Stranger Things is known for being jam-packed with 1980s pop culture references, and this season is no different.
Aside from that, we found several homages to classic horror this season.
Warning: Spoilers alert!
After almost three years on hiatus, Stranger things is back with the first seven episodes of Season 4.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Englund is best known for his role as Freddy Krueger in Wes Craven’s Nightmare on Elm Street series, beginning with the original 1984 feature film. According to Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Englund approached them about appearing in Season 4.
His presence on Season 4 was hailed as the perfect cameo for the veteran actor, not only because he’s a great actor and perfect for the part, but because so much of Season 4 is inspired by Freddy Krueger and by the ideas at play in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
HELLRAISER
In here, there’s too much Pinhead. Like Pinhead, Vecna used to be a human; both of their bodies were mangled into something monstrous after entering the spiritual realm. Also, Vecna’s voice is as deep, ominous, and penetrative as the one Doug Bradley adopted for Pinhead.
ERASERHEAD
People kind of want to see Season 4 of stranger things as a “Lynchian” film but it’s far from that. But there are parallels to be found in the way electricity manifests in both the show and the works of Lynch. In Eraserhead, Lynch has framed electrical currents as something that unites or bridges disparate realities and/or dimensions.
It’s less abstract in Stranger Things, but in this season, we revisit the idea — first explored in season 1 with Will and their Christmas Lights, that electricity is the best way of communicating across two different dimensions.
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
In here, we can see that it’s very much synonymous to the idea of the 1991 horror film ‘Silence of the Lambs’—in the stroll of Nancy and Robin take to Victor Creel’s cell is heavily indebted to the asylum meeting of Clarice and Hannibal in The Silence of the Lambs.
THE GATE
One of the most thrilling moments in these episodes comes when Steve limbs through a “snack-sized” gate at the bottom of Lovers’ Lake.
The notion of these interdimensional gates and the creatures that lay beyond them — brings to mind Tibor Takacs 1987 cult classic, which, like Stranger Things, focuses on some precocious kids and their teenage siblings.
THE RING
Gore Verbinski’s ‘The Ring’ enduring 2002 remake of the Hideo Nakata classic, which manifests here both narratively and stylistically relating much on the iconographic genre of the ’70s and ’80s for Stranger Things has a clear-cut as haunted VHS tape this season. But Vecna’s curse, much like Samara’s, has a lifespan of about a week, which is just the kind of motivation our characters need to figure this thing out fast.
The twisted, open-mouthed scream forever fixed on the broken faces of Vecna’s victims. It’s hard to see it and not think of The Ring’s most terrifying jump cut.
CARRIE
Stephen King’s 1974 novel, ‘Carrie’ and the Brian De Palma 1976 screen adaptation have been touchstones for El since the beginning, but the bullying aspect of the original tale amplifies the connection to El’s journey through the first two episodes of Stranger Things 4.
Imagine that scene after El smashes a girl’s face with a roller skate. Just as Carrie White suffered tormentors at her school, El is viciously abused in class, the halls, and eventually the roller rink.
