'Stranger Things' Season 4's Weird Connection To An Awful ‘90s Horror Movie

The new trailer for the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things finally hit the internet, following a prolonged livestream countdown involving a creepy old grandfather clock – which sure was spooky, except for all the seemingly non-cursed joggers and pedestrians in the background.

Obviously, this is Stranger Things we’re talking about, so the new season not surprisingly looks like a hodgepodge of ‘80s genre movies and assorted sun-bleached Stephen King paperback covers. This time around they’ve also cast Robert Englund, Freddy Krueger himself, as a mysterious new character named “Victor Creel.” We’re guessing he’s not going to be, like, the town’s new mild-mannered Radio Shack manager.

Creel’s story reportedly involves a big old haunted house, and a “a gruesome murder he committed in the '50s” which he blames on a “vengeful demon.” Of course, this combination of murder and hauntings is basically the peanut butter and chocolate of the Amityville Horror universe. Others have suggested that this seems like a pretty clear indication that Stranger Things is going full Amityville Horror this season (but sadly not to space).  

Another key part of the fourth season seems to be the Creel house’s old grandfather clock, the same one that counted down to the trailer drop this morning. Well, it turns out that there actually is an Amityville Horror movie that involves a haunted clock; the sixth entry, Amityville 1992: It’s About Time – get it?

While not exactly the most esteemed entry in a generally not-at-all-esteemed franchise, the idea of a haunted clock from a notorious murder house wreaking havoc on a new generation does seem to jibe with what we know about Stranger Things 4. While we aren’t suggesting that Stranger Things will include, say, a scene where a scantily-clad young woman sprawls across a model train set in order to lure a horny dude to his grisly death that involves being liquified –

– the end of It’s About Time involves sending the characters back in time to when they first received the clock. So perhaps this reinforces the prevailing theory that season four will involve time travel in some capacity. Or we could be wrong and the producers have merely struck an Eggo-like product placement deal with a manufacturer of possessed timepieces.

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Top Image: Netflix