Breaking down all the horror references in Stranger Things season 4
From
A Nightmare on Elm Street to
The Ring, we found several homages to classsic horror this season.
By
Randall ColburnMay 31, 2022 at 05:05 PM EDT
Warning: This article contains spoilers about Stranger Things season 4, Volume 1.
"Kids in peril" is one way to describe the Spielbergian genre joints of the '80s that so many of us grew up on — it's hard to forget the first time we basked in the glow of
E.T., The Goonies, Stand By Me, Firestarter, or
Poltergeist. As such, these were impactful touchstones for the early seasons of
Stranger Things, in which a quartet of pop culture-obsessed pre-teens in the early '80s find themselves confronted with the kinds of horrors they're used to seeing on TV.
Now, with
Stranger Things season 4, Volume 1, the kids are now teens
. They're still in danger, of course, but "teens in peril" is an entirely different kind of film. Yep, we're in the land of slashers now, and while horror has always hung in the firmament of
Stranger Things — the
Alien and
Halloween franchises, specifically — this
latest batch of episodes is a new level of grisly.
Below, we've cataloged some of the horror properties and purveyors most prominently reflected in season 4 thus far.
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, Sadie Sink as Max, Joe Keery as Steve, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin
| CREDIT: NETFLIX
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Vecna isn't Freddy Krueger, but season 4's interdimensional baddie shares several traits with New Line's razor-fingered Dream Master. He wriggles into the subconscious, for one, culling insecurities and moments of trauma as a means of control. Like many of Freddy's victims, the teens touched with Vecna's curse see disturbing visions, warped refractions of their own lives, before meeting their fate. When cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien) is killed, it's obviously reminiscent of the death that kickstarts the franchise, in which Tina (Amanda Wyss) is lifted in the sky and carved into pieces by an invisible assailant as her horrified boyfriend watches on. Also of note is Vecna's, shall we say,
chatty nature; he's the first emissary of the Upside Down to openly taunt its victims. Fingers crossed he doesn't start
spewing marketing slogans.
If that all weren't enough, the Duffers
cast Robert Englund, the actor behind Freddy, in the role of alleged killer Victor Creel. It's stunt casting for sure, but any heavy-handedness is leavened by Englund's creepy, absorbing performance.
Of course,
Nightmare's influence extends beyond Freddy, though.
Stranger Things 4 is a teen slasher that, like
Nightmare, folds in a supernatural component that distinguishes it from contemporaries like
Halloween and
Friday the 13th.
Robert Englund as Victor Creel
| CREDIT: NETFLIX
Hellraiser (1987)
Here's some assurance that Vecna won't become as goofy as Freddy eventually did: He's got way too much Pinhead DNA. 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. Not one for quips, that bellow.
Stephen King
The Master of Horror's shadow has stretched across Hawkins since season 1, but the Duffers are plumbing the depths of King in new ways this season. There's the focus on bullying, for one – it's cruel teenagers, lest we forget, that drive Carrie White to psychically set fire to the prom. Eleven (
Millie Bobby Brown), once so indebted to
Firestarter's Charlie McGee, now appears to be walking in the footsteps of Carrie. Sure, we learn in episode 7 that Eleven wasn't behind the massacre at Hawkins Lab, but that doesn't mean she won't wreak similar havoc once she's back in California.
You can see a bit of King in the Creel house, too. Like
It's Neibolt Street house or the haunted manor in King and Peter Straub's
Black House, the Creel household is both traditionally scary and a portal of sorts between worlds, a hotbed of psychic energy.
Erica (Priah Ferguson), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) communicate with their friends in the Upside Down through a Lite-Brite
| CREDIT: NETFLIX
David Lynch
Far be it from me to describe anything in
Stranger Things as "Lynchian," a term that's become overused to the point of obsolescence, but there are parallels to be found in the ways electricity manifests in both the show and the works of Lynch. As far back as 1977's
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 (
Noah Schnapp), Joyce (
Winona Ryder), and their Christmas lights — that electricity is the best way of communicating across two different dimensions.
Robin (Maya Hawke) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) in season 4 of Netflix's 'Stranger Things'
| CREDIT: NETFLIX
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The stroll Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Robin (
Maya Hawke) take to Victor Creel's cell is heavily indebted to the
asylum meeting of Clarice (
Jodie Foster) and Hannibal (
Anthony Hopkins) in
The Silence of the Lambs.
The Dark Phoenix Saga (1980)
Though not traditional horror,
X-Men's
Dark Phoenix Saga is certainly horrific. It's also one of the season's more overt references, what with
Eddie's Hellfire Club sharing a name with the nefarious organization in the comics that's partly responsible for turning Jean Grey into Dark Phoenix. The clear analog is Eleven, a good cosmic force that, amidst so much bullying, betrayal, and scientific manipulation, feels on the verge of turning into a destructive one.
Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven unleashes in 'Stranger Things' season 4.
| CREDIT: NETFLIX
The Gate (1987)
One of the most thrilling moments in these episodes comes when Steve (
Joe Keery) climbs through a "snack-sized" gate at the bottom of Lovers' Lake. The notion (and design) of these interdimensional gates — and the creatures that lay beyond them — brings to mind Tibor Takács 1987 cult classic, which, like
Stranger Things, focuses on some precocious kids and their teenage siblings.
The Ring (2002)
The Duffers draw primarily from the iconographic genre of the '70s and '80s for
Stranger Things, which makes sense for a show so evocative of Amblin-style suburbs. Occasionally, though, a more modern influence will weave its way into the fabric of the show. Take
The Ring, Gore Verbinski's enduring 2002 remake of the Hideo Nakata classic, which manifests here both narratively and stylistically. There's nothing so clear-cut as a 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. Also, just look at 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.
Here, we break down all the horror references in Stranger Things season 4, Volume 1.
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