List Of 80s References In 'The Spy' - Stranger Things 2, Episode 6

Whilst Will's connection to whatever evil is lurking below Hawkins grows ever-stronger, nobody seems to have a clue how to save him. Elsewhere, Dustin and Steve form an unlikely bromance, bonding over girlfriend tips and Steve's haircare advice. But will we, the viewers, discover any fresh 80s references? Let's get the next coach to Hawkins and find out...

Before the credits roll we're straight into Exorcist territory as a team of medics try to save Will who's gone into a fit triggered by the Hawkins Lab dudes torching the underground tentacles as they rescued Hopper, Joyce and Bob from the tunnels. The Exorcist, if you haven't seen it (and if not, why not!?!) is a 1973 American supernatural horror film which tells the story of a teenage girl possessed by a demon, and the fight involved in freeing her from it. Directed by William Peter Blatty, it is considered by many a foundational film of modern horror and is genuinely terrifying in parts no matter how many times you've seen it. Joyce demanding answers from the doctors about how to cure Will as he seems to be taken over by forces unknown is very much a tribute to this classic horror.

As Steve and Dustin descend into the storm cellar hunting for Dustin's pet, and find a shed skin, and a growing alien creature, we're pretty sure we've seen something similar in Ridley Scott's 'horror in space' Alien, released in 1979, as the xenomorph rapidly grew once hatched. The tagline for this film was 'In space, no one can hear you scream'. We might update this to 'In Hawkins, none of the residents appear to have noticed a HUGE NETWORK OF ALIEN TUNNELS UNDER THEIR TOWN!'

Whilst Jonathan and Nancy continue their will they/won't they 'romance at a distance', comprising what must be the world record for teenage foreplay, When Harry Met Sally popped up on our 80s radar. This 1989 comedy starring, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, featured an infamous 'faked orgasm' in a diner scene – “I'll have what she's having.” The major question the film sought an answer for is, can men and women be friends without sex getting in the way. Based on Jonathan and Nancy's antics in this episode, we'd say the answer is most definitely no.

Jonathan and Nancy in separate rooms expressing their frustrations has a much clearer 80s parallel in the Indy sequel from 1984, where Willie, the nightclub singer and Indy are suffering a similar evening of frustration.

This David 'X Files' Duchovny starring science fiction film from 2001, whilst not an 80s film, seems to be an inspiration to all the scenes with the scientists dealing with the underground infestations. Biohazard suits, alien life forms, spores blasting out, it's all here!

The series seems to reference itself again in the hospital when Bob notes that the kind of weird stuff that's happened to Will is usually the preserve of 'movies and comic books' – to which we'd add 'and streaming series from Netflix', though as this series is set in 1984 that would probably be going just a bit too far.

The poster on Max's bedroom wall is for the 1966 surfer film 'Endless Summer' – the title describes the idea that if you had enough time and money you could follow the summer between the Northern and Southern hemispheres and enjoy 12 months of sunshine and freedom. We know Max is into skateboarding, perhaps her dream is to get out there in the surf? Also, we find out more about her troubled home life in this episode so that dream of escaping to the big wide world seems more real.

The demodogs arriving in a cloud of fog is a nod to the 1980 horror classic The Fog from John Carpenter, who also developed the Halloween movies.

Remember how, in the 1993 Spielberg directed dinofest, the velociraptors outwitted the game warden Muldoon, played by the fantastic Bob Peck, by having one of them sneak up on him from the side whilst he was focussed on the beasties in front? It looks like maybe the demodogs were trying the same trick on Steve, the look very velociraptorish (is that a word?) in the way they try to attack him.

Another John Carpenter horror classic, The Thing was released in 1982 and stars Kurt Russell as one of a group of scientists in a remote Antarctic base being attacked by a shapeshifting alien. In the Thing, the alien had tentacles that come out of its body, similar to those smoky tendrils invading Will. The alien also changes form to look like its victims, and in this episode the alien appears to have taken over Will for at least part of the time. The alien in The Thing was also a fan of the cold, and not so keen on flamethrowers.