Every Major Film Reference in the Show, From AZTo call Stranger Things a Frankensteins monster of 8. With their new Netflix series, Matt and Ross Duffer have created something more like an immense nostalgia bath, drawing on the work of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King, and a host of others from a familiar era in popular culture. The glossary below identifies the myriad strands of cinematic DNA that comprise the show. Those who havent binge watched it yet are duly warned There are spoilers ahead for Stranger Things  and, of course, for a lot of classic movies. Alien 1. 97. 9 and Aliens 1. The faceless creature in Stranger Things combines design elements and traits from Predator and the first two Alien movies. For one, theres the sticky residue that the creature both leaves in its wake and uses to trap its victims. Whenever characters enter into the creatures netherworld, they first have to claw their way through the goo. In episode eight, we learn it uses humans as live incubators, pinning them down and impregnating them with a snake like analogue to Aliens face huggers. The final scenes, which suggest a sequel of sorts, hint at a possible dinner scene like John Hurts in the original film. And speaking of the face huggers, they spring out of an egg that peels back into four corners when it opens in Stranger Things, the creatures face does likewise. Altered States 1. Elle Millie Bobby Brown can only reach her full psychic potential when shes placed in a sensory deprivation chamber, which allows her mind to travel to another plane of reality known as the Upside Down. A sensory deprivation tank also figures strongly in Ken Russells trippy Altered States, which puts William Hunts character under the influence of various psychotropic drugs. Blowup 1. 96. 6When shutterbug Jonathan Charlie Heaton surreptitiously snaps pictures of Nancy Natalia Dyer and her friends, he happens to take a photograph of Nancys friend, Barb Shannon Purser, moments before the creature yanks her away. When Nancy gets her hands on a torn up positive of the shot, she pieces it together and notices a mysterious, blurry figure on the extreme right end of the frame. Playboy Magazine April 2010'>Playboy Magazine April 2010. After she brings it to Jonathan, their investigation recalls Michelangelo Antonionis Blowup, which is about a photographer who may or may not have captured a murder in the park. Its a thin reference, but any movie about an ambiguous images  or sound, in the case of descendants like The Conversation and Blow Out  owes something to Blowup. Body Double 1. 98. Cliches and expressions give us many wonderful figures of speech and words in the English language, as they evolve via use and misuse alike. Many cliches and. Sesame Street Season 10 aired from November 27, 1978 to May 25, 1979. The seasons main. Barkley is a fullbodied Muppet dog who appears on Sesame Street. Bootcamp Apple Wireless Keyboard Driver. Barkley debuted in the. Gladys Knight, Self American Juniors. Gladys Knight was born on May 28, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA as Gladys Maria Knight. She is an actress, known for American. Brian De Palmas deliciously pervy riff on Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window plays with voyeurism and murder, casting Craig Wasson as a house sitter who uses a telescope to spy on a beautiful woman and witnesses a murder. In Stranger Things, Jonathan scours the woods with his camera in search of his missing brother, Will Noah Schnapp, but pauses to catch some shots of his crush, Nancy, as shes partying at her boyfriends house. The image of Jonathan peering through the blinds with telephoto lens as Nancy is about to lose her virginity recalls Body Double and its poster. Carpenter, John composerCarpenters work as a director casts a long shadow over Stranger Things, but his synth based scores are also a primary influence on Kyle Dixon and Michael Steins music for the show. Dixon and Stein dont create the one simple theme that animates Carpenters best work, like Halloween or Assault on Precinct 1. Carrie 1. 97. 6Elle is a hybrid of two Stephen King stories about girls with telekinetic power, Carrie and Firestarter. The Muppet Show Font' title='The Muppet Show Font' />Of the two, Stranger Things owes a little more to Carrie, if only because Elle and Carrie White Sissy Spacek have a broader range of skills and a similarly sheltered upbringing. Though Carries age feeds into a more meaningful and excruciating story of her coming of age as a woman, the two characters are products of needy, controlling parents  Piper Lauries religious zealot in Carrie Matthew Modines experimental scientist in Stranger Things  who dont allow socialization with other kids. And while Elle and Carrie are fundamentally sweet natured, theyre capable of startling violence when provoked. When theyre flashing trance like stares, look out. Stranger Things also includes a nice homage to the  famous stinger that closes Carrie Just as Carries hand reaches through the soil at her gravesite Nancys hand punctures through the goo when she climbs out of the Upside Down in episode six. Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1. The Muppet Show Font' title='The Muppet Show Font' />Identifying Annuals. What are Annuals Annuals are books based on a theme produced each year at Christmas and they have a long. JDrYNj8k-M/V-qnWKTgiLI/AAAAAAAAMA8/AfM11XccaFYJL5Nn3rryXY5vfsslwzVoACK4B/s1600/Muppet+Show-40Of+Muppet+Stuff-heading.jpg' alt='The Muppet Show Font' title='The Muppet Show Font' />Stranger Things and Close Encounters both feature parents whose obsession with the supernatural looks to everyone else like madness. Whats often forgotten about Close Encounters is how much Richard Dreyfusss character terrorizes his family to follow an alien premonition. As he constructs Devils Tower out of mashed potatoes and shovels piles of dirt into his living room, his wife and children cant get out of the house fast enough. After Joyce Winona Ryder realizes that her missing son is signaling her through the electrical wires in her house, she buys stacks of Christmas lights from the pharmacy, paints Ouija like letters on the walls, and even drives an ax through the front wall in a futile attempt to reach him. Her system of communication, with its array of blinking lights, also mirrors the climax of Close Encounters. The Empire Strikes Back 1. The Empire Strikes Back was released three years before Stranger Things story begins, so it makes sense it would be a primary obsession for adolescent boys. Mike shows Elle his Yoda toy and later reveres her for her Jedi like powers. Dustin reaches repeatedly for the Lando analogy whenever he believes shes betrayed them, but the traitorous claim never really applies. E. T. The Extra Terrestrial 1. The mother lode. From its milieu and its themes to a wealth of visual references, Stranger Things owes its greatest debt to Steven Spielbergs classic story of a lonely suburban boy who befriends an alien in need. Hawkins, Indiana, isnt quite the California suburb of E. T., but the physical and emotional terrain is similar a sprawling town nestled against a forest boys dashing around in packs on their bicycles chaotic homes where latchkey kids are free to, say, hide a supernatural being without their parents finding out. As a divorced mother barely making ends meet, Ryder channels Dee Wallace in E. T., but its Mike Finn Wolfhard and Elle that recall the Elliott E. T. relationship most strongly. Beyond the sweetness of outcasts from different worlds forging a powerful bond, there are many specific moments when Stranger Things dips into the Spielberg well the use of a crude communication device to reach another dimension, Elle working telekinetic magic from Mikes bicycle, Elle wandering curiously around the house when no ones home, government agents in Hazmat suits, and Elle dressing up in a wig. The romantic angle of that last one, though, brings it closer to Kim Novak dressing up for Jimmy Stewarts benefit in Vertigo. The Evil Dead 1. What are the chances the cult of Sam Raimis The Evil Dead would have reached a kid from small town Indiana in 1. Pretty slim, but the VHS era makes it just plausible enough that a weirdo like Jonathan would have an Evil Dead poster hanging in his room.