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Years before Matt and Ross Duffer found unprecedented global success with Netflix’s “Stranger Things<\/a>,” the filmmaking duo kicked off their career with an overlooked post-apocalyptic horror. This debut title, “Hidden,” received an\u00a0extremely\u00a0<\/em>limited release in 2015 and fewer critical reviews, but showed great promise as an atypical genre entry that oozed creativity. The same year afforded the Duffer Brothers a solid chance to showcase their talents, as they were hired as writers\/producers for a Fox series adaptation of Blake Crouch’s “Wayward Pines” book trilogy. This was admittedly a big deal \u2014 the eponymous show’s twisty pilot was helmed by M. Night Shyamalan<\/a>, and subsequent episodes were directed by the likes of Ti West, Vincenzo Natali, and James Foley (among others).<\/p>\n Crouch’s trilogy begins with US Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon in the series) waking up in a strange small town with transient amnesia. This town, Wayward Pines, doesn’t provide him much comfort in his disoriented state, as this picturesque paradise emits an aura so ominous that Burke’s instincts are unable to ignore this gnawing sentiment. With his memory gone, he’s unable to piece together his own identity, which is exacerbated by the fact that the townsfolk resent him for some reason. As time passes, things start feeling more off<\/em> than ever before: nobody seems to be looking for him, there are hardly any cars on the roads, and a huge electrified fence creates a perimeter around Wayward Pines.<\/p>\n I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re already drawing parallels to David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” even though the Fox series feels distinctly different than its obvious tonal inspiration. But “Wayward Pines” establishes its identity well enough. And a line can be drawn directly from “Wayward Pines” to “Stranger Things.”<\/p>\n