There is too much fleshy goo in Stranger Things 3

Stranger Things 3 is extremely gory and extremely funny. Unfortunately, it is neither of those things simultaneously.

This season out-gores every other Stranger Things season thus far by a landslide. (That’s not something that I say lightly, after seeing Barb’s rotted face in season 1. R.I.P. Barb.) Stranger Things, while being extremely horrifying at times, relies more on suspense than gore. However, by this point we know all its horror tells: flashing lights and puzzled expressions and neck touching from Will Byers no longer bear much mystery, because we’re too indoctrinated into the Stranger Things monster groove.

Except this time, we get to see the creation process behind the beast, which is infinitely more horrifying, gooey, and disgusting, resulting in my deeply held conviction: There is too much flesh in Stranger Things 3.

[Ed. note: Spoilers for Stranger Things 3 ahead.]

Stranger Things 3’s chief antagonist is the Mind Flayer, the spiderlike being from the Upside Down that Eleven theoretically sealed away when she closed the door to the other dimension at the end of season 2. Unfortunately, things aren’t that simple: Part of the Mind Flayer survived in the human realm, and is conspiring to kill Eleven and her friends before moving onto world annihilation, etc., etc.

However, in Stranger Things 3, the Mind Flayer doesn’t have the luxury of sending its minions through the gate to do its bidding. Instead it gets crafty and begins to “flay” other living beings, bringing them under its control before compelling them to explode into piles of goo and assimilate into a gigantic, fleshy, spider monster.

The process begins on the small scale: A horde of rats scurries into an empty warehouse, congregating before they collectively begin to convulse and pop into piles of goo.

Netflix

Things get more gory in the series’ fifth episode. Nancy and Jonathan manage to kill two of the Flayed — nice! — which works out until they turn out not to be dead and violently melt into chunky, organ-filled puddles of flesh goo from the inside out — less nice! — and the respective goo puddles slop toward each other and combine into one horrifying monster — extremely not nice!

Netflix

The gore factor finally culminates in the season’s sixth episode, aptly titled “E Pluribus Unum.” All of the Flayed congregate in the warehouse to be dissolved, together creating the ultimate ... flesh monster.

I think this is the point where we really need to talk about the monster itself.

Netflix

The Mind Flayer’s monster looks like severely waterlogged skin, hardened vomit, and a festering wound all at once. It scuttles around on multiple legs and has tentacle mouths. At Polygon, we’ve traded around various descriptors like “giant blobby monster,” “soaked uncooked chicken,” and “my cat’s throw-up after eating a sponge.”

Ultimately, the monster itself is plenty horrifying. However, showing its creation process means the series leans into the kind of body horror that leaves audiences queasy, not terrified. The reliance on gore lessens the impact and mystery around the monster itself, leaving me more disgusted and nauseous than truly afraid.

The monsters’ appearance is tolerable, at the very least. I can deal with weeping flesh and bone prodding out in bizarre places and hellish scuttling. The path to get there, however, is paved with too much fleshy goo. While Stranger Things’ suspense may not be my primary draw to the series, I wish the series let our imaginations scare us more than relying on a gross-out factor — it lessens both the impact and fear of the monster itself.