'Stranger Things' season 2 trailer, dissected shot by shot
Halloween takes on an even creepier meaning in Hawkins, Indiana, with new characters and new versions of evil. Here we turn a suspicious eye on the trailer.
Dragon's Lair
Hey, one of our old favorite 1980s video games! What could possibly go wrong at the friendly neighborhood video arcade? Wait, did we mention this is Hawkins, Indiana, home of "Stranger Things"?
Hail, hail, the gang's all here
Friends Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) take a brief break to be challenged by a video game instead of real life. Their reprieve won't last long.
Rattle dem bones
We'd forgotten this death scene from the game Dragon's Lair was quite so creepy.
Dust in the wind
Suddenly, everyone but Will vanishes, the arcade goes dark and there's this weird, swirly dust outside...
Red sky at night
Most assuredly this is not an ordinary Indiana autumn sky.
Itsy-bitsy spider
And here we thought "Charlotte's Web" was only a sweet, sad children's book.
Empty desk
Eleven is still missing, but that desk won't be empty for long.
Doctor's orders
Poor Joyce probably thinks she's doing a good thing, helping Will by taking him to a doctor, but...
Somebody's watching me
...little do Joyce and Will know they're being watched.
Smashing Pumpkins
Halloween icons dripping with mold, because the kid-favorite candy-filled holiday has a darker meaning in Hawkins.
Breakdown
Will obviously hasn't begun to deal with his trauma from the Upside Down yet. In this devastating scene, he cries, "I felt it everywhere!"
Sunday bloody Sunday
It's unclear who shed this blood, but it's left a stain on the floor and drips on this chair.
Win one for the Gipper
Wondering what year it is? It's 1984, as this Reagan/Bush campaign sign shows. Guessing this sign is in Indiana, and not Minnesota, the one state native son Walter Mondale carried.
Who you gonna call?
These Ghostbusters costumes are better than any we remember seeing in 1984, but make allowances for Hollywood.
Mapping it out
Police Chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour) is plotting some events on a map...
Bad news
...and what the chief finds seems to horrify him. Guessing he didn't just come up with a new shortcut to the Ben Franklin.
New girl
Sadie Sink plays Max, the new girl in town. She arrives with a step-brother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery).
I ain't afraid of no ghost
The boys seem to have a Ghostbusters-style ghost trap, and it appears to have caught something -- likely from the Upside Down.
Stick to it
You'll see this gooey, sticky ghostly material again.
Doesn't look good
A terrifying glimpse of -- well, we're not sure, exactly.
It's a draw
Will's frantic mind seems to be forcing him to draw the same image over and over obsessively.
Path of destruction
Mysterious powers tear up a room in what appears to be Will's house.
Slumber party
Will seems to have gone into a standing trance, perhaps allowing his spirit to re-enter the Upside Down, while mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) tries frantically to rouse him.
What's down there?
An eerie, atmospheric shot of someone who appears to be Chief Hopper checking out a disturbing and twisty deep hole. Could it be a passage to the you-know-where?
Urgent care
New to the cast this year is Sean Astin as Bob Newby, a new boyfriend for Joyce. "Newby" indeed -- but he's learning quickly that Hawkins can be a tough place to live. Or die, if that poor guy behind him is any indication. Here, Newby is in scrubs as if he's a doctor or nurse, but early reports are that he manages the local Radio Shack. Maybe he's just chasing down a customer who dared to leave without buying batteries.
Up to bat
At first that bat looks a lot like Lucille, Negan's barbed-wire-wrapped baseball bat from "The Walking Dead," but this one features nails.
Hall pass
This looks like Will, and he doesn't seem to be able to run fast enough to escape the spooky, smokey vines that want to grab him.
Terror
We don't blame you, Will, we'd look that scared, too, in your situation. Unless...
Awwww, yeah!
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is back, and Will now has some hope.
(See shots of a creative Eleven-inspired runway competition entry here.)
Waiting on a friend
Not quite clear where Eleven is meant to be, but there seem to be dimensional walls or portals she must pass through to reach Will.
Gotta hand it to her
Wouldn't you give your hand to a friend? Eleven seems on her way to breaking through, when, naturally, the trailer ends. Gotta wait till October 27 to binge on "Stranger Things" season 2.