I'll start right out with my reason for 8/10 as opposed to 10/10. In my personal opinion one thing all stories should explain especially mysteries is the how and why. The how and why is murky at best which left me feeling a bit confused about a few things.

With that in mind, I watched this entire series in one day. For ten or so hours nothing mattered except bathroom breaks and snack refills. I kid you not, the very phrasing of the first chapter's title makes you feel like "Ok we're going on a ride here". Then there's the method they used to introduce the series title. Talk about a blast from the past! From then on, just be prepared to be transported to a different time. The set pieces alone are done well enough to give this a gander.

One thing this series did well was mixing "well known" actors with people you literally never heard of. It has a great pull where the Winona Ryders reel you in and the new comers keep you there, knowing you don't have to see the same old style from the same old people, but also knowing you don't have to invest a lot of trust into a whole cast of newbies. The kids especially do a phenomenal job. While a bit cliché at times, considering their age, they were fantastic. You'll see almost immediately that Millie Bobby Brown is in a class of her own.

Another thing I liked about this series considering it's a Netflix Original is that they didn't take advantage of the lack of censorship. There are no unnecessary sex scenes, every other word isn't a swear, and there's not a whole bunch of random drug use or killing. But not to the point where it seems like an after school special. It was simply done right.

Now the general vibe of the series is very familiar as it pulls from just about every 80s sci-fi/horror movie you can think of. What they did well with that however is taking that familiarity and molding it into something new. I don't wanna get on a soapbox, but man was it nice to watch a movie about teenagers and not have it be them glued to their phones. I think whether anyone wants to admit it or not we all can use a break from the strangle hold social media has on us right now. Now that I think of it, I think that's why a lot of modern horror films don't work these days. Technology is all around us, so it's hard to suspend belief when you know that theoretically the entire world is one tweet away from witnessing a mystery taking place. In 1983 that was a different story.

All in all I give it 8/10. Like I said, it locked me down for an entire day. The story is a good pace that keeps you interested. Some things probably could have been explained better, but who knows; as thorough as they were, some of the missing details was probably intentional. This is a good one for everyone. But if you're 30 and older and love a good nostalgia-esk experience, WATCH THIS SHOW!!