Season 1 of Netflix's Stranger Things was an instant hit, combining the mystery and
frights of early Stephen King with the adventurous wonder of early Steven Spielberg.
The powerful Eleven is clearly a nod to King's novel Firestarter and its 1984 film adaptation,
while the Spielberg references are absolutely off-the-charts, with at least a half-dozen
visual homages to E.T. alone.
The Duffer Brothers' new classic is so deeply entrenched in 1970s and 1980s sci-fi and horror
nostalgia, in fact, that nearly every scene contains a wink and a nod to one of the show's
many influences.
But the story and characters are so engrossing, a lot of the more obscure references can go
entirely unnoticed.
For example ...
X-Men
In Stranger Things' first episode, Dustin challenges Will to a bike race where the loser
has to give up a comic book of the winner's choosing.
When Will wins, he shouts the exact issue he wants as he rides off:
"Get back here!
I'm gonna kill you!"
"I'll take your X-Men 134!"
1980's X-Men issue 134 is the one where Jean Gray, the X-Men's powerful psychic, becomes
Dark Phoenix, a cosmic being with dangerous and unstable psychic powers.
This reference foreshadows the arrival of Eleven, a girl with some mighty powerful psychic
abilities of her own.
Twin Peaks
In the disturbing final scene of the season, Will excuses himself from dinner to go to
the bathroom, where he vomits up a creepy otherworldly slug.
His reality flickers away and he briefly enters the Upside Down — the scary alternate dimension
he was trapped in all season — as he stares at himself in the mirror above the bathroom
sink.
The implication here is that the ordeal may be over, but he's brought a little bit of
it back with him.
This is similar to the final shot of David Lynch's bizarre TV masterpiece Twin Peaks,
when Agent Dale Cooper smashes his head into a bathroom mirror and cackles maniacally after
escaping the alternate dimension in Twin Peaks: the eerie "Black Lodge."
Alien
Stranger Things is filled with visual references from the Alien franchise, particularly in
the creature design of the Demogorgon.
The most direct reference, however, comes in the final episode of the season, when Nancy
sees Jonathan being pinned to the ground by the creature...
"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!"
It's a gender-swapped reference — with a bit more bite — to the classic scene in
Aliens when Ripley, nuzzled in her power loader, fires off a similar order at the alien Queen
as it slowly approaches Newt ...
"Get away from her, you bitch!"
The Alien references don't stop there: when Joyce finally finds her son Will, after traveling
to the Upside Down, she and Hopper have to pull a large serpent-like creature from his
throat.
This unwanted guest is likely the source of the slug Will pukes up in the finale, making
it eerily reminiscent of the face-huggers from the Alien franchise.
They Live
When the Duffer Brothers have Steve and Jonathan get into a surprisingly brutal back-alley
brawl over the graffiti shaming of Nancy, they're not just capturing two teenage boys
releasing their pent-up frustrations on each other's faces with their fists.
They're also paying homage to the iconic, absurdly drawn-out back-alley battle between
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David in John Carpenter's 1989 classic They Live … except
in Stranger Things, it doesn't take special glasses to see the real threat, and the cops
show up and pry Jonathan off.
Altered States
Stranger Things makes direct visual references to 1980's Altered States with its use of sensory
deprivation tanks, along with other, more subtle nods.
The tanks take a prominent role in the cult science-fiction classic, as William Hurt's
psychologist character uses them — and powerful drugs — to explore the limits of consciousness.
It's much like how Eleven uses the tanks in Stranger Things, both willingly and against
her will, to amplify her psychic powers so she can make contact with The Upside Down.
The Goonies
Towards the end of the season, there's a subtle reference to the scene from The Goonies where
Chunk discovers a walk-in freezer filled with ice cream — and a dead body — in the Fratelli's
basement ...
"They got Pralines and Cream, and they got Mississippi Mud, and they got Chocolate Eruption!”
In Stranger Things, Dustin similarly discovers a refrigerator filled with pudding cups the
lunch lady was hoarding — but no dead body — in his school's cafeteria, and actor Gaten
Matarazzo delivers his lines a lot like Chunk ...
"I knew she was hoarding it.
I knew it.
Always lying, saying she's out.
Bald-faced liar.
Mike!
I found the chocolate pudding!"
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