website, stfinale.com.

    Shawn Levy stated that the last episode belonged on the big screen..

    This promises to be a pivotal pop culture moment..

    Many theaters are already selling out.. Get tickets now..

  • Your theater will go upside down. Good luck on your hunt for tickets

    Your theater will go upside down. Good luck on your hunt for tickets

    Today’s the big day! You can now buy tickets for the finale of Stranger Things in a theater.. I foresee this being a major cultural event..

    We’ve got a grand total of two theaters in Pennsylvania running the Season 5 finale… yep, just two that I could find. One out in Warrington and another all the way over in Clarion, near Pittsburgh.

    Now, maybe this is some kind of strategic move, spreading out the love to suburban and university towns rather than just the big cities. Or maybe it’s not strategic at all, and it just comes down to which theater chains decided to jump on board. Either way, I’m not complaining because I’ve got my ticket in hand. As an example it appears that there’s only two theaters in Pennsylvania showing it, one being a suburb of Philadelphia and the other being Clarion. Clarion smart because there’s University there maybe that’s the goal. Not sure if it’s strategic or just by accident where the theaters were chosen..

    My plan? Well, I’m turning off the entire digital world from 8 p.m. on New Year’s Eve until I’m back from the theater on New Year’s Day. That means no social media, no Twitter, no Facebook, no updating my site.. nothing. I’m going full digital hibernation mode because I do not want a single spoiler before I see that finale on the big screen.

    And sure, some folks might say going to a theater for a TV show is a bad idea. They’ll say you’ll be surrounded by loud, obnoxious people. But come on, if you’re heading out to see Stranger Things in a theater, you’re probably just as much of a fan as everyone else in the room. We’ll all be there to laugh, cry, cheer, and maybe even dress up like a Demogorgon or two. It’s going to be a shared experience, and honestly, that’s the fun of it.

    So good luck if you’re hunting for tickets. It’s limited, it’s special, and if you do find a seat next to me, just give me a little elbow room and don’t throw popcorn.. unless it’s at a really scary part.

  • Squawking about Stranger Things season 5 radio station

    Squawking about Stranger Things season 5 radio station

    So here’s the thing: I’ve been a “Stranger Things” fan since 2016, and let’s face it, that first season dropped us right into a perfect little 1983 time capsule. Back then, it looked and felt like the ’80s through and through.. like you could almost smell the mall food court and hear the rustle of a D&D manual. But as the show went on, the production got glossier, and it lost a bit of that old-school aura that made it feel like a true time warp.

    Enter Season 5 and this little gem called “The Squawk” radio station.

    I stumbled on it through the TuneIn app, and it’s like stepping into a bubble of 1988 all over again. They’ve actually built out a full-on 1980s-style broadcast, right down to the DJs and the vintage audio processing. Listening to it while out for a walk or driving around is great background noise but it goes further than that for me and others… it’s a whole mood. I can practically see my eight-year-old self heading to the mall for a He-Man figure or riding the school bus with this playing in the background. It’s pure, immersive nostalgia in a way I didn’t even realize I missed.

    Let’s be honest, the show’s early seasons really leaned into that gritty ’83 vibe, and some of that faded as the CGI and polish ramped up. But “The Squawk” is like a little gift to us fans who miss that pure, old-school feeling. It’s our chance to time travel again, even if it’s just for a little while, before Hawkins and all its quirky corners fade away.

    And fade away it may.. Word is this station will vanish on January 1, 2026. Maybe when Hawkins itself does?

    Either way.. there are countless fans already being made to feel good enough vibes that they do not want it to be gone. And neither do we..

    So let’s set out a mission to SAVE THE SQUAWK.. Keep this station.. we will even allow for bid name product placements.. calling all ad people, find your famous ads from the late 80s and play them here. Generate some revenue.. This station is so amazing, a step back in time, that it can become a part of your life in mere minutes.. It will be sad when *if??* it goes..

    So if you haven’t checked it out yet, definitely tune in and take that nostalgia ride. It’s like a love letter to the ’80s that we didn’t even know we needed again.. beyond even Stranger Things, it is tapping into a simpler time that we also did not know we needed–and that we forgot existed.

  • STRANGER THINGS 5 felt way to right side up until it finally went upside down in episode 4

    STRANGER THINGS 5 felt way to right side up until it finally went upside down in episode 4

    Stranger Things 5: From “Uh Oh…” to “Okay, I’m All In Again”

    Stranger Things season 5 (at least the first part of it) is officially here. The first four episodes dropped Thanksgiving Eve, 8 p.m. Eastern, and the internet did what the internet does best: tried to watch all at once and briefly broke Netflix. We’re told the service crashed under the weight of Hawkins hype, though to be fair it seemed like it was back up and running pretty quickly.

