From secret clues to the Upside Down's origins to a stack of terrifying horror movie easter
eggs, the fourth season of Stranger Things is loaded with things you might have missed.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and these are the biggest, best, and creepiest details
hidden in Season 4.
Spoilers ahead, so take care.
Although Season 4 so far has revealed a lot of new details, such as One's identity and
how he ended up as a villain in the Upside Down, we still don't know exactly where his
powers originally came from.
But there's a little clue in the final episode if you turn the subtitles on, because as One
is using his powers against Two, the captions read "eldritch power thrumming".
For those who don't know, the word "eldritch" means something "weird", "sinister" or "ghostly",
and is often applied to describe Lovecraftian horrors that are ancient, almost unfathomable,
and from another dimension.
So, this could well imply that, even before he became Vecna, One's powers originated somewhere
in the Upside Down.
The Upside Down has probably been around for thousands of years.
Millions.
I wouldn't be surprised if it predated the dinosaurs.
The subtitles also reveal that eldritch music plays when Vecna kills Patrick, and that there's
eldritch thrumming when Steve, Nancy and co find the gate in the Upside Down, and there's
also eldritch gurgling when they pass through the gate,
all of which firmly links the concept of this ancient power or terror together with the
Stranger Things alternate dimension.
Jonathan may be far away from Hawkins in California this season, but in his room is a poster for
R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur, a clue to the terror Vecna is wreaking back in his home
town.
As well as being the band's name, those initials also stand for Rapid Eye Movement, a phase
of sleep known for its often vivid dreams including lucid dreams where the person having
the dream knows they're dreaming and may even be able to influence some of the characters,
story, or setting in their dream.
That's especially fitting for Stranger Things as several Hawkins' inhabitants are terrorised
by waking, living nightmares.
And it also fits Eleven's story as well, as she's going through her own type of waking
nightmare as she relives events from her traumatic past in the Rainbow Room.
Plus, in the final episode, when One reveals his origins in his villain's monologue, we
see a young Henry Creel's rapid eye movement as he turns back the hands of the clock using
his powers and when he attacks his mother.
And there's even more to that R.E.M.
poster because it shows a field full of kudzu a fast-growing plant, regarded as invasive
in North America as it kills off surrounding vegetation, obstructing their access to sunlight.
This reminds me of another of the show's horrors: the vines of the Upside-Down, that amassed
over Hopper and Will in previous seasons.
The poster's kudzu image also links thematically to Hopper's season 4 reveal about his time
in Vietnam where he was in the Chemical Corps spraying herbicide.
The first episode gives us several early signs of Max's fate this season.
After awkward talks with her school counsellor and Lucas, she heads to the bathroom, where
the image of her staring at herself in the mirror echoes Will in the Season 1 finale
before he ended up possessed by the Mind Flayer the following season.
Notice also the graffiti on the walls, with the words 'see you' next to a pair of eyes,
and further down, the words 'But do you see me?'
Those all-seeing-eyes looking at Max in the mirror foreshadow her being cursed by Vecna,
and how he spies on his victims from afar, reaching into their minds without their knowledge
And the words on the wall are also echoed in Lucas' later apology for not seeing what
his friend had been going through all along: I just didn't look hard enough.
But I see you now.
I see you.
Oh, and there's also a tiger eye poster on the wall watching during Max and Lucas's argument
just before she goes in the bathroom.
Vecna's already got a hold of cheerleader Chrissy, and her retching in the bathroom
brings to mind Will vomiting up a creature in the Byers' bathroom in Season 1.
And notice, again, more graffiti of eyes looking directly at Chrissy in the stall as she's
haunted by the all-seeing monster.
Also, Chrissy being tormented with visions of Vecna and sounds of her mother berating
and bullying her is reminiscent of Beverly being trapped with visions by Pennywise in
a toilet stall in IT: Chapter 2.
