Mild
1742 of 2901 found this mild
Only some of the episodes in the series have kissing scenes.
A teen wakes up shirtless with lipstick on his cheek.
Some teens imitate kissing.
A picture of a woman in swimwear is in the back of a room and is shown for about 3 seconds.
A few kisses, sex talks and having fun about other girls.
Vickie's boyfriend is shown kissing her neck.
Max sees drawing made by Billy but nothing is shown.
Teen characters kiss frequently; discussion of dating, flirting. During a steamy make-out scene, a teen takes her shirt off, showing her bra. An adult character prepares to have an affair with an older teen heartthrob.
Two characters make suggestive noises. Later on, others express how they sounded.
A boy and a girl make out in a bed, both of them are shirtless. The girl had a bra on, there is no full frontal or back nudity in this scene.
Moderate
961 of 2423 found this moderate
A child is strangled by a teenager, but he is stopped before he can kill the child.
Demodogs get inside a lab elevator full of people and attack and feast on them (the actual attack is not shown but you see the aftermath with a moderate amount of blood and dead bodies when the elevator arrives at the next floor).
A man is beaten in his office. First, his head is pushed and slammed into the door, breaking his nose, and he is then repeatedly punched (we only hear this from outside the locked door) and then is thrown over his desk. After this, his finger is forced into a cigar slicer and the person beating him pushes down on it almost cutting his finger, but stops after his answers are given. He is then taken hostage, but not further hurt. His face is bloody all throughout the episode.
Lots of characters are killed throughout the series, occasionally quite brutally but most of it is moderate.
In a hospital, there is a chase scene which is somewhat gory. A man is stabbed with scissors - blood spurts out. One man's nose is broken, but the blood is black. At the end, their skins melts into chunks of blood.
In the early season 1 there is a monster with an appearance which is slimy and sticky but not gory.
In season 3 two men die with their bodies melting and all their guts and blood moving by them self to form a monster. This can make any squeamish people watching feel very disgusted and horrified. Most of the show is nowhere near this gory though.
Season 4 is the goriest season. It has graphic violence with kids being killed in the first episode (this might be disturbing for some people)
A character is shown with a bloody nose frequently throughout the series.
A man is stabbed in the neck with scissors. Not too graphic.
Moderate
1175 of 2017 found this moderate
Frequent use of "fag".
In season 3, there is one use of "fuck", used as a threat: "I'll fucking gut you!" Seasons 1, 2 and 4 have frequent uses of "shit", "bitch", "goddamn", "ass", "dick", and "pussy".
Frequent use of "son of a bitch" by Dustin and Hopper.
Season 1 includes the word "slut".
Season 4 has some middle fingers, even starting from episode one.
Seasons 1,2 and 4 do not have any uses of the f-word. Season 3 does.
A character uses the word "bullshit" about 9 times in a row.
Frequent uses of "goddamn", especially in Seasons 3 and 4. Various abuses of "Jesus" as well, including "Christ" and "Jesus H. Christ".
Cursing includes "shit," "hell," "asshole," "dammit." A woman calls another a "bitch." One boy calls another a "pussy" and says they're "screwed." Bullying words include "freaks," "toothless" (in reference to a character with a genetic disorder), "frog face," and "midnight" (in reference to a Black character). Other language: "pissed off," "douche bag," etc.
Language is crude and moderate, but fluctuates in different seasons.
Mild
1145 of 1749 found this mild
Two characters are drugged and begin acting euphoric (basically the same effects of MDMA)
A few teens are seen drinking beer in season 1.
A teenager is seen chugging a barrel of beer briefly.
References in conversation to marijuana, cocaine and illegal pill use. Brief and no usage is ever shown of hard drugs
In season 1, Hopper constantly smokes cigarettes and drinks beer. He also abuses prescription pills throughout and it is implied he may have an addiction.
Hopper is a chainsmoker and Joyce smokes occasionally. Billy also smokes in nearly every scene he is in.
Use of weed and heavy narcotics in season 4
Drugs and the dealing of them are mentioned and referenced, but usually occur off-screen. One instance implies 2 people are hot boxing in a van but all we see is the smoke no joints shown. We see a duffel bag full of marijuana once, and it is implied two characters are high several times in season 4 without much detail.
One character in season 4 is a "pothead" and at one point, where he makes an error in judgment, he states his high is wearing off and vows to fix (meaning that he's going to get high again).
A main character in season 4 is a drug dealer.
Severe
1100 of 2160 found this severe
Seasons 1 and 2 are more suspenseful than violent, but season 3 basically flips that, choosing to show much more violence and gory imagery. Season 4 follows suit of season 3, but in a more violent way. The entirety of season 3 has some gory scenes of rats and humans exploding into piles of flesh and bones and moving with gory sound effects.
The monster from season 3 can be pretty frightening, but the scariest monsters come from season 4.
The final episodes of each season are very intense, particularly in season 4.
Season 3 comes with a warning mentioning frequent use of strobe lighting throughout the season. Viewers sensitive to this type of lighting and imagery may feel uncomfortable as flashing lights of all sorts are used quite a bit.
Multiple emotionally intense seasons throughout and particularly towards the end of each season.
The ending of the season 3 is extremely emotional and melancholic.
The monsters may frighten younger viewers.
Many intense scenes where people are about to die which can put you on edge slightly. In other words, it may be funny, but it's not a light-hearted show.
Flashbacks of Eleven being kept captive by a man she calls "Papa", she is used for experiments, brainwashed and locked in windowless rooms by herself, this may be sad or disturbing to some viewers.
The main character, El, is severely bullied in season 4. Not so frightening, but can be distressing and upsetting to some. Especially, the skating scene in season 4 episode 2.