27 essential movies every 'Stranger Things' fan should watch
Kim Renfro
- Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for "Stranger Things."
- Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things" is a "love letter to the '80s."
- Movies like "Jaws," "Stand By Me", "E.T.," and "Firestarter" inspired themes and scenes throughout all three seasons of the show.
Matt and Ross Duffer, known as The Duffer Brothers, co-created Netflix's hit series "Stranger Things" as "a love letter to the '80s classics that captivated a generation." We've already broken down all the specific references the second season made to older movies, but now we're here to give you the list of movies every "Stranger Things" superfan needs to watch (or rewatch).
Keep reading for a look at 27 essential films "Stranger Things" drew inspiration from.
"The Exorcist" (1973)
"When a girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter."
Source: IMDB
"Jaws" (1975)
"A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers, until a local sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down."
Source: IMDB
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978)
"In San Francisco, a group of people discover the human race is being replaced one by one, with clones devoid of emotion."
Source: IMDB
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977)
"After an accidental encounter with otherworldly vessels, an ordinary man follows a series of psychic clues to the first scheduled meeting between representatives of Earth and visitors from the cosmos."
Source: IMDB
"The Shining" (1980)
"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future."
Source: IMDB
"Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back" (1980)
"After the rebels are overpowered by the Empire on their newly established base, Luke Skywalker begins Jedi training with Yoda. His friends accept shelter from a questionable ally as Darth Vader hunts them in a plan to capture Luke."
Source: IMDB
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982)
"A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home world."
Source: IMDB
"The Thing" (1982)
"A crew in Antarctica finds a neighboring camp destroyed and its crew dead. Whatever killed them is nowhere to be found, unless it's hidden in plain sight."
Source: IMDB
"Poltergeist" (1982)
"A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts."
Source: IMDB
"Firestarter" (1984)
"A couple who participated in a potent medical experiment gain telekinetic ability and then have a child who is pyrokinetic."
Source: IMDB
"Gremlins" (1984)
"A boy inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town."
Source: IMDB
"Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984)
"After arriving in India, Indiana Jones is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone. He agrees, and stumbles upon a secret cult plotting a terrible plan in the catacombs of an ancient palace."
Source: IMDB
"Ghostbusters" (1984)
Source: IMDB
"The Goonies" (1985)
"In order to save their home from foreclosure, a group of misfits set out to find a pirate's ancient valuable treasure."
Source: IMDB
"St. Elmo's Fire" (1985)
"A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood."
Source: IMDB
"Stand By Me" (1986)
"After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy."
Source: IMDB
Stephen King's "It" (adapted in both 1990 and 2017)
"A group of bullied kids band together when a shapeshifting monster, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children."
Source: IMDB
"Jurassic Park" (1993)
"During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok."
Source: IMDB
"Back to the Future" (1985)
"Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown."
Source: IMDB
"Day of the Dead" (1985)
"A small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies."
Source: IMDB
"The NeverEnding Story" (1984)
"A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book."
Source: IMDB
"The Terminator" (1984)
"A seemingly indestructible robot is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a young waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against sentient machines, while a human soldier from the same war is sent to protect her at all costs."
Source: IMDB
"Die Hard" (1988)
"An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles."
Source: IMDB
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982)
"A group of Southern California high school students are enjoying their most important subjects: sex, drugs, and rock n' roll."
Source: IMDB
"Red Dawn" (1984)
"It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces."
Source: IMDB
"Alien" (1979)
"After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as a distress call, its landing on the source moon finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious lifeform, and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun."
Source: IMDB
"Aliens" (1986)
"57 years later, Ellen Ripley is rescued by a deep salvage team during her hypersleep. The moon from the original movie has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, colonial marines have impressive firepower, but will that be enough?"
Source: IMDB
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