17 Key Cinematic Influences On Stranger Things

1) Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino, as a director of ultra-violent (none of his movies have ever rated lower than R) crime movies and westerns, probably doesn’t seem like an obvious influence on the Duffers on the surface. But his influence can be felt on the show nonetheless. For one, Tarantino is the filmmaker that made it not only acceptable but cool to lift from the work of others and plunder pop culture to make something new and ‘original.’

This, as evidenced by all the many heavy influences on this list, is the very MO of Matt and Ross Duffer on Stranger Things. Whether they realize it or not, they’re heavily indebted to Quentin Tarantino. It would appear they’re at least partly conscious of the debt they owe to Tarantino: at one point they even pay tribute to the director, with a POV shot from the trunk of a car – a QT trademark.