This is a review up to the 3rd season.

Taking inspiration, and copy-paste from cult movies are two different things: who watched horror movies such as Carpenter's "The Thing", or Scott's "Alien", will have for sure some deja-vues. I understand that this series wants to glorify the 80's, but there are too many references, and sometimes in just a few minutes. It seems that creators did not want to go a little bit further, in order to create something that reminded these years, but at the same time was different.

Don't get me wrong: I really liked Stranger Things, but I do not think it deserve to have 9 or 10 stars. I understand that this is fantasy/horror, so the show doesn't have to be 100% realistic, but there are a few, big problems that cannot be unnoticed: for the entire first season children manage to hide in Mike's home El, and parents do not even notice her. Adults very often leave their children alone, with some teenager, even if they know how dangerous is the situation, to go to complete some kind of side quest, that will help to defeat the monster. These are the two unsettling ones, in my opinion.

The show is very entertaining, characters are interesting and funny, and actors are very skillful, especially Millie Bobby Brown that actually surprised me a lot. CGI is particularly good, especially in seasons 2 and 3, you can see that a lot of effort was put to make creatures. The story is very catching and I was hooked up since the first episode, I watched the entire series in a couple of weeks, binge watching 3/4 episodes per session. The Duffer brothers, know how to keep you on front of the TV. Even the "Russian wants to conquer America" side plot, that at the beginning made me roll my eyes, was good, because it was not so important as I thought.

If you love horror and fantasy stuff, and you feel a little bit nostalgic about the old 80s (but also 90s), watch it. Do not expect the most original creatures or plot ever made, but it is still worth your time.