And the song 'I Was A Teenage Werewolf' that we hear after Chrissy opens the door, was
inspired by a 50s horror film of the same name in which an angry, troubled teen turns
into a murderous monster after being experimented on by a doctor with his own agenda, which
certainly has shades of One's experience with Dr Brenner.
And that same teenage werewolf movie also appears in IT.
Similar to the way Pennywise returns to Derry every 27 years for his killing sprees which
often target children, there's also a 27-year gap between Henry Creel murdering his family
in 1959 and his return to Hawkins as Vecna in 1986 when he begins killing teenagers.
And when Vecna attacks Patrick, the time is 27 minutes past nine.
My walkie wasn't the only thing that got soaked.
9:27.
Vecna also puts his victims in a psychic trap, tormenting them with horrifying visions before
moving in for the kill, akin to how Pennywise, one of the Duffer Brothers' inspirations for
Vecna, employs the Deadlights to hypnotise a target
just before killing them and uses psychological traps to terrify them to make them extra-tasty.
Both Vecna and the Dancing Clown also have their origins in another dimension, and One's
love of spiders also reminds me of Pennywise's monstrous spider form.
And if you're enjoying these horror references so far, hit that like button, I really appreciate
it.
Not only do Murray's Russian language talents prove crucial again this season, but he also
makes use of a more physical skill.
If things go sideways, I should mention I'm now a black belt in karate.
And while it's funny to see him roughly quoting a famous Okinawan karate master in the middle
of fighting smuggler Yuri, My fingers are like arrows.
My arms, like iron.
My feet, like spears.
it's even funnier when you realise that Murray's previous experience of karate:
I've only sparred with the other students.
How old?
It doesn't go younger than 13. ...has a lot in common with Dwight K. Shrute's
karate classes in The Office.
The way that Max is framed in this shot at the video store, with a standee of Freddy
Krueger leering over her shoulder, anticipates her possession by this season's Nightmare
On Elm Street-inspired big bad, Vecna, who terrorises teens in living nightmares, similar
to Krueger.
Max.
And at the psychiatric hospital, there's an extra-sneaky Nightmare on Elm Street easter
egg hidden way in the background.
But just before I get to that, speaking multiple languages isn't just a great skill for breaking
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...it's also fantastic for understanding movies and shows you love on an even deeper level.
Piacere, Girolamo Trombetta.
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Now, back at Pennhurst where Nancy and Robin are about to meet Victor Creel, played by
Freddy Krueger actor Robert Englund, there's a sign that prohibits knives, needles,
and razor blades, a cheeky hidden easter egg to Krueger's iconic bladed glove which was
originally made using steak knives and which, in the third film, briefly features needles.
While the scene with Victor is all very Silence of the Lambs, Robert Englund also gives another
nod to his most famous character when he scratches his nails along the metal table in his cell.
The gruesome design of Vecna's enlarged left hand and its distorted, elongated fingers
and claws also tips its hat to Krueger's glove with its long fingernail-like blades.
And during Fred's waking nightmare, a vision of a little girl accuses him with a finger
that grows into a horrifying pointed claw like one of Vecna's;
and the shot feels like a twisted, creepy version of E.T.'s famous point, especially
given the many other E.T.
easter eggs this season.
And there's a sinister little detail when One attacks using his left hand in contrast
to Eleven who uses her right hand to exercise her powers.
This is no coincidence as in many cultures and religions, the left side has often been
associated with evil and bad luck.
Which is also why Dr Brenner's scars, from the Demogorgon's attack in season 1, are on
the left side of his face.
The way Max will escape Vecna's clutches is foreshadowed during Nancy and Robin's visit
to Pennhurst: We found that music has a particularly calming
effect on the broken mind.
And on the blackboard, there's a list of records, all of which have titles related to dreams
and night-time, appropriately enough given this season's villain.
I'll See You In My Dreams is about an ex-lover who the singer still loves, while Red Sails
In The Sunset is sung by someone hoping their loved one returns.
