10 Stephen King References And Homages In Stranger Things
Even the author feels Stranger Things is vintage Stephen King.
Stranger Things turned out to be the big Summer show of 2016. The Netflix series helmed by the Duffer brothers hit all the right notes as a nostalgia trip back to the 80s. Over an eight-episode season that featured excellent pacing, tight writing and character development, the straight forward plot was full of nods to the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King.
Especially King.
Feeling like a cross between It and Firestarter with a bit of The Body thrown in for good measure, Stranger Things goes out of its way to pay homage to the king of horror. Some are obvious, others, not so much, but all feel purposeful and conscious.
From character references to the title credits, to ominous figures from the CIA dressed in black and four best friends out on a mission, Stranger Things is classic King without actually being a King work (interestingly, the Duffer brothers pitched the project after losing out on an opportunity to actually direct a King adaptation, 2017's rendition of It).
Even the author himself sees the links; a big fan of the show, he has taken to Twitter to state that Stranger Things is like watching "Steve King's greatest hits."
So - let's take a look at just how heavily the show is influenced by the greatest horror author of his generation: here are ten nods to Stephen King in Stranger Things.
10. Cujo On Screen
When it comes to nods to the works of Stephen King in Stranger Things, there's subtle - scenes and ideas influenced by the works of King that you might not notice at first glance - and there's obvious.
The inclusion of Cujo in The Body, the fourth episode of Stranger Things, lands in the obvious category, but it's also a very smart nod to the horror author. The book is glimpsed in the hands of a state trooper at the morgue when Hopper shows up to view Will Byer's body. King's face is clearly visible on the back cover.
So why is it there? Well, Cujo was published in 1981, just two years before Stranger Things is set. However, the big screen adaptation of Cujo was released in - you guessed it - 1983 (a summertime feature, no less), meaning it would have been very much in the public consciousness at the time.
You might also notice a bit of a thematic link between Cujo and Stranger Things, when it comes to a mother's obsession to keep her son alive. Though that worked out much better for Joyce Byers than it did for Donna Trenton.