Stranger Things
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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.Eleven is Mike's E.T., except Elliot didn't have a crush on his alien friend.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsZach GalliganPhoebe CatesHoyt AxtonA young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.The pumpkin patch hatching, reminded me of Gremlins. Oh and Dustin's pet I am pretty sure doesn't like bright light. He also takes it to his science teacher, like Billy did in Gremlins.
The teacher is also teaching with a projector as Dustin walks in. Also feels like a scene out of Gremlins. - DirectorIvan ReitmanStarsBill MurrayDan AykroydSigourney WeaverThree parapsychologists forced out of their university funding set up shop as a unique ghost removal service in New York City, attracting frightened yet skeptical customers.Was a big part of most boys lives in the 80's. So of course season 2 has the kids dressed as Ghostbusters.
One even captures a creature in a toy proton pack. - 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.The bully in Stranger Things refers the kids as "Losers". In IT, the kids who team up to take on Pennywise. Refer themselves as the Losers Club.
Stephen King is an obvious inspiration.
Max's brother is definitely like a bully you would see in not only any 80's movie but a King movie as well. - 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.Has Paul Reiser in Season 2 and even something that is Alien queen like.
- 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.Referred to as a love note to Steven Spielberg. With a group of kids stuck in a "strange" situation.
Stranger Things is a love note to Spielberg, the 80's and especially Stephen King. - 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.Season 1 got compared to Goonies and season 2 has Sean Astin.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.Although season 2 might have borrowed from Excorcist 2 a little as well. Definitely can say Will is a little possessed though.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.Max's older brother is a little Kiefer Sutherland bully like, but prettier lol.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonJoanne SamuelHugh Keays-ByrneIn a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.Max calls herself Mad Max when she gets a high score on an arcade. Oh and when she drives her brother's car in an hilarious scene. Definitely is a Mad Max tribute.
Except he could drive. - DirectorJohn BadhamStarsMatthew BroderickAlly SheedyJohn WoodA young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.Season 2: Two teens who are friends but secretly like each other track down a man into conspiracies for help.
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsRalph MacchioPat MoritaElisabeth ShueA martial arts master agrees to teach karate to a bullied teenager.Also throw in Johnny and you have Max's brother. Still not sure where he got his look from though.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsJason PatricCorey HaimDianne WiestAfter moving to a new town, two brothers discover that the area is a haven for vampires.Or did they get the look for Max's brother from this movie ? Mostly everyone in this movie has the big sprayed up hair.
- 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.The imprints in the wall in Season one. Oh and Mike's older sister's name is Nancy.
- 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 is experimented on Firestarter style.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsJoBeth WilliamsHeather O'RourkeCraig T. NelsonA family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.The kid trapped in another dimension.
- DirectorTibor TakácsStarsStephen DorffChrista DentonLouis TrippKids left home alone accidentally unleash a horde of malevolent demons from a mysterious hole in their suburban backyard.Eleven has to close....a Gate in Season 2 that all the creatures are coming through.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsKurt RussellWilford BrimleyKeith DavidA research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
- 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.Never saw it but the movie has been called an inspiration.
- DirectorFred DekkerStarsAndre GowerRobby KigerStephen MachtA group of young monster fanatics attempts to save their hometown from Count Dracula and his monsters.
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsMichael JacksonOla RayForrest J. AckermanA night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies - only a "Thriller" can save them now.The song is a big part of the season 2 trailer.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Winoma Ryder swinging an axe at the wall gets compared to Nicholson in the Shining.
- DirectorDon BluthTony BozekStarsDan MolinaVera PachecoMichael RyeA valiant knight, Dirk the Daring is on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon.The game they are seen playing in the season 2 trailer.
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
- DirectorJohn CarpenterStarsDonald PleasenceJamie Lee CurtisTony MoranFifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.Season 2 shots of houses at night on Halloween has the same Carpenter like look to it. The theme music of Stranger Things has a Carpenter feel to it as well
- 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.Will's obsession with the Upside Down where he drawers a lot of pictures in the season 2 trailer. Is like Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters. Also the door opening with a red light outside the door.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsSigourney WeaverTom SkerrittJohn HurtThe crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.The pumpkin cocoons, you can either compare to Alien or Gremlins.
- 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.
- DirectorMichael LehmannStarsWinona RyderChristian SlaterShannen DohertyAt Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsWilliam HurtBlair BrownBob BalabanA psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
- 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.
- CreatorMatt NixStarsStephen MoyerAmy AckerSean TealeIn a world where mutated humans are treated with distrust and fear, an institute for mutants battles to achieve peaceful co-existence with humanity.Definitely not an inspiration for Stranger Things since the show is new.
However, the episode where Eleven meets her sister. Feels like an episode of the Gifted.
Since they hide out at a secret location from authorities while being vigilantes, with powers. - DirectorTony BillStarsChris MakepeaceAdam BaldwinMatt DillonWhen a boy comes to a new school and gets harassed by a bully, he acquires the services of the school's most feared kid as a bodyguard.I could picture a remake with Steven and Dustin lol. Dustin definitely uses Joey as his protection when no else is available. Oh and the two bond.
- DirectorHoward DeutchStarsMolly RingwaldJon CryerHarry Dean StantonA poor girl must choose between the affections of dating her childhood sweetheart or a rich but sensitive playboy.So many school dances in 80's movies. Especially John Hughes ones. So of course season 2 has a dance.