Netflix's Stranger Things is the ultimate homage to the 1980s. Chock full of nostalgia, the series is heavily inspired by iconic movies of the period, such as The Goonies, E.T., and so on. In fact, when creators Matt and Ross Duffer first pitched the project to Netflix, they put together a sizzle reel made up of clips from countless movies.
Stranger Things was originally titled Montauk, a reference to the real-life Montauk Project, which allegedly saw secret government experiments take place in New York during the '70s and '80s. The Montauk conspiracy was a big inspiration behind the show, but the title was eventually re-worked to become Stranger Things. It was also relocated to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.
The sizzle reel is definitely something to behold. Perfectly cut together, it captures the essence of what Stranger Things would eventually become. We're talking Spielberg-esque imagery, all wrapped up in the show's signature ethereal synth tunes. It even sets up season 1's mystery of Will Byers going missing. You can see how it all comes together, even with imagery from numerous other projects. Ross Duffer shared the reel in its entirety on Instagram. Check it out below:
"We’ve never shown this before—this is the original sizzle reel Matt and I made to help sell the show," he wrote. "Putting synth over classic Spielbergian imagery got us so excited about what the show could be. Most importantly, this is how we discovered our composers Kyle and Michael—we used their music for the final montage and immediately thought, ‘This is cool.’ First person to name all the movies we pulled from gets a reward."
I can name a few movies featured in the reel—both Jaws and E.T. are standouts—but I can't profess to know all of them. However, one person in the Instagram comments section has completed the task.
The movies featured, according to the user, are: Altered States, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poltergeist, Jaws, The Fog, E.T, Halloween, Let Me In, Prisoners, Super 8, The Conjuring, A Nightmare on Elm Street, 28 Weeks Later, Silent Hill, The Mothman Prophecies, Donnie Darko, and Looper. Shout out to artist Alex Vincent for spotting them!
Stranger Things returns for its fifth and final season later this year. The season is split into three parts: Volume 1 premieres November 26; Volume 2 releases on Christmas Day; and the series finale lands on New Year's Eve. The final season further leans into '80s nostalgia, with icon Linda Hamilton joining the cast. It's bound to be a spectacle.
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