J.J. Abrams: Seven films that shaped "Super 8"

The LA Times has an article in which JJ Abrams discusses the 7 movies that shaped Super 8.

The title of the film is a reference to the Eastman Kodak film format that became a sensation with amateur movie-makers in the late 1960s and represented a rite of passage for several generations of aspiring directors, among them Abrams himself. The young characters in the film are making their own Super 8 movie when that mystery train runs off the rails, but the love of film and filmmaking in Abrams’ movie goes well beyond that. “Super 8″ is laced with images that recall the movies of the late 1970s and early 1980s that were important to the director, who celebrates his 45th birthday this summer.

“It’s difficult to separate memories of being a kid in 1979 from the movies of the era,” Abrams said. “That was the year ‘Alien’ came out, it was a couple of years after ‘Close Encounters’ and ‘Jaws,’ and then were movies a couple of years later, like ‘Stand By Me,’ that were so impactful. There’s jumble of movies that I love, some of them the mainstream movies but also the gruesome horror movies that I loved so.”

Which of those films inform “Super 8″? Abrams was far more enthused about answering that question than revealing further details about his new movie.

Here's JJ's list. But you really want to read the entire article to hear how JJ describes each of these movies and their impact on the making of "Super 8."

  1. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977)
  2. "Jaws" (1975)
  3. "The Thing" (1982)
  4. "Alien" (1979)
  5. "Slumber Party Massacre" (1982)
  6. "Scanners" (1981)
  7. "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"(1982)
Joel Courtney