The Duffer brothers have never been afraid to let their inspiration wait up their sleeve, and it certainly shows with Stranger things. The science fiction, horror, fantasy, and adventure components of the series are directly inspired by some of the Duffer brothers' favorite 1980s movies, and they've used that inspiration to create one of the most popular television shows of the last. to make time. With Netflix users having watched billions of hours of the show over all four seasons, many viewers may not be aware of the various inspirations that have helped bring the town of Hawkins, Indiana and all of its characters to life.
Be it the setting, the story, the characters or even the monsters in it stranger things, it's all somehow inspired by a slice of 80s popular culture. Here are 10 movies that helped create the Stranger things.
Alien
Alien inspired the creation of Stranger things in a few ways, not just one. For starters, the xenomorph alien was a part of the movie that was translated to the show. According to Ross Duffer, the design of the xenomorph directly influenced the design of Strange things iconic Demogorgon monster. Sure, the character's name came from Dungeons and Dragons, but the actual design for the towering monster came out Alien.
Matt Duffer also said that the planet in the film also came to inspire the two brothers. The planet we see Alien had airborne particulate matter, which we eventually see in the Upside Down as well, along with vines, spores, and "weird organic growths." These growths were used with practical effects, similar to some of the practical effects we see Alien also.
Akira
Akira is a 1988 anime film that revolves around a teenage member of a biker gang who also happens to have psychic powers. This teenager is part of a group of psychic children, known in the film as Espers. These teens are being used as test subjects by the government so they can be used for the government's personal gain. This is eerily similar to Eleven and the group of kids she was with at the Hawkins lab, as they also had psychic powers and were experimented on by the government to further the government's own personal Cold War agenda.
And an even further similarity is that the Espers in Akira were identified with numbers before their names, just like the subjects in the Hawkins lab. The Duffers have cited the film as an influence on the structure of the show and the similarities between the groups of children Akira And Stranger things are obvious if you pay close attention.
carry
The easiest match to point out between carry And Stranger things is that both stories focus on a teenage girl with telekinetic powers who is bullied by her teenage peers. This is most evident in the first half of season four of Stranger things when Eleven is bullied by Angela at the Rink-O-Mania, and she gets a chocolate milkshake thrown on her. While Eleven eventually attacks Angela, it's not down to her powers, unlike Carrie when she unleashes her powers on her bullies after being doused in pig's blood.
The point still stands that both Carrie and Eleven are powerful girls who were mercilessly bullied by others. While the Duffers have said the book Carrie, written by Stephen King, has been a huge source of inspiration, the same can be said about the movie as they both tell the story of the telekinetic girl who can't quite control her powers.
Stay with me
Together with Elf as the main character in stranger things, we also have the group of young guys Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson. This group dynamic was inspired by one of the Duffers' main inspirations for the show, which was the movie Stay with me along with the previous book adaptation. In fact, the movie was such a big inspiration that the Duffer brothers even had the young actors read lines from the movie as part of their auditions for the show.
But the inspirations and references don't stop there, as we see Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Eleven walking along a set of train tracks in homage to the movie during the first season. Plus, there's even an episode in the first season of it Stranger things titled "The Body", which is also a direct reference to the story in Stay with me, where the group of boys went on an adventure to find a dead body.
The thing
While many of the movies you'll see on this list have somehow inspired the story or design of the characters on the show, The thing provided a different kind of inspiration for the Duffer brothers. The thing is known not only for its gripping and suspenseful story, but also for its practical effects. The thing was able to bring to life a huge, grotesque monster with completely practical effects, which left a huge mark on Ross Duffer. In fact, it made such a huge mark that the Duffers were creating back then stranger things, they made it a goal to use as many practical effects as possible, even though villains like the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer were CGI throughout the show. However, the villain Vecna has a full prosthetic costume, not only to make the character feel more alive, but also to make the fellow players feel like the character is actually there.
Jaws
The Duffer brothers have stated that of all the films they have seen, Jaws "probably" tops their list as their favorite movie. So naturally, with a movie that the brothers love so much, they're going to take inspiration from the movie and use that inspiration as much as they can. For example, everyone's favorite police chief, Jim Hopper, was actually based on the police chief we see Jaws. Not only that, but the buildup around the shark and the fact that viewers don't even see the shark was a direct inspiration for what they did with the Demogorgon in the show's first season. They didn't want viewers to see the creature right away, leaving an element of the unknown. This element of the unknown leaves more suspense than if viewers saw the Demogorgon all the time, making it feel like the Demogorgon is something to really be afraid of.
Poltergeist
Poltergeist an ordinary television turns into something extraordinary when Carol Anne is distorted in the television. She is taken to another dimension and held captive while her family tries to get her back. Carol Anne even uses the seemingly normal television to communicate with the creatures that kidnapped her. If a kid sent to another dimension using a normal household item to communicate between dimensions sounds familiar, it's because that's exactly what happens to Will Byers in the show's first season. Will is kidnapped by the Demogorgon and sent upside down. However, Will is able to use lights, especially Christmas lights that his mother Joyce sets up, to communicate to his mother that he is alive, but in grave danger. The Duffers took full advantage of this concept and knew about it with the first season Stranger things thanks to this inspiration from Poltergeist.
ET
Another film the Duffers have cited as a major inspiration for its creation stranger things, ET is even listed as being "fundamental text for Stranger things in tone and tenor. life is like for a normal teenage boy.
Even the opening goal came in Stranger things of the guys playing Dungeons and Dragons is a nod to the movie in a scene where Elliott's brother Michael is also playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. The references and inspirations go on and on as there are too many to even list. While Stranger things wouldn't be possible without a lot of these old school movies, ET is definitely a major one that had one of the biggest impacts on the show.
The Goonies
Equivalent to Stay with me, The Goonies especially helped inspire the group dynamic of young boys Mike, Lucas and Dustin along with teenagers Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler as they searched for Will Byers. Another reference to the movie, which is probably the most enduring reference of all stranger things, is that Mike Wheeler's name comes directly from Mikey Walsh, one of the main characters from The Goonies.
Stranger Things even had the luxury of getting an actor out of it The Goonies, as Sean Astin was brought in for the show's second season when he played the lovable Bob Newby. In general, a bunch of kids going on an unexpected adventure is a sure thing Goonies-esque also.
A nightmare on Elm Street
Finally we have A nightmare on Elm Street. That's what the Duffers have stated Elm street used to really scare them because bringing this unexplainable evil like Freddy Krueger into normal American life is one of the scariest things for them. This is the basis for the whole stranger things, like a seemingly normal life in Central America's Hawkins, Indiana is turned upside down when Will Byers disappears, and strange monsters and alternate dimensions suddenly begin to emerge. Plus, in the third episode of the show's first season, when the Demogorgon pushes through the wall and stretches it, it's very reminiscent of a Elm Street scene where Freddy tries to fight his way through the ceiling in Nancy Thompson's room.
The inspirations go all the way to season four of the show when teens are visually tormented by Vecna, which is also eerily similar to the way Freddy tormented his victims before killing them. And season four goes even further Elm street inspiration by having Robert Englund star on the show as an older version of Victor Creel, a man who was one of the first people to be tormented by Vecna.
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