The full “Stranger Things” season 4 trailer has arrived with a terrifying new villain inspired by both “Hellraiser” and “Dungeons and Dragons”…
“You’ve broken everything … your suffering is almost at an end”
Those are the ominous words spoken at the start of the “Stranger Things” season 4 trailer, which dropped on Tuesday with the first real look at what lies ahead in the upcoming two-part season debuting on Netflix on May 27.
When “Stranger Things” returns, the story will pick up six months after the battle at Starcourt Mall where the Mind Flayer was defeated, Billy Hargrove sacrificed his life and Eleven lost her powers. In the aftermath of that fight, Joyce Byers finally had enough of Hawkins, Indiana and decided to move her family cross country to California while taking Eleven with them following what they all believed was the death of Jim Hopper.
Of course in reality, Hopper was captured by a covert Russian operation that was attempting to tap into the Upside Down and now he finds himself in a prison work camp where he’ll be battling a Demogorgon in some kind of gladiator style battle as teased in the trailer.
While Joyce gets her fresh start in California, the trailer also reveals that she receives a package from Russia that will almost certainly put her on the journey to rescue Hopper and bring him home again.
Of course the most terrifying part of the new trailer was the revelation of the new big bad joining “Stranger Things” this season. Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed in an interview with IGN that the new villain is named Vecna, which is originally an undead wizard made famous in Dungeons and Dragons, which has been the source for all of the evil names handed out during “Stranger Things.”
This version of Vecna was obviously inspired by the original creation in the classic role playing game but the Duffer brothers also confirmed that they based this ominous new villain upon several iconic horror films including movies that scared them as children such as Pennywise in “It” as well as Freddy Kreuger in “Nightmare on Elm Street.”
There’s even a small dose of Pinhead from “Hellraiser” as the Duffer brothers paid homage to that film with the opening line in the trailer as spoken by Vecna.
“Those were the monsters that really inspired us this season,” Ross Duffer said. “Something else we really wanted to do go back to Season 1 and actually do a monster that we could do mostly practically. What you’re seeing here is 90% practical [effects]. And Vecna, throughout the season, is 90% practical.
“We wanted a presence on the set that our actors could react to, whereas in Season 3, they were reacting to a beach ball. We wanted something there that we could actually film, and I just think that that makes this villain scarier and more real and tangible and we’re just really excited for people to see him this season.”
Of course towards the end of the trailer there’s also a small glimpse of Robert Englund — the man who portrayed Freddy Krueger — as he joins the new season as Victor Creel, a man who once led a seemingly normal life as a family man until he suddenly killed each and every one of them before being committed to a psychiatric hospital.
The Creel house plays a major part in “Stranger Things” season 4, which will required Mike, Dustin and the rest of the kids to explore the significance of what unfolded there all those years ago when Victor murdered his family.
“We’ve wanted to do the haunted house thing, I think, for a while,” Matt said. “Every year we’re trying to do something different. This was a more horror-leaning season. We had our kids, they’re obviously in high school, and it just felt very natural that they should be in a horror movie.”
The Duffer brothers also added that “Stranger Things” season 4 will spend more time in the Upside Down than any previous season, which will only add to the horror elements in these episodes.
For now, take a look at the new trailer for “Stranger Things” season 4 — set the sounds of Journey’s “Separate Ways” — with the first half of the season dropping on May 27 with the second half dropping on July 1.
