Stranger Things (2016)
Directed by A.J. Bruno
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.
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81 films that influenced Stranger Things
What critics say influenced Stranger Things
Herein lies the beginning of innumerable era-appropriate comparisons to Spielberg’s E.T., Stephen King/Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, and Chris Columbus/Richard Donner’s The Goonies, to name just a few.
Clearly, there are touches of “Poltergeist” and “The Goonies” baked into the idea, as well as “The Fury,” Brian De Palma’s 1978 psychic thriller.
…they ride out into the night streets on their bicycles (a touch of the Goonies and Stand by Me springs to mind)…
Their entire dynamic is undoubtedly inspired by the likes of The Goonies and E.T…
…taps into a potent nostalgia for ’80s-era, kid-friendly supernatural thrillers like The Goonies and E.T.
With its themes of adventure and mystery, this supernatural sensation hearkens back to beloved 80s’ films like E.T or The Goonies, and anyone who’s been missing the magic of youngster escapades will undoubtedly find it here.
“They’re here.” – the obvious but direct reference certainly plays into the Poltergeist vibes of the season.
It opens with a terrifying Demogorgon attack that evokes one of the most memorable scenes in Poltergeist and immediately puts three long-time characters in mortal jeopardy.
This season draws heavily from Poltergeist and Mad Max Thunderdome, while getting back to the spirit of adventure.
Clearly, there are touches of “Poltergeist” and “The Goonies” baked into the idea, as well as “The Fury,” Brian De Palma’s 1978 psychic thriller.
It’s a bit that visually and emotionally pulls you toward the familiar—Poltergeist, the final scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind—but at the same time is so distinctly its own thing.
Luckily, for those seeking the kind of action/horror adventure Poltergeist provided, Stranger Things generally delivers in sufficiently large amounts. Whether it’s family friendly is something parents must decide, but for guidance, sex and violence are more often hinted at than shown, gore is minimal, and the nightmare-inducement level is probably right around that Poltergeist mark.
The latest season of The X-Files, at times, just made me sad.
You will find hints of The X-Files in the plot thread about the inscrutable girl and the figures from the research facility who seem to be pursuing her.
But it’s also inspired by modern-day references such as The X-Files and Super 8.
…government conspiracies, straight out of The X-Files…
Perhaps the most satisfying is classic Steven Spielberg meets Chris Carter’s “The X-Files”.
…with moments of unseen creatures and strange abductions that would feel right at home in an episode of The X-Files.
…we’re in Close Encounters of the Third Kind territory, as freaky power surges light up the night sky.
It’s the PG-rated ’80s movie that would land a PG-13 today — your “Jaws,” “Indiana Jones,” and, yes, “E.T.” and 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
It’s a bit that visually and emotionally pulls you toward the familiar—Poltergeist, the final scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind—but at the same time is so distinctly its own thing.
One sequence in particular - featuring Ryder’s Joyce, an empty house, and a bounty of Christmas fairy lights - is especially affecting, evoking a goose-bumping sense of splendour-from-normality powerful enough to stand side by side with anything in Close Encounters or Poltergeist, but without for a second paying homage.
…cómo disfrutamos con E.T., Los Goonies o Encuentros en la tercera fase…
You see the influences of Spielberg’s “E.T.” and “Close Encounters”…
…(spot the Jaws poster - stalked by monsters, yadda yadda)…
The Demo Dog return was a nice set piece, even if it was riffing heavily off both Jurassic Park and Jaws.
Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jaws and E.T. and all of those Spielberg movies from that era — that was my film upbringing.
It’s the PG-rated ’80s movie that would land a PG-13 today — your “Jaws,” “Indiana Jones,” and, yes, “E.T.” and 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
She re-watched Stand By Me, Pan’s Labyrinth, Jaws, E.T., and Freaks and Geeks when preparing to cast Stranger Things.
Spielberg’ün Jaws’ı elbette ikonik posteriyle arz-ı endam etmektedir.
And that’s fine — even when “Stranger Things” pulls from more recent Spielberg, namely “Minority Report” — but when this much raw talent clearly has this much love for a project (especially a project reliant on child actors who, it turns out, can actually act) it stings all the more when the result is only passing entertainment, and not something more.
…you watch her and you’re reminded of Henry Thomas in E.T. and Samantha Morton in Minority Report all at once…
Spielberg’s ET…
Rooted in an affection for 1980s culture, it’s a throwback to the days spent absorbing Spielberg and Steven King during the halcyon childhoods of a certain generation.
It’s the PG-rated ’80s movie that would land a PG-13 today — your “Jaws,” “Indiana Jones,” and, yes, “E.T.” and 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Herein lies the beginning of innumerable era-appropriate comparisons to Spielberg’s E.T., Stephen King/Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me, and Chris Columbus/Richard Donner’s The Goonies, to name just a few.
Stranger Things is a Nostalgia Atom Bomb strapped to the bike from E.T. and flown to the fucking moon and it…works.
The show is set in 1983, the year the Empire Struck Back, and one year after ET flew across a full moon.
After Poltergeist and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom scared millions of children half to death, parents demanded a new intermediate rating between PG and R.
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Basically, it felt like an homage to “Super 8,” J.J. Abrams’ homage to Spielberg; an homage to an homage.
Stranger Things, much like J.J. Abrams' 2011 film, Super 8, is an overt piece of nostalgia for everything early '80s.
The whole thing has more than a touch of Stand By Me or Super 8 about it, but doesn't strain to place itself in period.
That was J.J. Abrams talking about his 2011 Spielberg-produced, Spielberg-homage Super 8, but it could have just as easily been the Duffer brothers talking about Stranger Things.
