When Season 4 of Stranger Things returns on May 27, everything about it is going to feel more mature. Those cute kids from Season 1 are now in high school, the malevolence percolating under the surface of Hawkins, Indiana is more potent and the overall vibe is swimming in ‘80s horror.
In fact, if that era of cinema gives you the tingles, then you’re in for a treat because the horror films of that time were formative for series creators, The Duffer brothers, and are deeply referenced this season. From the start of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer have always admitted how they were massively influenced by the films of the ‘80s, especially the horror and slasher classics of the decade. With the aging up of the series, Season 4 is their opportunity to unleash the darker side of their storytelling with the introduction of the Vecna, the Upside Down’s latest threat to Hawkins.
IGN circled up with the Duffers to get the four horror films that influenced the look, aesthetics and storytelling of Stranger Things Season 4.
Released the year the Duffer boys were born, A Nightmare on Elm Street written and directed by Wes Craven, kicked off what would become a 10-film franchise centered on child murderer and dream stalker Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). This season Victor Creel character is even played by Englund, which Ross Duffer says is a dead giveaway for their affinity for the franchise.
“It’s the most obvious one, A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Ross says of their first most influential choice. “But I have to also say, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors, which is the third Nightmare on Elm Street.”
If you know that sequel, then you’ll see the parallels with the psychiatric hospital and the ways Vecna is preying on the minds of young minds in Hawkins.
Cliver Barker’s adaptation of his own novella upped the game for horror films in the late ‘80s with the introduction of the sadomasochistic Cenobite, Pinhead. With its hellish visuals and next level gory, the Duffers admit this movie left them with nightmares.
“Hellraiser is a big one,” Ross says of their third choice. “Pinhead really freaked us out when we were younger. We really want to imbue Vecna with some Pinhead vibes.”
One of the most memorable adaptations of Stephen King’s work, the ABC miniseries It co-written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace presented a Pennywise the clown that many say is still the definitive presentation of that character.
“The It miniseries where Tim Curry is Pennywise the clown haunted our dreams for many, many weeks after we had seen it,” Ross says of their fourth choice. “I think in terms of inspirations, those are probably the biggest ones for this year, just because the monsters are sentient, they're intelligent. But there's also something weird in that there’s something you can't quite fathom about all of those monsters. We wanted to try to capture that feeling with this.”
Singing the praises of both Barker and King, Matt Duffer says the two writers represent their benchmark creators in horror. “We've never gonna be able to hit what they did, but it was just trying to evoke the feeling that their creations evoked and conjured in us. That was the goal, saying, 'Okay, that's the bar. How do you get there? What did they do? Why was it effective?' There was lots of talk about those guys.”
The dissection of how those titans make the horror story sausage so good also extended into how the Duffers crafted the coalescing mythology this season around the “Hawkins curse.” As Vecna’s pernicious influence takes down victim after victim, Matt says they talked a lot about the curse would work and how to break it.
“It took us a long time to figure out the mechanics of it, especially because so much of this takes place in the mind,” Matt explains. “There's a danger of it just feeling like anything can happen. What we found is we need to set very specific rules fairly early on so that the audience understands, and then you just don't break those rules.” They found adhering to those parameters meant the audience is left feeling very uneasy about the safety of all the characters.
Matt adds that develing into Vecna’s abilities to invade the innermost thoughts of some of Hawkin’s residents was challenging but extremely exciting. “It was just so freeing to write stuff inside the mind.” he enthuses. “We also talked a lot about Inception and The Cell, the Jennifer Lopez from the '90s which I think is underrated, and that scared me a lot. We talked about those movies and what worked about them. And a lot of it, we realized, was let's just set out the rules, write it all out, and let's not be wishy-washy about it. And then the audience, hopefully, will be in for the ride.”
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In fact, if that era of cinema gives you the tingles, then you’re in for a treat because the horror films of that time were formative for series creators, The Duffer brothers, and are deeply referenced this season. From the start of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer have always admitted how they were massively influenced by the films of the ‘80s, especially the horror and slasher classics of the decade. With the aging up of the series, Season 4 is their opportunity to unleash the darker side of their storytelling with the introduction of the Vecna, the Upside Down’s latest threat to Hawkins.
IGN circled up with the Duffers to get the four horror films that influenced the look, aesthetics and storytelling of Stranger Things Season 4.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors (1987)
Released the year the Duffer boys were born, A Nightmare on Elm Street written and directed by Wes Craven, kicked off what would become a 10-film franchise centered on child murderer and dream stalker Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). This season Victor Creel character is even played by Englund, which Ross Duffer says is a dead giveaway for their affinity for the franchise.
“It’s the most obvious one, A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Ross says of their first most influential choice. “But I have to also say, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors, which is the third Nightmare on Elm Street.”
If you know that sequel, then you’ll see the parallels with the psychiatric hospital and the ways Vecna is preying on the minds of young minds in Hawkins.
Hellraiser (1987)
Cliver Barker’s adaptation of his own novella upped the game for horror films in the late ‘80s with the introduction of the sadomasochistic Cenobite, Pinhead. With its hellish visuals and next level gory, the Duffers admit this movie left them with nightmares.
“Hellraiser is a big one,” Ross says of their third choice. “Pinhead really freaked us out when we were younger. We really want to imbue Vecna with some Pinhead vibes.”
It (1990)
One of the most memorable adaptations of Stephen King’s work, the ABC miniseries It co-written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace presented a Pennywise the clown that many say is still the definitive presentation of that character.
“The It miniseries where Tim Curry is Pennywise the clown haunted our dreams for many, many weeks after we had seen it,” Ross says of their fourth choice. “I think in terms of inspirations, those are probably the biggest ones for this year, just because the monsters are sentient, they're intelligent. But there's also something weird in that there’s something you can't quite fathom about all of those monsters. We wanted to try to capture that feeling with this.”
Singing the praises of both Barker and King, Matt Duffer says the two writers represent their benchmark creators in horror. “We've never gonna be able to hit what they did, but it was just trying to evoke the feeling that their creations evoked and conjured in us. That was the goal, saying, 'Okay, that's the bar. How do you get there? What did they do? Why was it effective?' There was lots of talk about those guys.”
The dissection of how those titans make the horror story sausage so good also extended into how the Duffers crafted the coalescing mythology this season around the “Hawkins curse.” As Vecna’s pernicious influence takes down victim after victim, Matt says they talked a lot about the curse would work and how to break it.
“It took us a long time to figure out the mechanics of it, especially because so much of this takes place in the mind,” Matt explains. “There's a danger of it just feeling like anything can happen. What we found is we need to set very specific rules fairly early on so that the audience understands, and then you just don't break those rules.” They found adhering to those parameters meant the audience is left feeling very uneasy about the safety of all the characters.
Matt adds that develing into Vecna’s abilities to invade the innermost thoughts of some of Hawkin’s residents was challenging but extremely exciting. “It was just so freeing to write stuff inside the mind.” he enthuses. “We also talked a lot about Inception and The Cell, the Jennifer Lopez from the '90s which I think is underrated, and that scared me a lot. We talked about those movies and what worked about them. And a lot of it, we realized, was let's just set out the rules, write it all out, and let's not be wishy-washy about it. And then the audience, hopefully, will be in for the ride.”
Continue reading...