23 Movies To Watch If You Already Miss “Stranger Things” – BuzzFeed

They’re a must-watch for any Stranger Things fan – not only to see the show’s influences, but also because chances are you’ll just really enjoy them. Whether it’s your first time or a much-needed revisit, here are the movies you should be checking out…

The gist: A young boy discovers an alien with mysterious powers in his yard, develops a deep bond with it, and must work together with his siblings and friends to save the alien from evil scientists.

The connection: Eleven’s whole plot, especially in Season 1.

The gist: A group of friends try to find hidden pirate’s treasure and get tangled up with a group of mobsters in the process.

The connection: Stranger Things has a lot in common with The Goonies – from the adventure plot to the friendship group, and even a cast member – Sean Astin, who plays Mikey in the movie, grew up to play our beloved Bob.

The gist: Four very different boys with an incredible friendship set off on an adventure in search of a dead body.

The connection: It’s not sci-fi or fantasy, but like The Goonies, Stranger Things borrows the coming-of-age vibe and friendship dynamics of Stand by Me. Plus there’s those train track scenes.

The gist: A futuristic sci-fi about, well, aliens, this is the follow-up to Alien but arguably the more iconic of the two.

The connection: The Upside Down and its creatures feature a lot of Aliens homages, and Paul Reiser – Dr Owens in the show – plays a similar role in Aliens.

The gist: A comedy about a bunch of high schoolers and their hormone-fuelled (mis)adventures.

The connection: We can thank Fast Times for the Season 3 mall setting, Phoebe Cates references, and most importantly, Steve Harrington’s sailor suit.

The gist: Four paranormal investigators battle supernatural forces.

The connection: It’s basically a grown up (and lighter) Stranger Things. There’s a reason the boys dressed as these characters for Halloween.

The gist: A secret government agency seeks to use the powers of a young girl with pyrokinesis.

The connection: Eleven’s plot, of course.

The gist: Indiana Jones, an archaeologist/badass, searches for a mythical stone.

The connection: There are a lot of visual homages to Temple of Doom in Stranger Things, especially centred around Hopper.

The gist: A group of researchers in Antartica are targeted by a parasitic alien lifeform.

The connection: The Mind Flayer’s powers of possession are heavily influenced by The Thing.

The gist: A lonely boy gets pulled into the fantasy world he’s a fan of and must help to save its inhabitants from certain doom.

The connection: It’s a classic kids adventure story, and of course it’s the inspiration behind Dustin and Suzie’s triumphant love anthem.

The gist: A teen travels back in time to when his parents were young and must ensure they get together so his own existence isn’t erased.

The connection: This is the movie a very high Robin and Steve were so blown away by – and for good reason.

The gist: A cyborg assassin from the future is sent back through time to destroy the future leader of the human resistance before he’s even born.

The connection: Grigori in Stranger Things 3 is basically doing a Terminator impression the whole time.

The gist: An off-duty police officer stumbles into a heist on Christmas Eve.

The connection: Erica’s trip through the air vents owes a lot to Die Hard.

The gist: A group of humans take refuge in a mall as zombies descend.

The connection: Season 3 has a lot of zombie references – including a direct reference to the sequel to this movie, Day of the Dead – but the mall setting in particular is influenced by Dawn of the Dead.

The gist: A Soviet army invades North America and a group of teenagers stage a guerilla resistance.

The connection: The bad guys of Stranger Things 3 are straight out of Red Dawn.

The gist: A health inspector discovers that the people around him are being replaced by alien doubles.

The connection: The Mind Flayer’s army takes a lot of inspiration from this movie.

The gist: A man must rescue the woman he loves from the evil prince she’s betrothed to.

The connection: It’s an iconic ’80s adventure movie that’s a must-watch for everyone, but the most direct connection with Stranger Things is the fact that lead actor Cary Elwes plays Mayor Kline.

The gist: A teen is taught karate by his elderly neighbour and uses it to defeat his bullies.

The connection: Max and Eleven talk about how dreamy lead actor Ralph Macchio is, while echoes of the bullies of The Karate Kid can be found in Stranger Things.

The gist: A family moves into a house haunted by the ghosts of a young couple and a poltergeist named Beetlejuice.

The connection: It’s got the deeply weird vibe of Stranger Things and also features a young Winona Ryder in one of her breakout roles.

The gist: A rich old man creates a theme park inhabited by actual dinosaurs and everything goes extremely wrong.

The connection: Both feature a group of kids and adults running from/fighting monsters – and there are several Stranger Things scenes that are direct homages to Jurassic Park, especially in Season 2.

The gist: A guy adopts a strange creature as a pet and discovers that it spawns actual monsters.

The connection: Strange creatures! Pets that go wrong! It’s all very Dart and the Demo-dogs.

The gist: A group of kids are terrorised by a demon that takes the form of a clown.

The connection: This is obviously a new movie, but the book its based on and all of Stephen King’s work obviously influenced the Duffer brothers. Plus our main man Mike is in It too!

The gist: A group of kids witness a train crash that releases an alien into their town.

The connection: Again, this isn’t an ’80s movie, but it was produced by Steven Spielberg. It’s basically a predecessor to Stranger Things in the way it taps into the nostalgia for Spielberg’s earlier work, and very much has the same vibe as the show.