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KATE BUSH, “RUNNING UP THAT HILL” One of the unlikeliest developments in the history of Stranger Things was the show’s ability to turn a 35-year-old song into a proper pop hit in the summer of 2022. Originally from English art-rocker Bush’s fifth album, Hounds of Love, “Running Up That Hill” was a moderate hit when first released in 1985, but after it became the soundtrack to Max’s struggles against Vecna it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in eight different countries. MADONNA, “MATERIAL GIRL” When Max and Eleven decide to distract from their respective boy troubles with a trip to the Starcourt Mall, what better accompanying soundtrack is there than Madonna’s iconic ode to avarice? The song, which appeared on Madonna’s second album,…

STEVEN SPIELBERG Though he is a box office god and has won truckloads of awards, it’s possible that Steven Spielberg remains underrated. The American master began his career as a contract director for Universal, working on TV projects like Columbo and Night Gallery, but in 1975 he kicked off the blockbuster revolution with Jaws. Since then, he has swung between big budget spectaculars (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park) and high-minded dramas (The Color Purple, Schindler’s List, The Post). His ability to express childlike wonder in the face of the strange and the supernatural has made him an inspiration for generations of filmmakers, including Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers. JOHN CARPENTER John Carpenter isn’t the most successful horror director in history, but he may be the…

WINONA RYDER The show’s top-billed star was headlining movies long before many of her fellow Stranger Things actors were born, and the Oscar nominee was even featured in a handful of films that clearly inspired elements of the show, including Beetlejuice and Heathers. Ryder has successfully navigated the treacherous path between teen icon (Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker’s Dracula), Gen-X icon (Reality Bites) and prestige scene-stealer (Black Swan). In addition to Stranger Things, her TV experience includes a classic episode of The Simpsons (she’s the title character in 1994’s “Lisa’s Rival”) and memorable turns in the David Simon HBO miniseries Show Me a Hero and The Plot Against America. PAUL REISER The man Stranger Things fans know as the shady Dr. Sam Owens (a role that owes at least a casual…

ALIEN The first Upside Down monster our Hawkins heroes encounter may borrow its name from Dungeons & Dragons, but the Demogorgon’s look in Stranger Things owes heavily to the design of the creature in Ridley Scott’s Alien. The alien life form in Scott’s 1979 hit film, referred to as a xenomorph in subsequent sequels, was designed by Swiss artist H.R. Giger and brought to life by an Oscar-winning effects team. The Demogorgon’s mash-up of various organic features (both plant and animal) and signature unsettling mouth match up nicely with the monster who hunts poor Ripley in space. Eleven’s look nods to the psychological thriller Altered States. ALTERED STATES Throughout the series, Eleven has needed to juice her own extraordinary powers to enter and communicate with the Upside Down. She regularly…

DUST IN’S “DUCKIE” Dustin’s curls tend to hide under his ever-expanding collection of clever caps, but for his entrance to the Snow Ball at the end of season two, he went all out. With some critical advice from Steve, Dustin went with a high-volume cross between a mullet and a perm that was a clear nod to the formal coif adopted by Phil “Duckie” Dale, the immortal best friend played by Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink. NANCY’S PERM As a young woman in the early 1980s, Nancy Wheeler would obviously be seduced by the power of the perm, which was a solution for both women and men seeking both curls and volume on top of their heads. Actress Natalia Dyer has used a series of frizzy wigs over the…

A DINER REFERENCE In the second season finale, Hopper meets with Dr. Owens in a restaurant to unpack the closing of the Upside Down gate and collect Eleven’s forged birth certificate so that she might begin a normal life. Before getting down to business, Owens offers Hopper part of his sandwich, declaring he doesn’t think he can finish it, which is an inversion of actor Paul Reiser’s character from the 1982 film Diner, who attempts to mooch part of Steve Guttenberg’s handheld in a memorable scene. A WARGAMES REFERENCE The Hawkins crew’s brushes with a shady Cold Warera Russia is bound to invoke any number of ’80s references, including the 1983 Matthew Broderick film WarGames. But in the fourth season of Stranger Things, the show takes it one step further:…