Top 10 Darkest Stranger Things Moments

“Chapter Eight: The Upside Down”

The primary storyline of the first season is the hunt to find Will, who’s finally located in the Upside Down. The Byers family is reunited and we watch them sit down for a happy dinner together. Unfortunately for Will, his horrors are just beginning. After Will excuses himself to the bathroom, the tone of the scene dramatically shifts from optimistic to terror-inducing. Far from a normal stomach bug, Will coughs out a slug-like creature down the train. It becomes horrifyingly clear that he’s still connected to the Upside Down as the environment around him transforms before his eyes. Will’s simply brought the Upside Down back home, and the Mind Flayer possesses him by the next season.

“Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard”

Billy is possessed by the Mind Flayer at the beginning of the third season. He captures fellow lifeguard Heather to serve the Mind Flayer, which is witnessed by Eleven when she uses her powers to spy on Billy. However, when Eleven and Max arrive at Heather’s to rescue her, we’re treated to the last thing anyone would expect. Billy and Heather behave a bit too perfectly, so much so that their welcoming attitudes are just creepy to watch. The tension in the scene is hanging by a thread, as it looks like Billy and Heather could attack the girls at any moment. Billy’s demeanor is in striking contrast to his usual brash style, and watching him behave so calmly indicates that things are far from okay.

“Chapter Six: The Spy”

There’s no doubt that Steve was a big jerk in the first season. But he comes around soon enough to become a loyal friend and helps Dustin search for his “pet” Demodog, Dart. After locating Dart at a junkyard, Steve volunteers to be the bait to lure him out. This plan is wildly flawed because it turns out Dart isn’t alone, far from it actually. Steve is left out on his own with nothing but a bat to protect him as Demodogs surround him from all sides. After watching him grow into becoming a fan favorite, it’s scary to consider Steve biting it in such a gruesome way. Although he and the others manage to escape, this moment confirms that no one is safe.

“Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt”

The protagonists all band together in the third season finale to stop the villains from opening a portal to the Upside Down. Hopper gets into a tussle with hitman Grigori, putting him in the line of fire when Joyce has to close the portal. Although he eliminates Grigori, Hopper has no way back and accepts his fate. Having served as Eleven’s father figure and a safe place for fans in general, it’s heartbreaking to see Hopper helpless with no way out. We all expected the heroes to save the day as always, only for Hopper’s disappearance to serve as a heavy dose of reality. Fortunately, it turns out he wasn’t quite so dead after all.

“Chapter Five: Dig Dug”

Midway through the second season, Hopper gets trapped in the tunnel leading to the Upside Down. Will’s connection to the dimension allows him to envision Hopper as he leads the rescue along with Joyce, Bob, and Mike. However, scientists arrive and set the place ablaze, causing extreme pain to Will. We’re forced to watch a long shot of Will screaming in anguish as it’s contextualized perfectly by the fire raging in the tunnel. At this moment, this burning flame is exactly what’s going inside Will’s body. Actor Noah Schnapp deserves credit for making Will’s torment look so real, as the character looks like he could explode at any moment. It goes to show that “Stranger Things”' never holds back, even if it means depicting a child in so much pain.

“Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street”

Nancy’s best friend Barbara never catches a break during her time on the show. Shunned by Nancy at a party when she chooses to be with Steve, Barb dies because no one cares to look for her. She sits by the pool by herself, sealing her own fate as a drop of her blood attracts the Demogorgon. The monster mercilessly drags Barb away to its realm while she cries for help in vain. The scariest part has to be Barb’s last few moments. The Demogorgon pretty much plays with its food by tormenting Barb for what becomes a painful demise. Her fate is confirmed in frightening detail a few episodes later when Eleven comes across Barb’s corpse in the Upside Down.

“Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street”

“Stranger Things” has a knack for delivering scares even if we know it’s coming. Not long before Barb’s encounter with the Demogorgon, the monster targets Joyce. It takes place after Will’s disappearance, as Joyce begins to receive phone calls from her son. Her momentary relief at hearing Will’s voice turns to horror when supernatural events begin to take form in her house. There’s a sense of foreboding as things in the house abruptly flicker on and off right before Joyce’s eyes. This apprehension comes into play moments later when the wall starts to twist and distort. The Demogorgon attempts to come for Joyce, who’s smart enough to run for her life.

“Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum”

While we’ve seen many deaths in “Stranger Things,” a slow torture isn’t something fans were ready for. When Steve and Robin are captured in the villains’ base, the two are interrogated. Unfortunately, the bad guys don’t believe the truth of them stumbling into the base and they resort to brutalizing Steve. In rather excruciating detail, Steve is beaten until he’s left a bloody mess. Although some comedy is injected when Steve and Robin become delirious from a botched truth serum, the scene is largely about the pair’s punishment. The few laughs that were there evaporate quickly when torture equipment comes into play. Dustin and Erica come to the rescue, preventing this from becoming a disturbing end for Steve and Robin.

“Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”

Most fans feel Bob was just too pure for this world and his last act is to save his friends. Too bad he goes out in absolute agony. When the protagonists are trapped in Hawkins Lab, Bob volunteers to reset the power to allow the rest to escape. In the following anxiety-ridden scene, Bob maneuvers around the demodogs out to hunt him. The relief of his success is short-lived as the demodogs pick up on his presence. There’s another hopeful spot when it seems like everyone’s escaped. But when a demodog jumps out of nowhere for a well executed jump scare, Bob’s doom is sealed. The show kills off the nicest character it’s ever had, and it doesn’t help that we see the demodogs feeding on his body.

“Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers”

“Stranger Things” needed a big, hard-hitting scene to establish itself as a horror series and this is the one to do it. Will finds himself being stalked by an unknown figure, later revealed to be the Demogorgon. Since Will acts as the audience surrogate, we feel helpless as the moment gradually increases in intensity. His attempts at hiding and calling for help prove useless and the tension reaches its tipping point before Will’s abducted. We don’t see it happen, but the mystery is what makes this so scary. Although it’s left to the viewer to imagine what happened to Will, it’s also clear that the Demogorgon has nothing but bad intentions for him.