That film was a pivotal role in Ryder’s career, as something akin to her first “adult” star vehicle after often playing troubled teenagers and ingenious ingénues in her 1980s films, which all of Stranger Things feels more directly descended from (except, you know, without Heathers’ murder sprees). It also led to her becoming a costumed drama darling for the next decade with films like The Age of Innocence, Little Women, and The Crucible in her future. So it’s nice to see the next stage of her career—the comeback scream queen of Netflix—to tip its hat to that past one. That 1992 film had a vampire who was far more chic, and gory, than what Bob evokes, yet both see a hesitant star waltz with a man destined for the grave before the film (or television season) is over. It’s a subtle joke worth sinking your teeth into.
