70's - 80's film references in Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 1

• Stephen King's "Stand By Me" (train track scenes, being hassled by older bullies)
• Stephen King's "Firestarter" has a girl with telekinetic powers, likewise King's 1976's adaptation "Carrie".
• Opening titles are a homage to 80's graphics accompanied by John Carpenter-esque electronic music ("Hallowe'en", "Escape from New York")
• The monster is a cross between "Alien" (tube down Will's esophagus) and  John Carpenter's "The Thing". 
• Teenage romance and misfits - John Hughes comedies, take your pick. The Duffer Brothers chose great English alternative music, too. But this is another matter.
• "E.T." - BMX bikes, El(even) is hidden in a bedroom closet, a garden shed, shown Star Wars models by her new friend, a mysterious government agency is pursuing her. She even points (E.T.like) in on scene.
• Film posters on kids' bedroom wall: "'The Evil Dead"
• The monster's shape making a wall elastic-like ("A Nightmare on Elm Street")
• Dustin refers to El as the "weirdo on Maple Street". Am I drawing a long bow with the last one?

"The Ship" by Stefan Mani - Good read? How did I get on to John Carpenter?

Opening a new book by a new author (to me, anyway) is like exploring a new land. I know that sounds a bit of a wank but books are a great escape and a great way to travel in the mind. I saw on last night's TV news a volunteer program called "Footpath Library" where each night a van drops off a range of books free to the homeless in central Sydney. The rationale being so these people, living on the street, can escape into a good book. But I digress.
I grabbed "The Ship" from my local library. The blurb said the author, Stefan Mani, was "the Icelandic Stephen King". That sealed the deal. Scandi-noir is all the rage and Stephen King used to be my go-to author for spooky thrillers. The first 70 pages introduces the characters through cleverly interwoven incidents in Reykjavik. Then it moves on board the huge freighter, bound for South America. You know there is something evil afoot.
In the movies, having characters stuck in one place, whether it's an Arctic research station, like "The Thing", or a besieged police station in "Assault on Precinct 13" or a interplanetary vessel, like "Dark Star" or later "Alien") is a juicy suspense setup.
Stefan Mani writes a very 'cinematic' novel. He dips his lid to Stephen King with a quick reference to "Christine", comparing the book with the movie). Anyway, I'm only a quarter of way through, but things are chugging along nicely. Hope I'm not disappointed by such a flashy start. The stormy descriptions onboard are so vivid, it may cause the reader to feel a bit seasick.
I just realized all the movies I just mentioned (except "Alien") were directed by John Carpenter. Hope he buys the movie rights to "The Ship".
UPDATE
Finished book. Perplexed by the ending, but definitely kept my interest. Icelandic writers do bleak very well.

Avco-Embassy, Joseph E. Levine guilty pleasure movies

Image Copyright Sony Corp/cinemadumeep.com

Joseph E. Levine was a movie producer who founded Embassy Pictures. He once said that you can fool everybody if the advertising is right. And he was a master. He produced classy pictures like "The Graduate", "The Producers", "The Lion in Winter", "Carnal Knowledge" and the war epic "A Bridge Too Far"; but mostly they were trashy but fun movies.

Being a teenager and a young adult in the 70's and early 80's I watched a lot of schlocky Avco Embassy films. Here's my guilty pleasures for what they are worth:

"The Carpetbaggers" 1964 roughly based on Howard Hughes, trashy = sex+Hollywood+planes+power, this ain't Scorsese's "The Aviator".
"Robbery" 1967, based on the Great Train Robbery in 1963.
"The Day of the Dolphin" 1973 Mike Nicholls directed this George C. Scott movie about training cute sea mammals to blow up the US President.
"The Manitou" 1978, Tony Curtis does horror (to pay his debts obviously)
"Murder by Decree" 1979 Christopher Plummer and James Mason (as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson) meet Jack the Ripper in this nifty Canadian production. Directed by Bob Clark - a versatile director - from teen flick "Porky's" (1982) to the delightful "A Christmas Story" (1983). Now that's a big jump!
"The Fog" 1980, John Carpenter horror
"Escape from New York" 1980, John Carpenter sci fi with Kurt Russell kicking butt.
"Scanners" 1980, David Cronenberg horror sci fi
"The Howling" 1981, Ground breaking werewolf makeup, Joe Dante has a lot of fun in this, avoid sequels.
"Swamp Thing" 1982, Wes Craven directed.


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