(exciting music)
Do you find yourself feeling sad lately
like something's missing in your life?
Like a Horcrux has been destroyed?
Well, you may be experiencing PSTD, a clinical condition
known as Post Stranger Things Depression.
The Duffer Brothers Netflix sensation, Stranger Things,
has enthralled thousands of viewers
with its loving homage to the 1980s
and all things synth.
But what do you do
after finishing all the episodes of Stranger Things?
I mean, sure, you can wait for a second season
but right now, that feels a lot like waiting for Godot.
So today on the Dan Cave,
I'm going to recommend a bunch of movies
that will fill that Stranger Things shape hole
in your heart.
The Goonies.
I mean, in a way, Stranger Things
is like a much more serious version of The Goonies.
Think about it.
Tight knit groups of adventurous kids
on a quest against impossible odds.
It really adds up and I mean, sure,
the Goonies are looking for long lost treasure
and the Hawkins gang is looking for a missing friend
but the similarities are pretty undeniable.
The Goonies crew may not play D&D
but it definitely seems like something
they would be into, right?
And if you need a riotously fun adventure
with the best use of truffle
since Parmesan fries came around, look no further.
The Last Starfighter.
Average teenager, Alex Rogan
finally gets the high score on his favorite arcade game,
Starfighter
only to learn that it was secretly a recruitment tool
to find pilots to go fight in an intergalactic space war.
You know, that old chestnut.
That old Ernest Cline ripped off this plot
for his second novel, Chestnut.
And if you were super into the video game playing,
D&D loving, pop culture obsessive kids of Stranger Things
then you're probably going to have a good time
with The Last Starfighter
which made perhaps the most compelling case ever
for staying indoors and playing video games
until your eyes dried out because hey,
you might just save the world, baby.
Carrie.
It's hard to watch Stranger Things
without seeing a little bit of Brian De Palma's Carrie
in Eleven.
I mean, Sissy Spacek's Carrie and Eleven
both have crazy mental powers,
they both have disturbing sheltered childhoods.
They both have Matthew Modine for the worst father ever.
Okay, maybe that's just El
but Brian De Palma's 1976 adaptation of Carrie
is a haunting thrilling film
that might just be the ultimate example
of being careful about who you make fun of in high school
especially if you dump pig's blood them
because then they're going to ruin prom for everyone.
Firestarter.
The other half of the psychically charged coin that is El
is Mark L. Lester's Firestarter and lo an behold
it's another movie based on a Stephen King story
about a little girl with terrifying powers.
This time, Drew Barrymore stars as the little girl
who develops pyrokinesis,
the ability to control fire with her mind
and a government agency wants to control her.
Oh, and their psychic power can induce nosebleeds too.
Sound familiar?
Watch it, you're going to dig it.
Monster Squad.
Want even more of a group of enterprising youths
battling against terrifying monsters
to save the world as we know it?
Well, look no further than Monster Squad.
Fred Dekker and Shane Black's horror comedy
featuring Count Dracula
assembling a spooktacular Avengers of universal monsters
including the Wolfman, the Gill Man, the Mummy
and Frankenstein's monster.
Now, not only does the film assemble the universal monsters
for some over the top fun
but it taught us all an important lesson about Wolfman.
Kick him in the nards.
He doesn't have nards.
Do it, do it.
(dramatic music)
Wolfman's got nards.
Altered States.
If you vibed with the scenes
where El hopped into a sensory deprivation chamber
to travel to the upside down
then you will love Ken Russell's mind melting,
Altered States.
The sci-fi horror flick sees William Hurt
as a professor of abnormal physiology
who experiments with drugs in a sensory deprivation chamber
to supremely trippy effects.
Seriously, things get real weird real fast.
Let The Right One In.
If I said tween vampire movie,
you'll probably think of Twilight, am I right?
But there's a better way.
Namely, the Swedish film, Let The Right One In.
Set in the 1980s, it follows a lonely 12 year old kid
who meets an 11 year old girl named Eli
with incredible powers who saves him from bullies.
Holy (bleep) you guys, it's the same,
no, okay, no, no, it's different.
She's a vampire.
She's a vampire, it's way different.
Anyway, it's a spooky sweet story of friendship
that will alternately leave you frightened and fulfilled
and seriously, if you get the choice,
watch the Swedish one.
Akira.
Futuristic motorcycle gangs,
two best friends torn apart,
psychic powers and creepy ass kids
that look like Benjamin Button
banged the California Raisins.
That's right, Akira has it all.
There are plenty of parallels to Stranger Things
in Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 cyberpunk classic.
It's one of the most important animated films
of the modern era
because not only did it channel
sociopolitical generational conflict in Japan
into a thrilling visceral story
of friendship, alienation and identity
but it changed the way that anime was made in Japan
and perceived in the west.
I mean, seriously, just watch this film already
if you haven't see it and please, tell me,
why are those kids so gross?
They're terrifying.
I mean, get some moisturizer.
Rad.
Alright, look this might not have inspired Stranger Things
but it's got kids riding bikes to save their town from evil
which in this case is a team of BMX cyclists
but whatever, it's close enough for me.
The 1986 classic, Rad,
is an awesomely bad treasure with teenager Cru Jones
competing in the ultimate BMX race, Helltrack,
to earn a hundred grand
to provide a better future for his family
and plus, there's a prom scene
where people dance on bicycles in slow motion
and a weird romantic scene where they go ass sliding
which is apparently what they call
riding a log flume into the lake fully clothed.
I don't know, teens are weird.
Under The Skin.
I mean, sure, I could tell you to watch
John Carpenter's The Thing and you should
because it's incredible
but I also think you'll dig Jonathan Glazer's
Under The Skin.
It's a film starring Scarlett Johansson
as an alien disguised as a human female
who drives around Scotland seducing men,
luring them into her van
and then taking her horny prey back to this weird black room
where she basically absorbs their life essence.
It's creepy, it's cool, it's terrifying
and Scarlett Johansson actually drove around Scotland
with hidden cameras picking up random dudes on the street.
That is a true story.
And there's the shot of this baby on a beach.
It's the single most haunting thing I've seen
in the last several years.
It shook me to my core.
Watch this movie, man.
The Mist.
What happens when you combine Stephen King,
Frank Darabont and inclement weather in a main town?
You get The Mist, baby.
The 2007 sci-fi flick follows a group of people
who get trapped in a small town supermarket
when a creepy mist rolls into town
bringing giant insectoid monsters with it.
Well, I mean, technically the government brought them
with a secret project that opened a portal
to another dimension but hey, who's counting?
This movie also has one of the most
brutal (bleep) endings of all time
and I absolutely love it.
Oh, also, watch it in black and white if you can.
I think it's on the blu-ray
and then get ready to be super uncomfortable.
You're going to be squirming.
And there you have it, folks.
Which of these films is your favorite?
What others would you add to this list?
Let me know in the comments below
and give me a strange thumbs up while you're there.
Ugh.
Be sure to like and subscribe
or else you might miss next week's pulse pounding episode
where we talk about the story of a young Chinese girl
who disguises herself as a male soldier
and winds up fighting dinosaurs in a faraway land
in Muland of the Lost.
Until next time, keep on digging.
(light music)