Lo que Super 8, de J.J. Abrams, fue en el cine es Stranger Things, de los hermanos Duffer, en la televisión.
…much like J.J. Abrams did in his similarly hued Super 8 (a dreamy wonder of a Spielberg paean)…
…everything from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Alien via The Terminator…
Ridley Scott’s “Alien” and Stephen King just for starters.
You’ll get vibes from “The Goonies,” John Hughes’ teen films, Stephen King stories, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Alien” and so much more…
…that keeps it from being the kind of transcendent experience it’s honoring, like E.T. and Alien and Stand By Me.
These three plots collide with an “X-Files” scenario involving a scary monster (“Alien”-sticky) and a scarier governmental-scientific conspiracy (creepily clean).
That Alien theory, you feel me? This kid is full of bugs.
Bölümler yoğunlukla 1984 tarihli Wes Craven mucizesi, “Elm Sokağı’nda Kabus” u bize ziyadesiyle yaşattı.
Korku öğeleri sıklıkla kullanılan dizide, ayrıca 1984 tarihli Wes Craven klasiği Elm Sokağı’nda Kabus’tan izleri sıklıkla görürüz.
Wes Craven’s 1984 horror masterpiece A Nightmare on Elm Street left its fingerprints on the dreamlike terror of the Upside Down.
From the opening minutes of Stranger Things, it’s obvious that creators Matt and Ross Duffer want to put you in mind of ET, Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street and, most of all, Stephen King’s It.
The series is a love letter to horror and science fiction genres of the 80s, paying clear homage to the best movies of its timem such as Goonies, Nightmare on Elm Street, and all things Stephen King.
For one, you had kids trying to summon an ominous entity who was able to reach out to grab you through seemingly latex walls. But also think about the Upside Down world, which with its stark, dark mirroring of humdrum Hawkins was similar to how Freddy would pull us into a topsy-turvy dreamscape.
Stranger Things is also mercifully free of the kind of self-awareness that, say, the Scream franchise had about all the horror clichés it was employing and subverting.
John Carpenter’s Halloween…
The latter two examples are what the brothers draw from specifically (those and, oddly enough, “Halloween”/John Carpenter’s expansive early oeuvre) in creating an ’80s set homage to the decade, complete with bad haircuts, an electronic synth-driven score and Reagan-era paranoia.
It's not by accident that by minute five of the show you've already caught homages to E.T., Poltergeist, and Halloween.
From the opening minutes of Stranger Things, it’s obvious that creators Matt and Ross Duffer want to put you in mind of ET, Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street and, most of all, Stephen King’s It.
In short, Stranger Things is sort of like if E.T. took a left turn into It, with a stop along the way to pick up a bit of the small-town terror of Halloween.
There are lens flares, dolly zooms, and Spielberg Faces galore, and the score is an explicit nod to Carpenter’s Halloween music.
Örneğin 1982 tarihli kült Carpenter filmi The Thing, dizinin canavarlarına ilham olan eserlerden bir diğeri.
The Thing…
John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing served as an inspiration for the show’s monsters.
Imagine The Thing as written by John Hughes…
Mr. Clarke is watching The Thing with a girlfriend (he tries to impress her by telling her one of the gross effects was achieved with melted plastic and microwaved bubblegum)…
The sets are steroidal wax-museum recreations of middle-class ’80s-era homes, riddled with posters of Jaws, The Evil Dead, and The Thing, in case we can’t discern the show’s aesthetic intention.
…a familiar stew of tropes that would make any fan of Super 8, Explorers, or Starman feel like they might have a case of deja vu. (It should come as no surprise that Shawn Levy, who directs two episodes here and serves as producer, is currently planning a remake of John Carpenter's superb Starman as this is being written.)
The synth music is very John Carpenter, reminiscent of films like The Thing, Escape from New York and Assault on Precinct 13.
The synth music is very John Carpenter, reminiscent of films like The Thing, Escape from New York and Assault on Precinct 13.
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…it references everything from E.T. to Stand by Me by way of Poltergeist, Aliens and plenty more…
…but a scene from Aliens gets lifted too…
She even gets her own Ripley-esque moment: “Stay away from my daughter!” she screams…
It’s a classic small-town-with-BIG-mysteries story (think Twin Peaks meets Aliens meets Monster Squad)…
“Dungeons & Dragons,” earth tones, rotary phones, wood paneling, banana seats, “Aliens,” “Star Wars,” pudding cups, Stephen King, John Carpenter, rugby shirts, all manner of terrible haircuts, John Hughes, the Evil Empire, “War Games” and, above all, the oeuvre of Steven Spielberg — “Stranger Things” creators Ross and Matt Duffer reference and re-reference the cultural touchstones of an American childhood they are too young to have shared with loving, amber-hued abandon.
…the first hour functions as a mega-budgeted, mashup homage to some of the great action classics of the ‘80s era — Red Dawn, Aliens, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and even TV miniseries IT.
…everything from Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Alien via The Terminator…
At first it was pretty funny that the 80s theme season had a bad guy clearly inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the dude really wasn’t a cyborg y’all.
…the introduction of The Terminator’s Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay…
Stephen King novels/films – Stand By Me, Firestarter and IT…
Eleven's initially reluctant ability to use her mad mental powers during times of stress/anger echoed her Stephen King-sired sisters.
The series takes seemingly everything to which Steven Spielberg and Stephen King have signed their respective names, particularly E.T., Poltergeist, The Goonies, Firestarter, The Talisman, It, and The Langoliers…
There’s a superpowered girl, straight out of “Firestarter.”
You’d have to be blind to miss blatant homages to E.T., Poltergeist and Firestarter…
…which lets him rip with period-piece elements, Commando-style action sequences in the Upside Down featuring El and Hopper…