It’s no question that Stranger Things has all the legs it needs to tango with the entertainment zeitgeist’s elite these days. Netflix’s flagship sci-fi drama may have stumbled a bit as it tried to grow beyond its inch-perfect first season, but the show’s cultural impact remains as prominent as ever, and the streamer can expect some record-threatening numbers by the time season five rears its head.
Sometimes, though, even Stranger Things has to be reminded that it needs to know its place; for a series whose influences amount to pretty much all genre fiction from the 70s and 80s, sometimes it can get a bit too much undue credit.
For instance, suggesting that a Nightmare on Elm Street Netflix series would fly high if it took after Stranger Things is a surefire way to invite a sea of disapproving faces your way, as one r/horror user innocently discovered not too long ago.
In saying this, they seem to have forgotten that it was Stranger Things who recently found itself getting done in the style of A Nightmare on Elm Street (complete with Robert Englund himself no less), inadvertently showing blissful unawareness of the horror food chain at play here.
Suffice to say, then, that not many were keen on this master hypothetically learning from the student, especially when the perfect reference material for a Nightmare on Elm Street show already exists in the form of a Nightmare on Elm Street show.
Freddie Krueger’s many romps certainly aren’t beyond criticism by any stretch, but when it comes to the horror battleground, you don’t need a critically acclaimed franchise to lay claim to a crown, and you certainly don’t need a relative newcomer like Stranger Things to show you any possible resurgence ropes.