(space music)
- After over a year of waiting,
fans are so close to getting the highly anticipated
second installment of the cultural phenomenon
that is Stranger Things.
What's up guys?
I'm Chris Killian with ComicBook.com,
and we're talking about the Netflix series
that served as a love letter to all things 80's.
It was a massive hit that took everyone by surprise,
and anyone who grew up reading Stephen King
and watching films by Steven Spielberg or Jon Carpenter
felt right at home with the investigative quartet of kids.
So to help tide you over until Stranger Things 2 arrives,
I'm going to recount the many 80's films
that inspired the Duffer Brothers
and list off the 10 Best Movies
all Stranger Things fans should watch.
Starting off our list is Sam Raimi's horror classic,
The Evil Dead.
Out of everything on my list,
the Duffer Brothers take very little, if any,
elements from The Evil Dead.
There's still a very clear fondness for the horror
in this movie especially since the posters hanging
in Jonathan's room while the monster
is creeping behind the wall.
For number nine,
I've got David Cronenberg's Scanners.
The 1981 sci-fi horror movie features a top secret company
that attempts to locate people who have telekinesis and
telepathy in order to use them
for their own evil corporate deeds.
Sound familiar?
While Eleven doesn't get quite as gory as Scanners does,
no exploding heads here,
when she uses her mind to blow up people's brains,
it's still not a pretty sight.
Number eight is John Carpenter's 1988 B movie classic
They Live.
While the awesome Stranger Thing's intro music
should probably remind you of every amazing sense score
from every John Carpenter movie ever,
I went with They Live mostly thanks
to the giant government conspiracy angle.
Plus, the alleyway fight between Jonathan and Steve
is clearly inspired by Roddy Piper and Keith David's
throw down in They Live.
If you need another Carpenter movie example,
you can't go wrong with The Thing,
which Mike just so happens
to have a poster of in his basement.
Number seven is a Nightmare on Elm St.
Call it a hunch,
but I bet Freddy Krueger would probably
find the Upside Down quite cozy.
Like Freddy, the Stranger Things monster
seems to be far more powerful in it's own world.
Also, taking a tip from a Nightmare on Elm St,
whenever Eleven ventures to the Upside Down,
she needs a dependable pal
to pull her out when things get too hairy.
At number six is Firestarter.
If there's one lesson that the Duffer Brothers
clearly learned from the 80's,
it's beware of the destructive powers of angry telekinetics
and they don't get much more destructive than young
Drew Barrymore did in the cult Stephen King adaptation.
While we could have gone with Carrie,
the similarities between Eleven and Charlie
seem more obvious.
They're close to the same age,
they're both scientifically experimented on,
and both movies feature some nose bleeds
when telekinetic powers are about to do some major damage.
Number five, Stand By Me.
The Duffer Brothers clearly have such an affinity for
Stephen King's coming of age novella The Body
and it's adaptation Stand By Me,
that they actually had the young actors all audition
using lines from it.
While there's no supernatural elements at play here,
the plot of Rob Reiner's Stand By Me
is centered around four young friends
who go searching for their missing friend.
The very thing the Stranger Things does
such a great job replicating.
In the fourth spot is Alien.
Okay, so Alien technically isn't an 80's movie,
but the sequels are
and there's no denying the many traits the faceless creature
shares with the xenomorph from Ridley Scott's
sci-fi horror classic.
First, there's that sticky residue
that the creature uses to trap its victims.
There's lots of goo in the Upside Down.
Also, the creature pretty much uses humans as incubators,
impregnating Will with a slug like creature
in similar fashion to Alien's face huggers.
Number three, E.T.
Oh man, it would be quicker if I recounted everything
in Steven Spielberg's 1982 classic
that Stranger Things didn't borrow.
Where do I even begin?
Kids on bicycles,
Mike hiding Elle from his mom like Elliot hid E.T.,
government agents in Hazmat suits,
the blonde wig that Eleven wears to disguise herself.
These are just the tip of the iceberg.
If Stranger Things featured an alien instead of a monster,
this might as well of been considered an E.T. reboot.
Coming in at number two, The Goonies.
Another story that was crafted by,
surprise, Steven Spielberg.
The Goonies are the benchmark against
which all other similar films are measured,
so if you love movies about funny kids with imagination,
then you probably don't need me
to introduce you to The Goonies.
While the situation in Stranger Things is a little more dire
the group is looking for their missing friend
instead of a buried treasure,
the fun adventurous tone is still very much in tact.
For example, even though he doesn't drop a truffle shuffle,
Dustin Henderson is every bit as adorable
as Chunk was in The Goonies.
And finally, the film that you absolutely have to watch
if you're a Stranger Things fan,
Stephen King's It.
Though the Duffer Brothers clearly weren't inspired by the
recent reboot since it came out after
Stranger Things and all,
they were probably inspired by the novel
the movie is based upon.
And you can't get more coming of age kids versus
evil entity than It.
Bonus, Finn Wolfhard who plays Mike on Stranger Things
even shows up as Richie,
the scene stealing member of the Losers Club.
So now you kind of have to watch It.
I hope this helps you keep your 80's nostalgia in check
until Stranger Things 2 gets here.
Let me know in the comments
what your favorite movie is on this list,
and let me know what you think I left off.
Go check out some more of our videos,
and most importantly,
thanks for watching.
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