Stranger Things has always toed the line between the science fiction and horror genres with its supernatural themes. The cast and crew promised that season four would be the scariest season yet, and they have already delivered. Season 4 is much darker and more terrifying than other Stranger Things seasons, with more to come in volume two.
Volume one of the fourth season saw the characters face one of their greatest adversaries of all time. Coupled with the fact that Eleven, who proved to be the greatest asset to the team in previous seasons, has lost her powers, the characters were met with some truly harrowing situations. From episode one, fans found themselves terrified by graphic, violent deaths and looming, eerie threats that hit closer to home than ever before.
This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things 4.
10 Vecna Claim's His First Victim
Cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham is introduced in the first episode as having many terrifying visions of eerie clocks, her mother as a demon, and Vecna. Vecna finally kills her when she is in Eddie's caravan. Chrissy's death is truly one of the most horrific things to ever happen on Stranger Things because it is so graphic.
Chrissy's eyes roll back into her head, she becomes unresponsive, and then levitates. Her joints then dislocate and snap, her jaw cracks open, and her eyes explode, killing her and leaving Eddie scarred by what he has just witnessed.
9 Fred Starts Seeing Things In Nancy's Car
Fans notice that Fred may be starting to go down the same path as Chrissy when he begins seeing things while he and Nancy pursue the suspected murder in Eddie's caravan. When an officer questions Nancy and Fred's presence at the crime scene, Fred's worst nightmares materialize in front of him as he is called a murderer by the officer.
The scar on Fred's face splits open, and blood runs down his cheek. The officer continues to throw insults at Fred while he morphs into a demon, bearing jagged teeth and being covered in tentacles.
8 Nancy Sees Barb In The Upside Down
Just when viewers thought that all the older teens might make it out of the Upside Down, Nancy's mind is infiltrated by Vecna and she finds herself falling into the pool where Barb was killed by the Demogorgon in season one. While Steve tries to wake Nancy from her trance, Nancy is presented with the horrifying image of Barb's corpse, as well as Vecna's origin story.
Nancy walks through Victor Creel's home as it is revealed that his son was the one responsible for all the deaths in the family. Ultimately, Victor is innocent.
7 Victor Creel Tells His Story
In the episode "Dear Billy," Robin and Nancy pose as thesis students to gain access to Victor Creel, who has sat in prison for decades after being convicted of killing his family. When Victor turns around to face Robin and Nancy, knowing that they believe he is innocent, the girls are met with the wounds where Victor's eyes should have been.
Not only do Victor's injuries heighten the sadness of losing his family and serve as a constant reminder of the horrors, but Max potentially having to go through a similar experience is scary to think about.
6 Steve Is Attacked By Bats In The Upside Down
Steve takes one for the team by swimming in the lake in search of a portal to the Upside Down. Upon his discovery, he swims back to the surface but is quickly dragged back down by a tentacle.
Back in the Upside Down, Steve is swarmed by bats who bite and claw at him while he struggles to breathe, and is strangled by the tentacle. With many fans suspecting that Steve may be a character that the Duffer Brothers choose to kill, this moment had Steve's fans on edge.
5 Patrick Dies In The Water
In "The Nina Project," Lucas and Jason's teammate, Patrick, begins to go down the same route as Chrissy and Fred did earlier in the season. He gets headaches, has nosebleeds, and sees visions of the grandfather clock. When he and Jason discover Eddie's hiding place, Eddie escapes into the lake on a boat and they proceed to swim after him.
In the lake, Patrick becomes Vecna's next victim, following the same gruesome death that Chrissy and Fred had. Seeing Jason cradle Patrick's contorted, bloody, and eyeless body was both a terrifying and also heartbreaking sight to behold.
4 The Massacre At Hawkins Lab
As Eleven's powers begin to return, so do her memories of her time at Hawkins Lab. As 001 reveals himself to be the young Creel boy, who also happens to be Vecna, Eleven is met with the harrowing image of every corpse of the young lab residents. Eleven learns that it was not her who killed them, but 001 himself.
001 goes from someone who Eleven believed she could trust to a killer in a matter of seconds. His power, which seems infinitely greater than Eleven's, is a terrifying prospect.
3 Max Manages To Escape Vecna
In what fans have called the best scene of the season, "Dear Billy" sees Max attempting to escape Vecna's clutches to avoid meeting the same end as Fred and Chrissy. In the Upside Down, Max is met with the corpses of Chrissy and Fred and, despite expecting her death to arrive shortly, fights to make sure she doesn't end up alongside them.
In Hawkins, Dustin, Steve, and Lucas attempt to awaken Max from her trance as her eyes roll back and her body slowly begins to levitate. Audiences were on the edge of their seats as, to Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)," Max ran for her life to make it back to her friends.
2 Vecna's Origin Story Is Revealed
Unlike with his previous victims, when Vecna pulls Nancy into a trance, he shows her a flashback of his origin. This is possibly due to Nancy's connection to the Creels. Vecna is revealed to be Henry Creel, Victor Creel's son, who killed his own family and framed his father for their deaths.
While the deaths of Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick were some of the most harrowing scenes ever seen in Stranger Things, the image of a young child burning a baby bassinet in a fireplace is extremely disturbing.
1 Max's Mother Becomes Her Worst Nightmare
As the team figures out that Max is likely Vecna's next victim, they attempt to formulate a plan to help save her. Max plans for her potential death by writing goodbye letters to all her loved ones. She stops at her home to deliver letters to her family and, seeing her mother outside, chooses to say goodbye in person.
What should have been a heartfelt moment suddenly became a nightmare. Gray clouds fill the sky, the laundry hanging in the garden begins to drip with blood, and Max's mother slowly morphs into Vecna, letting her know that she deserves to die.