Editorials
Here’s Every Horror Easter Egg in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ [Images]
The amount of video game, movie, and pop culture references in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is dizzying. From opening to closing credits, the film is crammed full of nods, references, and Easter eggs to the ‘80s and ‘90s. There’s also a lot of love for horror throughout.
Spielberg’s homage to Kubrick gets its own lengthy tribute, in which the heroes spend an entire sequence inside the terrifying Overlook hotel, but The Shining is far from the only horror movie that gets some love.
Here are all the horror related Easter eggs and references in Ready Player One:
The Wolfman
In the opening minutes of the film, lead protagonist Parzival (Tye Sheridan) is explaining the virtual universe of the OASIS. As he’s explaining the players’ avatars, you can spot a howling Wolfman front and center. It’s one of many blink-and-you’ll-miss-it character cameos. While the character of the Wolfman dates back to the ‘30s, this one happens to resemble the one from The Monster Squad.
Freddy Krueger
Our introduction to Parzival’s closest ally Aech coincides with an appearance by Freddy Krueger. Aech is first seen fighting Freddy and Duke Nukem on “Planet Doom.”
Jason Voorhees
This iconic killer can be spotted in battle while Parzival is explaining the ramifications of an avatar getting killed in the OASIS within the first 8 minutes of the film. If this wasn’t enough for you, don’t worry; Voorhees makes one more cameo near the end.
Christine
The first major event in Parzival’s quest for Halliday’s Easter egg is a vehicle race in Manhattan. This race is chock full of notable pop culture vehicles from Back to the Future to Mad Max, but there’s a bright red Plymouth Fury in the race too. This nod to Stephen King and John Carpenter is best spotted at the race’s starting line (far right).
Big Trouble in Little China
The race also happens to boast an appearance by one Jack Burton owned Freightliner. This race is full of perilous obstacles, like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, but it’s the brief entrance of the Pork Chop Express as it jackknifes race participants that elicits the biggest cheer.
King Kong
King Kong isn’t technically an Easter egg, as his role in the contest for the first key is major. However, there is a quick homage to Kong’s iconic scaling of the Empire State building before he smashes up the city on his way to block entrance from the track’s finish line.
Aliens
Back in Aech’s headquarters, Parzival is showing off the various ships Aech has in his collection. The most notable of which is the U.S.S. Sulaco, the doomed starship that transported the Marines and Ellen Ripley to LV-426.
War of the Worlds
A crashed alien ship from War of the Worlds can be spotted during bad guy Sorrento’s first meeting with lackey i-R0k.
Alien
Parzival gets accosted by Mortal Kombat’s Goro after being mobbed by fans. Pulled into a darkened room. It’s really Art3mis in disguise, but she doesn’t reveal herself until after scaring Parzival with a chestbursting xenomorph gag.
The Fly
This David Cronenberg classic gets name dropped right before the protagonists enter the Overlook, but the movie’s poster is spotted hanging up in Aech’s room right before Parzival heads off to meet Art3mis (lower left).
Chucky
One of the most entertaining horror gags of the film; Aech throws Parzival a weapon to use in the final act. That weapon is Chucky. Of course, using this weapon comically comes with a bit of a learning curve.
Gremlins
The final battle is an onslaught of recognizable characters, so many that it would take countless rewatches to note them all. Jason Voorhees can be spotted again here, but be on the lookout for evil gremlin Stripe. He’s heading into battle along with Spawn.
Madballs
Ok, technically not horror movie related, but Madballs were coveted gross-out monster toys from the ‘80s. Art3mis uses one in the climactic battle, but she’s such a fan of these horror-ish toys that you can spot Madball graffiti on her hideout walls.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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