20 Nostalgic Facts About the Movies That Inspired 'Stranger Things'
![20 Nostalgic Facts About the Movies That Inspired 'Stranger Things'](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/1/859631_320x180.jpg)
Folks, our favorite scene from Nostalgic Things was when Poindexter Nostalgic (that awkward nerd) and Chad Nostalgic (that dreamy bad boy) fought the terrifying N’ost’Alg’ic monster at the Nostalgia Mall. Damn, what a good show. Anyway, all jokes aside, Stranger Things really milks nostalgia, uh? To be sure, the show has some great moments of originality, particularly in its first, insanely fun season, and in Season 4, which was pretty brutal and awesome. So we don’t mean to trash the show, not at all. But it is also undeniable that it tends to be a bit too obvious with its references and influences (and more influences).
In any case, we here at Cracked love metatextuality so much we even learned the word “metatextuality.” Thus, in this Pictofact we discuss a bunch of movies that have inspired Netflix’s show, most of them belonging to the overrated decade in which a truly world-destroying and mind-scrambling creature of Lovecraftian horror began feeding off of our reality. Now, some of Stranger Things’ influences are clear and overt, while others are inspirations the Duffer brothers have acknowledged as possible subconscious inspirations. Perhaps. But do these references help figure out the show's many, many puzzles and unanswered questions? We don’t know, we’re dumb. What we do know, however, is that Everything Sucks’ use of Tori Amos was way cooler than Stranger Things’ use of Kate Bush, but that didn’t become a meme. Get to it, internet.
Stand By Me, Crying
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS STAND BY ME Director Rob Reiner kept making the young actors cry for real. For a scene, he told River Phoenix to think of a time an adult let him down, and Phoenix became unconsolable. On another occasion, he exasperatedly yelled at all of them. Cue the waterworks. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/5/0/859650.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Edibles
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS STAND BY ME According to Kiefer Sutherland, production had to be shut down for two days after Jerry O'Connell snuck into a hippy fair and unknowingly bought some funny cookies. They found him lost and crying in a park. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/5/1/859651.jpg)
Title Sequence in 'The Thing'
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS THE IN THE THING The iconic title card is a direct copy of the one in 1951 original. It was shot by attaching the title to a fish tank full of smoke, and then attaching a black trash bag to that t-which was set on fire. THE ING FROM ANOTHER WORLDRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/5/2/859652.jpg)
Sources: /Film, 1951 Opening on YouTube, 1982 Opening on YouTube
Shining Posters
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS HE THE Stanley ESTEMING Kubrick and legendary Hollywood graphic designer Saul Bass went through 300 ideas for the movie's poster. Apparently, Bass wasn't fond of the final poster's color, and proposed to make it red instead of yellow too and for mools emphasis an mare CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/9/859649.jpg)
Sources: Wikipedia, It's Nice That
Steven Spielberg's 'Poltergeist'
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS POLTERGEIST Is Poltergeist an unofficial Steven Spielberg movie? There are persistent rumors that he didn't just co-wrote and produce, but was also the real director, with Tobe Hooper only setting up shots. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/8/859648.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Poltergeist's Skeletons
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS POLTERGEIST JoBeth Williams did the mud scene like a pro - only to later find out those were actual human skeletons, not props. The FX artists got medical skeletons and dressed them up to look gross. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/7/859647.jpg)
More: 5 Famous Movie Scenes That Were Totally Disgusting To Film
Freddy Krueger's Greatest Hits
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS Treamy GREATEST HITS A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET Did you know that Freddy Krueger has a greatest hits album? Is this a bigger insult to the character than that Fat Boys song? If you found this 1987 nightmare for just $1, would you buy it ironically? Because we totally would. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/1/859641.jpg)
More: Never Forget There Was A Freddy Krueger Greatest Hits Album
George Romero's 'It'
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS IT The miniseries was going to be directed by George Romero, who had prepared thousands of pages' worth of scripts and notes. In the end, he didn't do it due to scheduling conflicts and the heavily shortened runtime. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/9/859639.jpg)
Source: Wikipedia
Oakland Raiders
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS THE GOONIES Sloth wears a Superman shirt as a reference to Superman, also directed by Richard Donner. And his Oakland Raiders shirt is a shout out to Sloth's own actor, John Matuszak, an actual NFL defensive lineman who played for the Raiders. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/6/859646.jpg)
Source: Ranker
Holy Ship!
