When Stranger Things first hit Netflix last summer, viewers were quick to notice all of the nods and homages to classic horror films and TV shows, and there were plenty of those fun moments to discover. Now that the show has amassed a plethora of fans, the creative team has been even more straightforward with its genre love throughout the Season 2 promotional campaign. And while Ghostbusters and Alien riffs spoke to the hit show's sci-fi roots, the newest poster is all horror, and possibly a little comedy, paying tribute to Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead.
Now, we could spend all day talking about how the already stellar Stranger Things Season 2 cast could get even better with the addition of Bruce Campbell, whose Ash is currently stomping holes in deadites on Starz's Ash vs. Evil Dead. But we know that's not happening, so I guess we'll just save those dreams for when we're sleeping.
More to the point here, we're totally down with Joyce standing in for Ash on the poster...or "being pulled into the Upside Down" is, I guess, the more proper way to word it. I'd love to get a shirt with Stranger Things written in the Evil Dead font, even without the other stuff on it.
Sadly, there's not much to infer about where Season 2 is going from this poster, unless there's something super-informative to glean from the right-to-left change in the hand being wrapped around the victim's throat there. Well, I guess that would just be signaling that it's the Upside Down, where everything is kind of backwards. (But then shouldn't it be Joyce getting pulled out of the ground?) What I really want now is for someone to add another homage on top of this by throwing Ned Flanders-as-Satan into the mix, since being left-handed is part of his persona.
For anyone who needs a fresh reminder of what the original Evil Dead poster looks like, here you go.
I wonder if Stephen King's blurb on the poster had anything to do with why it was chosen. After all, the Duffer brothers are huge fans of his, and King's influence was all over Season 1, with more of that influence coming in Season 2. Plus, King is a fan of Stranger Things.
Speaking of Season 2, fans can look forward to quite a few new characters adding to the freaky mix, as the story picks up one year after Will Byers' return to the right-side-up world. On the adult side, we've got Sean Astin's Bob Newby, Joyce's new boyfriend and the new ire of Hopper's existence; Paul Reiser's mysterious Department of Energy exec Owens; Brett Gelman's conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman; Linnea Berthelsen's emotionally damaged Roman, who returns to Hawkins due to all the weirdness; and Will Chase's Neil Mayfield, who moves his family to Hawkins from California. On the younger side, we have Sadie Sink's suspicion-oozing tomboy Max and her violent and unpredictable older stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery). They'll all definitely provide some craziness to the drama.
Find out what all the evil (and dead things) will do to Hawkins and its citizens when Stranger Things Season 2 hits Netflix on Friday, October 27, at 12:01 a.m. PT. And to see everything else that's coming to the small screen, horror and otherwise, head to our fall premiere schedule.