    What struck me more than the outage, though, was how Netflix released it. That 8 p.m. drop made it feel almost like a live event. For once, instead of silently dropping a season at 3 a.m. and letting everyone binge at random times, Netflix basically said: “Okay, everybody sit down, we’re pressing play together.” Volume 1 on Thanksgiving Eve, Volume 2 on Christmas, the finale on New Year’s Eve — it’s like they rebuilt appointment TV inside the streaming world.

    And honestly? That part felt kind of magical.

    For a few hours, it really did feel like all of us, scattered around the world, were sitting down at the same time, in the same virtual living room, watching Stranger Things together. That’s something TV used to do really well before streaming turned everything into “watch whenever you get around to it.”

    The Rough Start

    Now, let me be completely honest: the first couple of episodes had me nervous.

    I found myself wincing at some clunky lines, a few goofy setups, and character beats that just felt… off. There are moments in episodes 1 and 2 where it almost feels like we missed a memo on who certain people are now. Motivations didn’t always line up, and some of the humor landed like it was beamed in from a completely different show.

    Episode 2 throws in a new disappearance and, yes, I’ll give you one spoiler: the Wheeler family house gets absolutely wrecked. It’s chaotic and big and loud, but at the same time I caught myself thinking, “Wait, are we doing this just to do it, or does this really serve the story?”

    Then comes episode 3 and suddenly I’m wondering if I accidentally switched over to Narnia for a bit. There’s a tonal shift in places that made me feel like I was watching an entirely different fantasy universe — not necessarily bad, but disorienting when you’ve lived in Hawkins this long.

    So at that point, my mental scorecard looked like this:

    • Excitement for being back in this world: high.
    • Faith in the writing: slipping.
    • Confusion about certain characters: very present.

    Episode 4 Brings It Home

    And then we hit episode 4, and things suddenly snap back into focus.

    The pacing tightens. The emotional beats start landing again. Threads that felt random in episodes 1–3 begin to weave together into something that resembles the Stranger Things we signed up for years ago.

    Vecna returns with a kind of brutality that honestly surprised me. The show has always had its fair share of horror, but this round feels more graphic and gratuitous than I remember from prior seasons. Not unwatchable, but definitely more intense. It’s like the Duffer Brothers decided, “If this is the end, we’re not pulling any punches.”

    The shaky, try-hard humor that kept popping up earlier? Pretty much gone by the end of episode 4. The stakes feel high, the danger feels real, and the tone finally matches the enormity of what’s supposed to be happening in Hawkins and beyond.

    By the time the credits rolled on that fourth episode, I went from: “Uh oh, did they lose it?” to “Okay. There it is. That’s Stranger Things.”

    Streaming, But Make It Old School

    What really sticks with me isn’t just the plot, though — it’s the way Netflix engineered this to be part binge, part throwback.

    Releasing four episodes at night, attached to a holiday, at a time when most people are home and able to watch together? That’s smart. Releasing the next chunk on Christmas and saving the finale for New Year’s Eve only doubles down on that “shared event” feeling. This isn’t just something you catch up on whenever; it’s being built into the calendar of your life.

    And we leaned into it. We watched all four episodes in one shot. We complained about the weak spots. We rolled our eyes at the odd character choices. But we also yelled at the screen, pointed at clues, and sat in shocked silence when Vecna reminded us what kind of monster he really is.

    Where I’m At Now

    I don’t think “BYLER” is going to be a thing.. And I really hope that they give Joyce more character development beyond just screaming her child’s name randomly.. And Hopper? That goes back to that weird character development with the exception of Derek Turnbow.. that they are doing VERY REALLY with Derek..

    The first four episodes done, waiting for the next batch around Christmas — and of course we’ll be watching.

    Yes, some of the early writing felt rushed. Yes, a few characters are being shoved into weird corners that don’t fully make sense yet. And yes, there were moments in those first three episodes where it felt like we were watching a very expensive fan fiction version of Stranger Things.

    But episode 4 changed the trajectory. It took what was shaping up to be a long, boring baseball game and turned it into a seventh-inning shot into the upper deck.

    If the rest of the season follows the path that episode 4 set up, then this might still be the ending Stranger Things deserves.

    We’re not in the Upside Down yet. But after that fourth episode, I’m at least convinced we’re heading in the right direction.