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS THE GOONIES The child actors didn't see the pirate ship before shooting, as Richard Donner wanted to catch their genuine reaction. Too bad that their genuine reaction was to say stuff in the vein of, Holy s#!t so the scene had to be reshot. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/5/859645.jpg)
Source: Ranker
Swashbuckling Goonies
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS THE GOONIES Richard Donner's flick was influenced by Errol Flynn's movies. The pirate ship was modeled after the one in 1940's The Seahawk, and the music makes heavy use of Max Steiner's score for 1948's Adventures of Don Juan. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/3/859643.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Crossing the Streams
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS ENDLER GHOSTBUSTERS The juvenile joke (and kickass climax) about crossing the streams wasn't in the script. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd came up with the method to defeat Gozer at the last minute, and then changed earlier scenes to foreshadow it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/4/859644.jpg)
Source: Mental Floss
Alternate Ghostbusters
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS GHOSTBUSTERS Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Christopher Walken were all considered to play Egon Spengler, while John Belushi, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and Chevy Chase were up for Venkman. Yes, we'd totally watch the hell out of all those versions. SPENGLER VENKI CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/0/859640.jpg)
Sources: Screen Rant, CBR
John Carpenter's 'Firestarter'
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS FIRESTARTER This was going to be a John Carpenter movie, but Universal went with Mark L. Lester instead after The Thing's commercial failure. Now, no disrespect to Lester (he has done classics like Commando), but he's no John Carpenter. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/8/859638.jpg)
Source: Wikipedia
E.T. and Me
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS E.T. THE EXTRA- TERRESTRIAL Steven Spielberg considered titles like Upon A Star and The Landing. Melissa Mathison's original script was titled E.T. and Me, which is suspiciously similar of the awful E.T. knockoff Mac and Me. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/4/2/859642.jpg)
My Friend E.T.
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS Е.Т. THE EXTRA- TERRESTRIAL The movie was shot chronologically, with the puppeteers hidden from the cast, so the children actually developed a caring relationship with the alien. By the final scene, the kids were really saying goodbye to a beloved friend CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/4/859634.jpg)
Source: Wikipedia
Forgotten Robot Kid
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS D.A.R.Y.L. The greatest accomplishment of this forgotten 1985 movie about a robot child is being acknowledged by the Duffer brothers as maybe a possible subconscious influence on Stranger Things. Leonard Maltin called it, one of the blandest movies I've seen. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/5/859635.jpg)
Sources: IMDb, The Hollywood Reporter, Wikipedia
Alien Girls
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND While two of the aliens are animatronic, most are actually little girls from Alabama (as Spielberg thought that girls moved more gracefully than boys). According to actor Bob Balaban, Spielberg would shout out, Girls, stop disco dancing! CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/3/859633.jpg)
Sources: Wikipedia, Screen Rant
Comic Carrie
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS CARRIE Piper Laurie, who played Carrie's abusive mother, thought the movie was supposed to be a dark comedy. Director Brian De Palma had to explain to her that it was a straight horror film, not intended to cause any laughs. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/7/859637.jpg)
Source: Complex
Amityville Lies
![STRANGER THINGS INSPIRATIONS THE AMITYVILLE HORROR To get publicity for the film, the actors were told to lie to the press about spooky stuff happening on set. It was all bulls#!t, Margot Kidder said in 2005. Nothing happened, but it was funny. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/6/3/6/859636.jpg)
Source: Wikipedia