At its heart, Stranger Things is an homage to the iconic Steven Spielberg movies and Stephen King novels that Matt and Ross Duffer devoured growing up. The twin showrunners of Netflix’s biggest series put together a document and sizzle reel referencing iconic images from ’80s pop culture to pitch the streamer a decade ago. And when I visited the Season 5 set last year for a TIME cover story, it felt as if I was being transported back into a world of tube socks and shoulder pads.

One way the Duffers explicitly nod to their favorite childhood movies is by casting ’80s icons like Winona Ryder, Paul Reiser, Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, and, this season, Linda Hamilton. “Everyone we have asked to do that kind of appearance or take on a role like that on the show has said yes. We’ve been very lucky,” says Matt. “We don’t want to put somebody like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger in. That would be too distracting. I like the idea of almost more character actors from that period who have been maybe underutilized recently…someone younger generations who are watching the show might not know of who we can introduce them to.”

As the show has developed its own identity it has evolved beyond a simple Easter-egg hunt for ’80s iconography. “We’re referencing stuff less and less as the show has formed its own identity,” says Matt. Yet when asked to create a syllabus for viewers of movies that inspired the fifth and final season, the Duffers rattled off an impressive list of films spanning the ’80s and beyond.

Their suggestions range from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, alongside a few more surprising picks. “Some of this will be confusing,” Matt admits, “until people see the show.”

Stranger Things has long delighted in casting ’80s icons: Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as the town’s corrupt mayor and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) as the father of the series’ main villain. This season, Linda Hamilton will play a mysterious military figure named Dr. Kay, bringing the same gravitas that made her iconic Terminator character, Sarah Connor, so unforgettable. But, according to Matt, it’s not the only reason to watch the James Cameron classic: “You should always be rewatching Terminator 2, regardless of our show.”

Children of Men

When I visited the Duffers on the set of Stranger Things in July of 2024 they were filming a complicated series of scenes designed to look like a single shot, known as a “oner.” Oners have a long cinematic history, appearing in classics like Touch of Evil and Goodfellas and more recently in TV shows like The Bear, Adolescence, and The Studio. Shawn Levy, the director of Deadpool & Wolverine who also serves as executive producer on the show, had previously executed a oner involving Will, Mike, and Jonathan escaping government agents in Season 4.

But the Season 5 oner is even more ambitious. Hawkins is under military quarantine after Vecna devastated the town last season and opened up new pathways to the Upside Down. Midway through the Season 5, a major battle erupts between the military and the creatures emerging from that parallel dimension. The sequence involves CGI Demogorgons, airborne stunt men, and nearly a hundred extras clad in military fatigues.

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So it’s no surprise that the Duffers mention the famous oner in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men in which Clive Owen’s jaded bureaucrat escorts a miraculously pregnant woman through a chaotic near-future Britain. The single-take shot escalates from a comfortable conversation among characters in a car into one of the most tense action sequences in film history.

The Lost Boys

The Lost Boys features two boys living with their recently divorced mother, just as Will and Jonathan live with their mother Joyce (Winona Ryder). And much like Hawkins, the fictional town of Santa Clara, where Lost Boys takes place, is actually a haven for spooky creatures—in this case, vampires. When one of the brothers comes under their influence, the other is determined to save him from a grim fate, serving as a parallel to Jonathan and Will’s journey after Will gets taken into the Upside Down in Season 1.

The beloved horror movie is about an average suburban California family that turns out not to be so average after all. The youngest daughter communes with ghosts through the television set and eventually goes missing. (Will, too, seems to have some connection with the Upside Down since his hair stands on end whenever Vecna is around.) The film blends jump scares with complex family dynamics, a balance that Stranger Things aspires to achieve as well.

The Cell

The cult classic The Cell, starring Jennifer Lopez, centers on a psychologist who uses newfangled technology to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer. She hopes to suss out the location of his latest victim. Much like Dream Warriors, The Cell features confrontations within what are essentially dreamscapes, paralleling the way that Vecna enters in the minds of his victims in the fourth season of Stranger Things. At the end of Season 4, Eleven battled Vecna within Max’s mind.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Much of Season 4 took place inside the head of Max and other victims of Vecna as he manipulated their perception of reality. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes place inside the memories of the two main characters, much like in Dream Warriors and The Cell.

Another iconic movie in which battles are fought inside the minds—well, dreams—of its main characters. Frank Darabont, the legendary writer-director who is helming two episodes of Stranger Things this season, also wrote this movie. The Duffers have been paying homage to Darabont for nearly a decade, and now they have joined forces with another one of their icons.

The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist

Darabont is also known for his film adaptations of Stephen King novels, so the Duffers recommend you revisit Darabont’s King adaptations like The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist. “He may even make a cameo appearance in the show,” says Ross.

Back to the Future

There is a scene in the Season 5 trailer in which Steve drives a car through the membrane of the Upside Down that feels straight out of Back to the Future. Also, remember, the Upside Down is “stuck” on the day in 1983 when Will Byers was first taken. So while there probably won’t be explicit time travel on the show, the characters do sort of travel backward when they visit the Upside Down.

Another movie with an iconic chase scene: The Great Escape. Steve McQueen’s WWII POW jumps a section of barbed-wire on a motorcycle in an epic stunt. It’s easy to imagine one or more of the kids on their bikes channeling McQueen as they escape the government agents, monsters—or both.

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