Guest Post: Prep for Stranger Things Season 2 with a Movie Reference List by Author Gary Scott Beatty

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Earlier this month Wounds author Gary Scott Beatty was kind enough to provide us with a list of his Top 8 Most Clever Zombie Movies, and now he’s back with a movie reference list for Netflix’s popular series “Stranger Things.”

Graphic novel Wounds is now available on Amazon and Comixology; be sure to grab a copy after checking out Gary’s list below.

In “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer explored what made horror and sci-fi unique 30 years ago. Spielberg and Lucas did the same thing in the ’70s, resurrecting ’40s movie tropes that hadn’t been seen in cynical Hollywood for some time.

What I learned from “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s breakout hit from last year, isn’t just that quotes from late 1970’s/early 1980’s  movies are fun; I also discovered most current movies have lost that sense of child-like wonder. Remember when we were wowed by concepts, not just things blowin’ up real good?

Tight writing, characters to cheer for, stand-out performances, and a finale that will blow you away make “Stranger Things” Season 1 a must-see for sci-fi and horror fans. Let’s hope they can keep up the excitement for Season 2, coming to Netflix in October on Halloween night.

Great storytelling is important to me, but we all must agree the old movie references made “Stranger Things” fun, from the Korinna typeface in the logo (did we really once think that font was a modern look?) to artist Kyle Lambert’s homage to 1970’s/80’s painted movie posters to Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s moody synthesizers in the creepy soundtrack.

Thanks to modern tech, we can all enjoy the movies “Stranger Things” quotes without having to slip a cassette into the VHS player. Here is my “Stranger Things” movie reference list; if you can think of others, be sure to add them in the comments below.

Jaws (1975)
Carrie (1976)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Alien (1979)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Altered States (1980)
The Fog (1980)
Scanners (1981)
The Evil Dead (1981)
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
Poltergeist (1982)
The Thing (1982)
The Last Starfighter (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Body Double (1984)
Firestarter (1984)
The Goonies (1985)
Stand by Me (1986)
Predator (1987)

For more from Gary Scott Beatty, visit him on Twitter and Facebook.

Wounds Synopsis:
Wounds throws us into a world where nothing is beyond doubt, except a father’s concern for his wife and daughter. If you enjoy that “What th-?” factor in graphic novels, you’ll enjoy Wounds.

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