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The Last Horror Blog: The Movies You HAVE to Watch After Binging Netflix's 'Stranger …
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, odds are you’ve heard plenty about the Duffer Brothers’ new Netflix series Stranger Things. This homage to everything we loved about ‘80s cult cinema has taken the Internet by storm, and with good cause – it not only pushes our Gen X nostalgia buttons for all the things those of us who grew up in the Reagan era came to love, but it’s also pretty damn entertaining in its own right. Sure, the nostalgia occasionally overwhelms the actual show (whose eight episodes often feel like a fever dream recreation of my childhood more than a standalone story), but if nothing else, Stranger Things is a solid reminder that it’s okay to actually go back and visit your youth.
With that in mind, here are some of Stranger Things’ greatest influences. If you loved the show, you owe it to yourself to check out some of the source material that clearly inspired the Duffer Brothers when they were creating their story.
If you haven’t seen Stranger Things, I suggest you turn back now. Bookmark this article and come back to it later, lest you encounter any spoilers that ruin the experience. All the things I’m about to recommend watching will still be here when you get back.
Firestarter
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While many people will point out the obvious influence of Stephen Spielberg’s E.T., J.J. Abrams’ Super 8, and Stephen King’s Stand By Me (which I’m doing here – so consider them noted), I find that another King tale also was hugely influential in determining the narrative direction of Stranger Things – and that was Firestarter.
Eleven is a bit of a cross between E.T. and Charlie McGee (brought to life by Drew Barrymore in the 1984 film adaptation). She’s a fish out of water like the alien, but she’s a hugely powerful psychic a shadowy government agency wants to use as a weapon like King’s character. It’s easy to draw parallels between Eleven and Charlie (both are pawns, weapons spawned through governmental experiments, and possess incredible psychic abilities), but there are other interesting parallels too. Matthew Modine’s character is reminiscent of Martin Sheen’s in the King adaptation. Eleven gets nosebleeds and becomes weak when using her powers, much like Charlie’s father in King’s tale, and so on.
Firestarter isn’t the greatest movie adaptation of King’s work – but it’s worth revisiting to see how its DNA was infused into Stranger Things for sure.
Night of the Creeps
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Fred Dekker’s cult classic about alien slugs invading the Earth by taking over human hosts is one of my favorite B-movies. Tom Atkins steals every scene he’s in as a weary detective trying to set things right, but the alien slugs are pretty unforgettable too.
Night of the Creeps doesn’t have as pronounced an influence on Stranger Things as some of the other titles on this list, but it’s impossible to watch Will’s final scene – wherein he coughs up some weird slimy slug monster – and not think of Dekker’s film (and probably James Gunn’s 2006 feature Slither as well). Check it out and see if you don’t agree.
Silent Hill
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Not all of the Duffer Brothers’ influence came from the “greed is good” era. Take the show’s central premise – the upside down world – which is eerily reminiscent of something like Konami’s Silent Hill videogame franchise (which spawned a 2006 film by Christoph Gans).
Silent Hill’s titular town is a haunted place that leads to an alternate version of itself – a place filled with horrible monsters and the kind of dark and creepy otherworldliness that Joyce and Hopper find themselves in during the later episodes. It seems pretty obvious that the Duffers not only were inspired by the game series (which stands as one of the best survival horror franchises in all of videogaming), but that they might be someone Sony should talk to if they ever revive the film franchise after the disastrous Silent Hill: Revelation.
The Goonies
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You’d have to be blind to not notice the similarities between Stranger Things and Richard Donner’s beloved 1985 film. The cast of characters in the Duffer Brothers series could have been yanked right from the cult classic film (which, again, ties back to Spielberg – who came up with the story).
Mike, Dustin, and Lucas – as well as Nancy’s nerdy friend Barb, are all reminiscent of characters from Donner’s feature. The story notes aren’t the same (there’s no treasure here – and again, the Duffers seem to have turned to things like E.T. and Firestarter for their inspiration there), but fans of The Goonies will find many nods to that title in the show’s eight episodes too.
Alien
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Ridley Scott’s classic haunted-house-in-space film isn’t one of the major influences in Stranger Things, but like Silent Hill, it provides some of the film’s creepy imagery in a less than subtle way.
The upside down world segments of the show borrow liberally from the H.R. Giger designs popularized in Scott’s film. There are pods like the ones that give birth to the face huggers, and plenty of other bizarre skeletal creations like those the crew of the Nostromo encounters. It’s a great nod to a beloved film, and you’ll probably have an urge to revisit Alien after wrapping up the first season of the show.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Stranger Things’ influences. There are distinctive nods to lots of other classic properties – from the works of John Carpenter (the score alone…), to Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, to the books of guys like Dean Koontz. Half the fun of watching is spotting them all – which is something this Vimeo video attempts to do.
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References to 70-80’s movies in Stranger Things from Ulysse Thevenon on Vimeo.
What are your favorite homages and tributes in Stranger Things? Share with us in the comment section below.