10 Things You Somehow Missed In Teen Wolf

The Michael J. Fox film is not the only piece of classic '80s cinema to influence on the series. Like all great works of pop culture, Teen Wolf builds on what came before it. The show’s themes, designs, and characters are inspired by a variety of influences, many of which are from the 1980s.

Jeff Davis, the creator and executive producer of the series, intended for the show to have a similar sexy, fun and scary tone to 1987's vampire classic The Lost Boys. Coincidentally, Tyler Posey was later cast in the lead role in the 2019 pilot for The CW’s The Lost Boys series which ultimately wasn't picked up by the network.

Additionally, the opening scene in the first episode "Wolf Moon", where the protagonists search for a body in the woods, is a tribute to the 1986 coming-of-age film Stand by Me. The kanima’s design was inspired by Set, the serpent from the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian. Chris Argent’s story about a dog that went rabid after a bat bite in the episode Season One episode “Magic Bullet” mirrors what happened to the titular canine in the 1983 film Cujo. Allison and Lydia’s hotel number in the Season Three episode “Motel California” is 217, a room number infamous in the 1980 film The Shining. The 1981 classic An American Werewolf in London is name dropped by Lydia in the Season Three episode “Tattoo” and referenced in title of the Season Six episode “Werewolves of London.”