So both songs fit Nancy's situation with Steve and Jonathan.
And keeping with Season 4's dream theme, in Suzie's room there's a poster for The Wizard
of Oz, in which Dorothy wakes up to find Oz was all a dream.
Also in her room are two posters for The Muppet Movie, a comedy road-trip film that reveals
the Muppets origin story and, much like Eleven's origin, rainbows are a big feature as is a
song all about dreams and dreamers.
Along with Stephen King and John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg has been very much part of
the show's DNA since the start, and this season even the 'friendly mailman' who delivers post
to Joyce looks like an absolute dead ringer for the blockbuster director!
While I was pretty shocked at first to see a Spielberg lookalike actor on screen, if
he was going to pop up anywhere this was the perfect storyline for it as the Duffers have
said they deliberately channelled his 1982 movie E.T.
for the whole California setting.
Also, check out the graffiti when Dustin rings Steve about subbing in to their D&D game.
E.T.
Phone home.
And the score gets very John Williams-esque especially after the Cali-kids and Mike up
sticks and head to see Suzie.
Fun fact: the Duffers Brothers' music of choice to listen to as they wrote the first-ever
episode of Stranger Things was John Williams' score for E.T.
And the Spielbergpalooza continues with super-strong Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom vibes
when Joyce and Murray find themselves without a pilot mid-flight as they soar over snowy
terrain below!
Meanwhile, back in Hawkins, the show's hair and make-up department channelled Temple of
Doom's Willie Scott for Karen Wheeler's new hairstyle.
Plus, there's a Raiders of the Lost Ark cut-out at the video store.
On top of that, there's a major homage to Jaws when Steve returns from exploring the
new gate in Lovers' Lake and scares the others in the boat before he's pulled down by a vine.
And there's another nod to Jaws via Vecna's first victim, cheerleader Chrissy, who shares
her name with the first victim in Spielberg's shark-infested horror.
Plus, Chrissy's surname, Cunningham, may well be a shout-out to Arnie Cunningham, the main
character in John Carpenter's horror film Christine, based on Stephen King's novel.
And the way Chrissy, and the other victims possessed by Vecna, float up into the air
has echoes of The Evil Dead.
Plus, the way the vines wrap around the victims also draws on Sam Raimi's film, as did Hopper's
experience with the vines in Season 2.
When Dr Owens tells El that she's needed to win the war against the Upside Down:
I believe you are our best hope.
Our only hope. ...there's a definite ring of Princess Leia's
message to Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope.
Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
You're my only hope.
And, in another Star Wars shout-out, Dustin drops Han Solo's famous
Never tell me the odds during a game of Dungeon & Dragons.
Never tell me the odds
And although El may mean more to the workers at the Nina Project than the Queen of Pop
herself...
You're bigger than Madonna to them. ...it's actually Hawkins singer Tammy Thompson
who gets to dress up like the Material Girl.
In some ways, Eleven and One are mirror images of each other.
We're alike.
You and I. And after this season's revelations about
Henry Creel, we can see how Eleven's experience of his evil actions sometimes ended up reflected
in some of her darker moments later on.
So, when she twists and breaks the bully Troy's arm in the first season, it's similar to how
One twists his victims limbs before killing them.
She also snaps a Hawkins lab employee's neck, like One did to a guard in front of her when
she was younger.
And you can discover even more easter eggs from Eleven and One's big showdown in my Ending
Explained video.
Tap the link here or in the video description below to watch that.
So, Movie Lovers, what other details and easter eggs did you notice in the new season?
Let me know in the comments below.
Tap here for my full breakdown of the ending of Part 1 and what to expect in the big Part
2 finale.
And if you liked this video, do leave a thumbs-up, I really appreciate it.
Bitchin', right?
Yeah, yeah.
Bitchin'.
Thanks for enjoying Stranger Things with me and hope you have a marvellous movie-loving
week!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!