1 of 9 | Millie Bobby Brown stars in “Stranger Things,” now on Netflix. Photo courtesy of Netflix
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, on Netflix Monday, offers fans a look at the process of making the show, and the emotions involved with concluding it. It is perhaps the first proper DVD extra on the Netflix platform.
Stranger Things creators Ross and Matt Duffer are the focal point of the two-hour documentary. The film opens with them toiling over how to handle the series finale.
That is a major spoiler, but the documentary is relatively spoiler light after that, except for some behind-the-scenes footage of specific scenes. The Duffers toil over the finale because of all the shows that blew it and stained their legacy.
This leads back to the beginning of the season and the very development of the show as it leads to the conclusion.
The doc shows set decorator Jess Royal choosing the color and rock texture of a set build. Stunt coordinators Hiro Koda and Jahnel Curfman show how they choreograph an action scene between military troops and Vecna at the Mac-Z.
Earlier footage also addresses the construction of the Mac-Z backlot set.
Scene specific footage shows the Duffers repositioning Cara Buono for the ideal camera reveal. It shows Frank Darabont at work directing, giving actors guidance.
Actors like Maya Hawke make direct suggestions, which the episode directors allow her to incorporate in the scene.
Audition footage of the cast shows them even younger than they were in Season 1 and it is adorable. Brief clips of the Duffers’ Hi-8 movies show them as children too.
They received the camera when they were 9 and in the montage of their videos, they appear to age to at least 13. Their filmmaking techniques escalate as well.
Here is where they discuss their influences, and they are ’80s heavy with Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg and Sam Raimi. They include clips of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Batman, Edward Scissorhands and Evil Dead.
They also cite John Woo and M. Night Shyamalan. This does not rebut the accusations that the show is derivative.
Homage is fine but on set the Duffers literally say “let’s go Evil Dead.” The doc leaves skeptics wondering if they ever inserted their own voice into the ’80s mashup.
There is a mutual admiration aspect to the proceedings. Cast and below-the-line crew members admire the Duffers and want to do their scripts justice.
However, Finn Wolfhard’s wrap speech is especially touching. Maybe the production was as harmonious as it appears, but that is the difference between a documentary and a DVD bonus feature.
So One Last Adventure is not Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, or even last year’s Coppola expose Megadoc. But, Netflix has not typically done bonus features on their platform, so the first Stranger Things extra is a landmark that will hopefully lead to more supplementary content.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
‘Stranger Things’: The cast through the years
Left to right, “Stranger Things” cast members Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Noah Schnapp (Will), Winona Ryder (Joyce), Matthew Modine (Dr. Martin Brenner), Millie Brown (Eleven) and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) attend the show’s Season 1 premiere in Los Angeles on July 11, 2016. The series turned into a pop culture phenomenon. A fifth and final season is coming. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
