5 Lesser-Known Teen Series & Movies to Watch After 'Stranger Things', Ranked by IMDb
There are sci-fi mysteries of small towns, dark secrets of the past, and supernatural threats.
Stranger Things leaves behind not only nostalgia for the '80s and friends on bicycles, but also a need for new, equally compelling stories about teens facing the inexplicable.
We've compiled a list of five lesser-known but brilliant series and movies that fans of the Stranger Things atmosphere will appreciate.
5. 'Summer of 84', 2018
IMDb Score: 6.7/10
Fifteen-year-old Davey loves riding his bike, playing hide-and-seek, and most of all, conspiracy theories.
So, when the TV reports a manhunt for a mysterious serial killer who has been stalking his neighborhood for years, Davey and his friends begin their own investigation because Davey wants to be part of something big.
He immediately becomes suspicious of Wayne Mackey, a friendly police officer and his neighbor. This suspicion stems from the day Davey spotted a boy in Wayne's window who looked suspiciously similar to a boy reported missing a few days later.
4. 'Super 8', 2011
IMDb Score: 7.0/10
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town were filming an amateur movie with a Super 8 camera when they witnessed a train wreck. They soon began to suspect that it wasn't an accident.
Strange disappearances and other inexplicable events then start to occur in the town. The local sheriff tries to solve the mystery, which turns out to be something far more terrifying than anyone could have imagined.
3. 'Locke & Key', 2020-2022
IMDb Score: 7.3/10
After the family's father is mysteriously murdered, the Locke family move into their ancestral mansion, known as Keyhouse. They soon discover that the house contains magical keys that may be connected to their loved one's death.
As the young Locke siblings study the keys, they discover their unique abilities. Meanwhile, a mysterious demon awakens, determined to steal the keys.
2. 'Paper Girls', 2022
IMDb Score: 7.3/10
The morning after Halloween in 1988 was a miserable one. Four twelve-year-old newspaper girls got into a brawl with drunken bullies and then a larger showdown ensued.
Meanwhile, unseen, a war rages between time travelers. Some guard the immutable rules of direct chronology, while others seek to correct the past to make life easier in the future.
After a pink eclipse, Mac, KJ, Tiff, and Erin found themselves in 2019 instead of their home in the late 1980s. They are desperate to return home – back to the past.
1. 'School Spirits', 2023
IMDb Score: 7.7/10
Sixteen-year-old Maddie was recently murdered and now finds herself trapped in the afterlife at her school. She's stuck there with others who have died there over the past hundred years.
Maddie is the only one who can communicate with the living for some reason, so she uses her newfound abilities to investigate her own murder. To find her killer, she needs her classmates' help, but first they must overcome an invisible barrier between worlds.
As the story unfolds, the students discover that their deaths were not simple accidents but part of a larger, more sinister plan.
