A Fan of Stranger Things? Here Are 5 Reasons Why You Might Like Histeria The Series Too

A spin-off of the movie by the same name, Histeria draws many similarities to Stranger Things in terms of likeability and thrill. What’s unique is that Histeria sets in Malaysia and features Malaysian tropes, cultures and cast.

If you’re a fan of Stranger Things, you might just like Histeria The Series too. Here’s why:

Features A Fresh Lineup of Cast

Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, Gater Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard? No one had heard of these names before the Duffer Brothers turned them into instant A Listers in one season. The faith that the showrunners have in younger talents paid off as Stranger Things became one of the most popular shows on Netflix. Since then, both Millie and Finn were given major roles inj blockbuster franchises Godzilla and Ghostbusters respectively while Sadie Sink featured in Fear Street and appeared in Taylor Swift’s retelling of her classic, ‘All Too Well’.

And that’s pretty similar to James Lee’s Histeria. From the first movie, the director placed his trust in an unproven and untested cast with the likes of Scha Alyahya and Liyana Jasmay. More than a decade after the movie, Lee returns with another batch of younglings in Mia Sara Shauki, Sharifah Aryana and Amelia Christi. These actors have shown their capabilities well in carrying the show and in bringing a fresh new perspective to the Malaysian series spectrum.

The Coming of Age Agenda is Strong

Everyone loves a Coming of Age story where our young and naive protagonists are forced to solve life-changing conflicts beyond their capabilities. So it comes as no surprise that films like Almost Famous, Mean Girls, Juno and Spirited Away are fan favourites among the same target audience as Stranger Things. The young always yearn for movies inspiring enough to help them brave through the always-evolving and confusing world they’re living in and Stranger Things is a strong contender in that category.

In the case of Histeria, the main cast is placed in a life-threatening position, igniting their fight or flight modes in order to survive the paranormal ordeal. Similar to Stranger Things, the fate of the Histeria series; is down to a bunch of school kids as they decide what’s best for themselves and each other.

Impactful Mystery Stories Through Real-life Urban Legends

American thriller and horror stories often touch on existing urban legends told by locals. In the case of Stranger Things, Shawn Levy and the Duffer Brothers centred the story around a small quiet town dubbed to be ‘cursed’. The series then revealed that the strange happenings came from a small, off-the-books government project tucked deep inside the rural areas of Hawkins. Americans always had discussions on urban legends like top secret government projects, experimentation on humans and superhuman abilities.

In Histeria, James Lee explores Malaysian urban legends involving boarding school life. We’ve always heard (or even experienced) supernatural events occurring in boarding schools; the shadows, the screams, the mysterious knocks, you name it - Histeria brings those scaries to life. Personally, Malaysian urban legends can be scarier to me, because I simply cannot imagine being scared of lab-made superhumans.

Teeth-grinding horror

James Lee said something interesting during the press conference of Histeria: “This time I kedekut sikit’(referring to the number of times the ‘ghost’ appears on screen). According to James, this is because he wants those limited scenes to be impactful when it does come out, and that’s the beauty of horror flicks. A good horror film or series knows when to tease, scare and surprise you.

Similarly to Stranger Things especially in the fourth season, Shawn Levy made sure to bring all his favourite horror influences to the screen. The jump scares were effective, the suspense was enthralling as Stranger Things’ slowly set a standard for the entertaining thriller-horror genre.

Nonchalantly discusses social issues

It’s obvious that all, if not most, films and series that came out in 2020s explore themes surrounding social issues in the western world. As much as most of them were effective, a number of these attempts seemed unnatural and shoehorned. Stranger Things, however, managed to address the bullying issue in a unique, us-against-the-world way that makes underdogs feel a little less lonely in their own personal struggles.

Histeria presents a similar case. At a time when bully cases make worrying headlines every other month, Histeria manages to delve deep inside the issue, understanding the root cause and exploring avenues in managing it. Following the footsteps of i-Tanggang and looking at the developments of the story, Histeria looks to address more issues in the coming episodes.