Over six years and four seasons, Stranger Things has become one of Netflix’s most popular series of all time, and one of the driving forces behind that is the creators of the sci-fi phenomenon — the incomparable Duffer Brothers — drawing heavy inspiration from the ‘80s. And, of course, there is perhaps no other horror movie more recognizable from the ‘80s than Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street, which the creators are huge fans of.
In an interview with The Wrap, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer stated that the Wes Craven vehicle was their biggest influence for the action-packed fourth season of Stranger Things, and even gave a shout out to the third sequel of the legendary horror franchise that terrified audiences around the country.
Particularly, for this season, the ones we talked about most were “Nightmare on Elm Street,” that’s probably the biggest influence and something that we loved when we were younger, but also it terrified us. And then we’re also huge fans of the third “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Dream Warriors,” which is a fantastic and my second favorite “Nightmare on Elm Street.” We talked about that a lot when we were doing this season.
Interestingly, the links to A Nightmare on Elm Street don’t stop there, since Robert Englund is giving a cryptic performance as Victor Creel in the newest season, which is already creeping out fans of both Stranger Things and fans of Englund’s classic portrayal of Freddy Krueger.
Volume one of Stranger Things 4 is streaming now on Netflix.
