The Duffer brothers have never been afraid to wear their inspirations on their sleeves, and it's certainly obvious with their Netflix series Stranger Things. The science fiction, horror, fantasy, and adventure components of the show are direct inspirations from some of the Duffer brothers' favorite films (and other pieces of media) from the '80s and beyond. They've used those inspirations to make one of the most popular television shows in recent memory, with an exuberant fanbase all over the world. With Netflix users watching billions of hours of the show across all four seasons, many viewers might not know about the various inspirations that helped to bring the town of Hawkins, Indiana, and all its characters to life — and many of those inspirations are films, shows, or books that are iconic in their own right.

Update October 7, 2023: This article has been updated with even more of the Duffers brothers' favorite films that helped create the world of Stranger Things.

Whether it's the setting, the story, the characters, or even the monsters in Stranger Things, it can all be traced back to pieces of popular culture from the 20th century to now. Here are 15 movies that helped to inspire the creation of Stranger Things.

Alien

Alien has inspired the creation of Stranger Things in more ways than one. For starters, Ross Duffer has said the design of the xenomorph had a direct influence on the design of Stranger Things's iconic Demogorgon monster. Of course, the name of the character came from the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but the actual design for the towering monster was drawn from Alien.

Ross' twin Matt Duffer added that the atmosphere of the Upside Down dimension — the floating particles that are always seen in the air, like ash or snow — was another direct connection to Alien (via Buzzfeed).

Akira

Akira is a 1988 anime film. The protagonist rides a motorcycle and has psychic powers (sounds like somebody else we know, minus the bike). This teen is a part of a group of psychic kids known as Espers in the film. The teens in Akira were tested on by the government, which is how they were given their abilities (abilities that the government then wants to take full advantage of). In Stranger Things, Eleven's mother, Terry Ives was also a part of government experiments before she gave birth to Eleven, and Hawkins Lab took baby Eleven, known then as Jane Ives, into their custody.

An even further similarity is that the Espers in Akira were identified with numbers for their names, exactly like the test subjects at the Hawkins Lab. So far in Stranger Things, the only numbers viewers have gotten to see for an extended period of time are Eleven, Kali/Eight, and Vecna/Henry Creel/One, but more subjects were shown in season four flashbacks. Perhaps Kali will make a return in season five to help Eleven stop Vecna?

Carrie

The easiest similarity to point out between Carrie and Stranger Things is that both stories focus on a teenage girl with telekinetic powers who is bullied by her teenage peers. While the Duffers have mentioned that the book Carrie, written by Stephen King, has been a huge source of inspiration, the same could be said about the film, as both the book and movie tell the tale of an outcast who gets her revenge.

The Carrie connection is most obvious in the first half of season four of Stranger Things when Eleven is bullied by Angela at the Rink-O-Mania and has a chocolate milkshake thrown on her. While Eleven ends up attacking Angela, it's with a roller skate and not with her powers. Carrie, on the other hand, unleashes the full, terrifying extent of her powers on her bullies after being doused in pig's blood on prom night. Both powerful girls took matters into their own hands after being pushed too far.

Firestarter

Another piece of Stephen King's body of work, Firestarter, has inspired Stranger Things as well. Like Carrie, the Firestarter book and movie are about a girl with psychic powers. Much like Eleven's mother, the protagonist Charlie's parents were involved in experiments that gave them abilities, which they then passed on to their daughter. Unlike typical telepathy or telekinesis, Charlie can start fires with her mind.

Government agents kidnap both Charlie and Eleven away from their families because of their powers. However, Charlie and Eleven are not so easily detained. The fiery helicopter crash and explosion that Eleven causes in season four of Stranger Things could be another allusion to Firestarter.

The Shining

Stephen King's work appears again in Stranger Things with connections to The Shining. Like The Shining protagonist Jack Torrance, various Stranger Things characters use axes as a weapon — for example, Joyce uses one in the first season when she thinks Will is somehow stuck in the wall when he's really stuck in the Upside Down. Steve Harrington also uses an ax against the vines that attack Robin Buckley in Upside Down's Creel House. In addition to the iconic weapon of choice, a different Stranger Things character was modeled after Jack Nicholson's performance as Jack Torrance: antagonist Billy Hargrove, played by Dacre Montgomery.

Stand By Me

Along with Eleven as a main character in Stranger Things, we also have the group of young boys Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and Dustin Henderson. This group dynamic was inspired by one of the Duffers' principal inspirations for the show: the film Stand By Me (along with its previous novella adaptation, Stephen King's The Body, which is also the name of Stranger Things season one, episode four). The auditions for those four principal characters in Stranger Things included lines from the Stand By Me film.

Plus, the train tracks that characters are often seen walking along in seasons one and two of Stranger Things are another connection to the movie.

The Thing

While many movies that you'll see on this list inspired either the story or design of the characters in the show in some way, The Thing provided a different kind of inspiration to the Duffer brothers. The Thing is famed for not only its gripping and suspenseful story, but also for its ability to bring a massive, grotesque monster to life with entirely practical effects.

When the Duffers were creating Stranger Things, they made it a goal to use as many practical effects as they could. The Demogorgon was even played by an actor in a suit for the show's first season, an actor by the name of Mark Steger. Such creatures have been created with CGI since then. However, Vecna — the villain that emerges in season four — has an entirely prosthetic costume, not only to make the character feel more alive, but also to help the fellow actors feel like the character is really there as well.

Jaws

The Duffer brothers have stated that out of all the films they have seen, Jaws is "probably" at the top of their list as their favorite movie. So, of course, with a formative film that the brothers adore so much, they are going to take inspiration. For example, everyone's favorite police chief, Jim Hopper, was actually based on the police chief that we see in Jaws.

