8 subtle 'Stranger Things' references only true Stephen King fans will spot
It's safe to say Stranger Things -- the eight-part mystery/coming-of-age/horror series created by the Duffer Brothers -- has taken the world by storm.
Just look at the way people reacted when Netflix went down over the weekend; the show is currently a worldwide obsession.
And aside from the gripping storyline, part of the show's charm is easily the nostalgia-fest created by its multitude of references to 80s and 90s culture; The X-Files, Twin Peaks, and the films of John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg are just a few of the many inspirations that get nods throughout the show.
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But the biggest inspiration of all? Surely the work of best-selling horror writer Stephen King (who is clearly a big fan of the show himself).
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From telekinetic little girls to dark alternate dimensions, we've rounded up some of the many nods to the king of horror below...
1. This pointed line in the first episode.
It's clear from the very first episode that Stranger Things is every Stephen King-lovers dream. In a flashback, Winona Ryder's character Joyce Byers remembers finding her son Will in his den out in the woods, and surprising him with Poltergeist tickets.
She says he's allowed to watch it as long as he doesn't have nightmares for a week, and when Will says he doesn't "get scared like that anymore", Joyce replies: "Oh yeah? Not even of... clowns?"
If that's not a reference to Pennywise, the iconically nightmarish clown from Stephen King's It, we don't know what is.
Reference: It.
2. The main characters.
Writing about children -- particularly children who are on the fringes of typical high school cliques -- is one of the things Stephen King does best.
In both The Body and Dreamcatcher, King writes about a group of four friends (all boys) who band together to contend with both bullies and the supernatural; in It, he writes about a slightly larger group of friends who dub themselves "The Losers' Club."
With their love of Dungeons and Dragons and their adorable idiosyncrasies, the four main characters in Stranger Things could slot easily into a King novel.
Referred to by one of the bullies as "those losers," it's easy to imagine them getting along well with Bill Denbrough's gang.
Reference: The Body/It/Dreamcatcher.
3. Eleven...
Eleven is a kidnapped little girl who escapes the clutches of a shady government organization and uses her supernatural powers to evade capture.
Aside from having slightly different powers (telekenisis rather than pyrokenisis), Elle is basically a homage to Charlie McGee -- the protagonist of King's novel Firestarter (basically another badass little girl on the run from a mysterious organization).
Reference: Firestarter.
4. ...And this line about her character.
Any uncertainty as to the inspiration behind Eleven's character is removed when Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper meet the sister of Terry Ives -- the woman who appears to be the real mother of Eleven.
Her sister says Terry believes the girl is "special... born with abilities." When Joyce questions what she means by abilities, Terry's sister simply responds: "Read any Stephen King?"
5. The adventure along the railroad tracks.
The scene above, in which the three boys and Elle are hunting for the gateway to The Upside Down along some wooded railway tracks, is a clear tribute to Stand by Me -- the 1986 film based on King's novella The Body (which involved the four main characters following some railway tracks in search of the dead body of a school boy).
Reference: Stand by Me/The Body.
6. Fighting the bullies.
The scene in which Dustin is threatened at knife point by a school bully is strongly reminiscent of a scene in It in which Ben Hanscomb, a member of The Losers' Club, is held at knife point by Henry Bowers.
The theme of standing up to -- and ultimately getting the better of -- bullies also plays a central role in Stand by Me and Dreamcatcher.
Reference: It/Stand by Me/Dreamcatcher.
7. The Upside Down.
They don't look quite the same, but the eerie alternate reality in Stranger Things -- known as The Upside Down -- draws parallels with the dimension that invades earth in The Mist (another King novella that was turned into a film): both were caused by a government experiment gone wrong, and both result in otherworldly creatures breaking through into our world.
The thin film of reality between alternate dimensions is in fact a recurring theme in King's work: as well as being present in The Mist, it's also central to his novel Lisey's Story and his novella N.
Reference: The Mist/Lisey's Story/N.
8. Finally, the series' disturbing close.
Having watched the whole of Stranger Things, we'd be surprised if the Duffer Brothers haven't read the previously mentioned Lisey's Story -- King's novel about a widow who follows a trail of clues left by her dead husband to journey into a frightening other world.
In King's story the main character, Lisey, encounters some nightmarish monsters in that world, but even after she's returned back to our reality -- and this is the key point -- she's still haunted by the things she's seen.
Not just haunted by the memories, either; there's the sense that the creature she's encountered is still out there somewhere in the darkness between worlds, actively seeking her out.
The grim twist at the end of Stranger Things, when the finally-rescued Will Byers coughs a monstrous worm into his bathroom sink before flickering in and out of The Upside Down, is a clear sign that he too isn't entirely free -- and that he might have to find a way to deal with his demons in the show's next season.
Reference: Lisey's Story.
Topics Stephen King Stranger Things
