The Duffer Bros.’ Cannibal Horror Short EATER is a Dark Precursor to Stranger Things, Watch it Now
Fans of Stranger Things may have caught a sly inside joke during the series finale when Jonathan Byers, played by Charlie Heaton, mentions he’s attending NYU to chase a filmmaking career and is developing an “anti-capitalist cannibal movie” called “The Consumer”.
It sounds like a fun character beat, but it’s also a deep cut reference to something very real. Long before Stranger Things became pop culture juggernaut, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer were already experimenting with dark ideas and cannibal horror.
That throwaway line points back to Eater, a short film the Duffer Bros. made years before Stranger Things took over the world. The project came together while the brothers were students at California’s Dodge College.
Written and directed by the Duffers in 2007, Eater is adapted from a short story by Peter Crowther. The 18-minute film drops viewers into a tense overnight shift at a police station where a young officer is forced to deal with an unthinkable situation.
The official synopsis reads: “A rookie cop (Emanuel Borria) works the night shift at a police station with a cannibal prisoner on the loose.”
What makes Eater such an interesting watch now is how clearly you can see the brothers sharpening the instincts they’d later bring to Stranger Things. The pacing is tight, the atmosphere is uneasy, and the focus stays locked on character pressure rather than cheap shocks. It’s actually pretty impressive for filmmakers still finding their voice.
There’s also a fun full-circle moment tied to the cast. Eater star Emanuel Borria later reunited with the Duffers for Stranger Things 5, where he plays Sergeant Luis Ramirez across three episodes, which is pretty cool.
Crowther’s original short story caught enough attention that it was adapted again just a year later, this time by Stuart Gordon. His version appeared as an episode of the NBC horror anthology Fear Itself, which itself served as a spiritual successor to Masters of Horror.
If you’re curious to see where the Duffer Bros. were creatively about a decade before Demogorgons and the Upside Down, Eater is absolutely worth your time.
