Published Apr 25, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

The animated spinoff draws on The Goonies, The Real Ghostbusters, Jaws, and Alien

Netflix's new Stranger Things show wanted to create a monster as scary as Jaws

Image: Netflix

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Stranger Things wooed audiences with a mix of childhood nostalgia and horror, and the animated spinoff Stranger Things: Tales from ‘85 is trying to recapture that magic. Showrunner Eric Robles told Polygon that he drew on his favorite ‘80s movies like The Goonies and The Lost Boys for ideas on how to craft adventures, but one of his biggest influences was the 1986 animated series The Real Ghostbusters .

“You have some really scary episodes within that series, whether it was the Boogieman or the Sandman episodes, and I just remember as a kid feeling that there was a difference in that kind of storytelling,” Robles said.…