The Lost Boys (1987)

Did You Notice This ‘Lost Boys’ Connection In The New Season Of ‘Stranger Things?’

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Minimal spoilers ahead!

In the last episodes of Stranger Things Season 4, the Hawkins crew gear up to fight the season’s Big Bad, Vecna. In true ’80s movie fashion, the Duffer Brothers grace us with a getting-ready montage. They hammer nails into the end of a bat, saw of the barrel of a shotgun–all the cool fun things to make you deadly to the supernatural being terrorizing the town. Then three of them, clothed in military gear, go off to kill Vecna where he sleeps. Sound familiar?

Get ready for a fight! / Stranger Things

As is usually the case with the creators of Stranger Things, the Duffer Brothers pulled inspiration from ’80s horror. For these final scenes, it’s pretty obvious that they’re lifting directly from everyone’s favorite 1987 horror movie, The Lost Boys. If you want a memorable getting-ready montage, look no further than Sam and the Frog Brothers getting ready to kill David and the rest of the vampires in their lair. The audience roots for the Coreys as they live out their dreams of killing a coven of mullet-wearing, motorcycle-riding vampires.

Skeptical about the connection, though? Look no further than the outfits of the two three-person crews who set out to kill a sleeping supernatural foe:

The Lost Things? Stranger Boys?

It’s the climax of both stories. Three young people want to save an entire town from a supernatural baddie, and they do it by gearing up and heading straight into his lair. Clearly, the final scenes with Robin, Steve, and Nancy are Stranger Things‘ direct homage to Sam and the Frog Brothers in The Lost Boys. And if you’re still not convinced, check out their outfits. Robin is wearing a beret, just like Alan Frog did in the Lost Boys. If that isn’t an Upside Down amount of evidence, then I don’t know what is.

If you’ve watched by The Lost Boys and Stranger Things, you know that all the efforts each trio went through in their respective lairs, they didn’t actually achieve what they set out to. Did they do some damage? Sure. But the Big Bad survived those encounters in his lair and the fight had to be taken to each trio’s home.

Is Stranger Things ripping off The Lost Boys? I don’t think so. But these parallel scenes certainly show that the ST creators, the Duffer Brothers, certainly have a massive love for Joel Schumacher’s 1987 classic, just like the rest of us. Can you blame them?