Not only that, but the build-up around the shark and the fact that viewers don't even see the shark until his big attack at the end of the movie was a direct inspiration for what they did with the Demogorgon in the first season of Stranger Things. The Duffers didn't want viewers to see the creature right away, leaving an element of the unknown. This leaves more suspense than if viewers saw the Demogorgon right from the jump, making it feel like the mysterious monster is something to truly be feared.

Poltergeist

Poltergeist turns an ordinary television into something extraordinary when Carol Anne gets warped inside. She is taken to another dimension and is held captive as her family tries to get her back. Carol Anne even uses the seemingly normal television to communicate with the beings that kidnapped her. If a kid using a normal household item to communicate between dimensions and/or then getting taken to another dimension sounds familiar, that's because it's exactly what happens to Will Byers in the first season of the show.

Will is kidnapped by the Demogorgon and is sent to the Upside Down. However, Will is able to use lights (most prominently Christmas lights that his mother Joyce sets up) to communicate with his mom that he is alive but in grave danger. The Duffers used this concept to the fullest and were able to make a smash hit with the first season of Stranger Things, thanks to their inspiration from Poltergeist.

E.T.

Another film that the Duffers have credited as being a major inspiration for the creation of Stranger Things, E.T., is even stated as being "foundational text for Stranger Things in tone and tenor" in the book Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down (via Buzzfeed). Not only that, but the Duffers have gone on record saying that the early relationship between Mike and Eleven is based directly on the relationship between Elliott and E.T., e.g. when Mike hides Eleven from his parents and shows her what life is like for a normal teenager.

Even the opening shot in Stranger Things of the boys playing Dungeons and Dragons is a nod to the film in a scene where Elliott's brother Michael is playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends. The references and inspirations go on and on. While Stranger Things wouldn't be possible without a lot of these old school movies, E.T. is definitely a major one that had one of the biggest impacts on the show.

The Goonies

Similar to Stand By Me, The Goonies helped to mainly inspire the group dynamic of the young boys Mike, Lucas, and Dustin, along with teens Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler, as they search for Will Byers. Another reference to the film, which is probably the most lasting reference in all of Stranger Things, is that Mike Wheeler's name came directly from Mikey Walsh, one of the main characters from The Goonies.

Stranger Things even had the luxury of bringing in an actor from The Goonies, as Sean Astin was cast in the second season of the show when he played Joyce's beau, Bob Newby. Overall, a bunch of kids going on an unexpected adventure is certainly Goonies-esque as well.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

The Duffers have stated that A Nightmare on Elm Street really scared them back in the day because inserting this unexplainable evil, such as Freddy Krueger, into normal American life is one of the scariest things to them. This is the basis for the entirety of Stranger Things, as seemingly normal life in middle America is turned upside down (pun intended) when Will Byers vanishes, and strange monsters and alternate dimensions start popping up. Plus, in the third episode of the first season of the show, the Demogorgon pushes through the wall and stretches it out to try and get Joyce. This is very reminiscent of an Elm Street scene when Freddy attempts to push 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 being psychically tormented by Vecna, which is also eerily similar to the way that Freddy would torment his victims before killing them. Season four goes even further with Elm Street inspiration by having Robert Englund star in the show as an older version of Victor Creel, a man who was one of the first people to be tormented by Vecna.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

One of Steve Harrington's top favorite movies has made its mark on Stranger Things quite a few times. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a coming-of-age comedy that tells the stories of multiple teenagers. In season three, lifeguard Billy has the moms of Hawkins enraptured as the song Moving in Stereo plays, alluding to a similar scene from Fast Times featuring Phoebe Cates. The scene that inspired Billy's homage is referenced in season four, when Steve tries to convince Robin her crush Vickie must like girls because she returned her Fast Times tape paused on that scene.

The restaurant Captain Hook Fish & Chips with dorky, pirate-themed uniforms is similar to the sailor suits Steve and Robin wear working at Scoops Ahoy. Other Fast Times references include Dustin telling Steve his new girlfriend from camp is "Hotter than Phoebe Cates" and Steve knocking over the Cates cardboard cutout at Family Video.

The Exorcist

There's nothing quite as scary as a possession. Poor Regan MacNeil and Will Byers both suffer from possession in The Exorcist and Stranger Things season two, respectively. Of course, in Stranger Things, there's no demon in the traditional sense. Instead, it's the creature, the Mind Flayer from the Upside Down.

Both Regan and Will have to be restrained due to the power of their possessors, and both of them try to find ways to communicate with the people around them while their bodies are being controlled. For Regan, it's the phrase "Help me" showing up on her skin. Will uses Morse Code by tapping out the message "Close Gate" to tell his loved ones how to defeat the Flayer.

Gremlins

Matt and Ross Duffer spoke with Vulture about Stranger Things season two and explained that their very first idea for the season was, " ... a boy and his monster, Dustin, finding a creature that will grow." That plot line and season two, episode three (The Pollywog) was a direct reference to the Gremlins franchise, which is all about mischievous (and sometimes downright evil) creatures that go on a rampage at Christmastime. After Halloween, Dustin finds a baby lizard in his trash can and names him Dart. He takes the lizard to school to show his friends, and when the creature escapes, the soundtrack sounds a lot like the Gremlins theme.

Unfortunately, much like the Gremlins, Dart does not stay small and cute for long and turns out to be a baby Demogorgon. He snacks on Dustin's cat, Mews, and his friends from the Upside Down cause trouble for Dustin and the rest of the gang (rest in peace, Bob Newby). Thankfully, the Demodogs eventually get defeated, but who knows which crazy creatures will appear in Stranger Things' final season.