Warning: This list contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.
Netflix's The Thing, but only in small doses. Season 4, much like Freddy Krueger himself, is anything but subtle.
That's far, the first half of season 4 is only one bloody bed scene away from being a full Nightmare on Elm Street tribute. Although Vecna lacks Krueger's wit and the town of Hawkins isn't Springwood, the connections between the two cannot be ignored.
Teens Fight A Boogeyman From Another Realm
Getting the most obvious points out of the way, it's hard to ignore the fact that the main plot focuses on a group of teens fighting off a nightmarish figure from another realm. Just as Freddy Krueger can venture from the dream world into reality, so does Vecna stretch his tendrils from the Upside Down.
The kids of Elm Street had to take the fight to Freddy's turf in the classic horror franchise, and the cast of Stranger Things have to repeat the formula. By finding the various gates scattered across Hawkins, they are able to venture into the monster's lair and confront him head-on.
A Killer Stalks Someone Named Nancy
In all honesty, it wouldn't be out of possibility that at some point in the series Vecna would be able to possess Steve or Jonathan and utter the phrase "I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy." Although Nancy Wheeler is a few shades different than Nancy Thomas, they both seem to have the habit of being stalked by otherworldly beings.
Just as Freddy uses fear and anxiety to manipulate his targets, Vecna brings back fear and trauma to do the same. In Nancy's case, it's revisiting that fateful night at the pool where Barb met her end with the Demogorgon.
There’s A House With A Troubled History
There are many horror stories where a house is practically a character in its own right, and the Creel House in Hawkins is certainly no exception to the rule. Although it's a tad more elaborate than the house seen on Elm Street, it does have its own kind of demons.
The Elm Street house was the epicenter of Freddy's supernatural activity, and the Creel house is the place of operations for the insidious Vecna.
The Victims Have Walking Nightmares
Bad dreams are the subject of several horror movies, and the series knows it. Although Vecna's visions haven't involved any gimmicks, giant cockroaches, or boiler rooms yet, there's an unquestionable similarity between the way victims suddenly find themselves in Freddy's nightmares or Vecna's illusions.
What makes them so similar is the way the victims suddenly find themselves cornered by images of their fears and anxieties brought to life in real-time. Similar to the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, it eventually gets to the point where the victims don't even have to be sleeping to experience these frightening scenes, and Vecna's method is no different.
An Innocent Party Is Blamed For A Graphic Murder
There are homages, there are references, there are little winks and nods to the audience, but then there's just the blatantly obvious. The way Chrissy dies in Eddie Munsen's trailer is very similar to the way Tina Gray is picked off in the original Elm Street movie, minus a few claw marks.
Although Chrissy isn't pinned to the ceiling like Tina was, she does rise off the ground and her male companion watches on in absolute horror as she is mutilated right before his eyes. Naturally, the witness is blamed for the murder and chaos ensues from there.
A Town Keeps A Deadly Secret
Stranger Things isn't the first horror series to create a town with a deadly secret, but neither was Elm Street. That being said, the way both towns go to great lengths to hide a murderer under the rug to spare future generations from knowing about him is remarkably similar. Granted, it's for different reasons in both sources.
When Nancy and Robin are researching Victor Creel and the infamous Creel House, they find very little on the public records, but they find just what they're looking for in the tabloids. This means, like the parents of Elm Street, the town wanted to keep things quiet to keep people from knowing about the supernatural beings lying in wait.
Townsfolk Take The Law Into Their Own Hands
Although the mob doesn't go after the true killer in Stranger Things, the way the townsfolk are rallied around going after the Hellfire Club is remarkably similar to the parents that went after Freddy Krueger in the Elm Street mythos. They interfere with a police investigation to take the law into their own hands to bring about their own brand of justice.
Going after a child murderer is one thing, but there's something all the more unsettling about a host of townsfolk led by the local basketball team going after teens in a D&D club. Mob mentality can make people do unthinkable things, for both the right and wrong reasons.
Dustin Directly Compares Vecna To Freddy
Leave it to the perceptive Dustin to hit the nail right on the head when things start to take a familiar turn. Seeing as how he's arguably the nerdiest member of the bunch, of course, it would be his role to put the pieces together and compare the monsters they face with the ones they see on the screen and in D&D.
After putting it together that Vecna goes after his victims in visions, he directly and verbally compares Vecna to Freddy while the police conduct their investigation. It seems like after four seasons of him discovering connections, magnetic fields, codes, and other disturbances, the gang would pay more attention to his astute observations.
Freddy Makes A Cameo
The series has always been heavily steeped in the pop culture fixtures of the 1980s, featuring such iconic amenities as an arcade and a roller rink as its focused settings. And no weekend of the decade would be complete without a trip to the video store. Some say the '80s were home to some of the most important films in popular culture, so of course a video store would such hits of the era.
Along with posters advertising Firestarter, observant fans can see a Freddy Krueger cutout behind Max. As obvious as this is, it wasn't the only time Freddy cameoed in the series.
Robert England Makes an Appearance
No tribute to Elm Street and its influences would be complete without an appearance by the man behind Freddy Krueger himself, Robert England. In the series, England plays the disfigured Victor Creel, a man driven to the brink of madness by Vecna and his waking nightmares. Needless to say, he brings the creep factor and presence he cultivated during his time as the Springwood Slasher.
To tie all the references and nods to the series in a neat bow, they obviously had to call on the man who gave the '80s nightmares way back when. Although he isn't a force of nightmarish evil, Englund's performance is certainly unsettling. To put the cherry on the horror sundae, his cell even has claw marks as Robin and Nancy find him scratching at his desk.