"Stranger Things" Influences
A list of movies and TV shows that influenced or are referenced in Stranger Things.
Certain things not on the list will be stuff like Mad Max: Fury Road, which didn't specifically have any influence on the show but the shaved head look of Eleven was inspired by Furiosa. Others include Pan's Labyrinth, which was really just given a small homage in one scene (with the tree). While there is not necessarily a direct influence (yet) Flight of the Navigator could be considered another inspiration, as it was itself 'inspired' by E.T.
Stranger Things influences, Stranger Things references, Stranger Things easter eggs.
Certain things not on the list will be stuff like Mad Max: Fury Road, which didn't specifically have any influence on the show but the shaved head look of Eleven was inspired by Furiosa. Others include Pan's Labyrinth, which was really just given a small homage in one scene (with the tree). While there is not necessarily a direct influence (yet) Flight of the Navigator could be considered another inspiration, as it was itself 'inspired' by E.T.
Stranger Things influences, Stranger Things references, Stranger Things easter eggs.
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- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHenry ThomasDrew BarrymorePeter CoyoteA troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.The boys riding their bikes through the woods, finding an "alien" having to dress that being up and pass them off as someone else, the "bad" government entity coming for them.
Undoubtedly the most influential work for the TV series. - DirectorMark L. LesterStarsDrew BarrymoreDavid KeithFreddie JonesA couple who participated in a potent medical experiment gain telepathic ability and then have a child who is pyrokinetic.Eleven's kinetic abilities and the bleeding from the nose. As well as the Tangerine Dream score, Firestarter was definitely a big influence.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsJoBeth WilliamsHeather O'RourkeCraig T. NelsonA family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.Having Will trapped in a place that he can be heard from but not seen.
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsSean AstinJosh BrolinJeff CohenA group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.General concept of a group of close friends going on an adventure. Similarities in how certain characters look or act, for example Dustin is similar to Chunk and Barb looks a lot like like Martha Plimpton's character Stef.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJennifer O'NeillStephen LackPatrick McGoohanA scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.Eleven's abilities to hurt people using her mind.
- DirectorJ.J. AbramsStarsElle FanningAJ MichalkaKyle ChandlerDuring the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a train crash and investigate subsequent unexplained events in their small town.Essentially just an ode to an ode to an ode, but still worth keeping on the reference list.
- DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsSissy SpacekPiper LaurieAmy IrvingCarrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.Supports the often used Stephen King trope of someone with psychokinetic powers.
- StarsRichard ThomasTim ReidAnnette O'TooleIn 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown.A group of kids looking for a monster who took their friend.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsHeather LangenkampJohnny DeppRobert EnglundTeenager Nancy Thompson must uncover the dark truth concealed by her parents after she and her friends become targets of the spirit of a serial killer with a bladed glove in their dreams, in which if they die, it kills them in real life.Having a brown haired girl named Nancy and seeing something push through the wall.
Also the scene in episode 8 where they light the monster on fire is similar to Freddy being lit on fire at the end of the movie. - DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.The people 'cocooned' in the upside down, also the ending of season 1 where Will coughs up that 'slug' another nod to this series.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.References to "the company" a corporate company with interest in scientific dangers.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsWilliam HurtBlair BrownBob BalabanA psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.Isolation and sensory deprivation tanks and using psychedelic drugs for experimental purposes.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsEthan HawkeRiver PhoenixBobby FiteA boy obsessed with '50s sci-fi movies about aliens has a recurring dream about a blueprint of some kind, which he draws for his inventor friend. With the help of a third kid, they follow it and build themselves a spaceship. Now what?Supports the "Spielbergian" trope of having a group of 'outcast' kids with a particular interest in science.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRichard DreyfussFrançois TruffautTeri GarrRoy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.Much of the feeling in the movie is the same, but specifically the scene where Mike's little sister wanders into a room in the Byers home, much like the young boy who went to open the door when the visitors arrived.
Spielberg was clearly a main influence, there is even a Jaws poster in Jonathan Byers room. - DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.The comradery of the boys in the show is much like it is in the movie, but specifically the scene in episode 5 where they are walking along the train tracks.
- CreatorMark FrostDavid LynchStarsKyle MacLachlanMichael OntkeanMädchen AmickAn idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.The small town Sheriff, the quote about mornings being for "coffee and contemplation", similar to the famous "damn good coffee" line in TP.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherLuke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.In episode 2 the boys see if Eleven can levitate Mike's Millennium Falcon, later in the episode while no one is around she does.
Later in episode 6 a reference is made about R2-D2 going to fight Darth Vader.
ESB: Dustin makes reference to Lando's betrayal. - DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.The use of monsters in the woods is presumably a nod to the movie. The shots of the front of the house and the porch swing swaying is another homage.
There is also an Evil Dead poster in the room of Jonathan Byers. - DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.The monster but more specifically the influence of John Carpenter's synth score in this film and others such as The Fog and Escape From New York (which is slightly nodded with the use of a spiked bat in episode 8). The film also plays on TV at Mr. Clark's house in episode 7.
The poster appears in the basement of Mike's house as well. - DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.The John Hughes theme that is established on the other side of the show with the high school kids, not necessarily making any specific references to The Breakfast Club, but these movies in general.
- DirectorMarshall BrickmanStarsJohn LithgowChristopher ColletRichard CouncilA high school prodigy builds an atomic bomb with stolen plutonium to win the 45th National Science Fair and expose a nuclear weapons lab posing as a nuclear medical research facility in Ithaca, NY.
- DirectorRichard FranklinStarsHenry ThomasDabney ColemanMichael MurphyA young boy and his imaginary friend end up on the run while in possession of a top-secret spy gadget.
- DirectorTibor TakácsStarsStephen DorffChrista DentonLouis TrippKids left home alone accidentally unleash a horde of malevolent demons from a mysterious hole in their suburban backyard.
- DirectorFred DekkerStarsAndre GowerRobby KigerStephen MachtA group of young monster fanatics attempts to save their hometown from Count Dracula and his monsters.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsDonald SutherlandBrooke AdamsJeff GoldblumWhen strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.