Editorials
The 10 Best Easter Eggs in Horror!
Between Castle Rock, the new Halloween, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the hidden ghosts of The Haunting of Hill House, Easter eggs in horror seem to be a major trend in 2018. Though it’s hardly the first time they’ve popped up in horror. Some Easter eggs are well-placed plot clues for the eagle-eyed viewer, sometimes they’re homages to horror fandom, and sometimes they’re a fun volley between filmmakers. No matter their use, a horror Easter egg is almost always fun to spot.
Here are the 10 greatest uses of the Easter egg in horror.
King Kong (2005) – Sumatran Rat-Monkey
The cause of Peter Jackson’s splatter-filled zombie mayhem in Braindead (Dead Alive) is the bite of the Sumatran-Ray Monkey. The film’s prologue explains that the vile creature hails from Skull Island, an animal created from giant plague rats raping small tree monkeys. Skull Island happens to be the very island from which King Kong hails. Jackson brings this full circle in his 2005 film King Kong, when a crate labeled “Sumatran Rat Monkey” is seen in the cargo hold of the SS Venture. Not only is it great seeing a low budget splatter film get a nod in a giant blockbuster feature, but it’s always reassuring to know Jackson hadn’t forgotten his roots.
Land of the Dead – Photo Booth Zombies
Co-writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg crammed just about every zombie homage and reference they could into their zombie rom com Shaun of the Dead. But for all the nods to just about every entry in the zombie pantheon, it was clear that the work of George A. Romero was held in the highest regard. Romero was so affected by this that he asked the pair to appear in Land of the Dead. Wright and Pegg appear as zombies, chained up in the carnival scene where humans can get their pics taken with them. They’re credited as “Photo Booth Zombies.”
10 Cloverfield Lane – Connecting Universe
The Cloverfield universe is unique in that while each are standalone films, they’re connected by a larger mythology that’s only really explained by digging into the Alternate Reality Games that lead up into the theatrical releases of each entry. While 10 Cloverfield Lane is more of a blood relative than actual sequel to Cloverfield, there are Easter eggs throughout that serve as connective tissue, like Michelle stumbling across a letter addressed to Howard from Bold Futura. It’s inconsequential to the main plot, but hardcore Cloverfield fans will recognize this company as a subsidiary of Tagruato, the company ultimately responsible for unleashing the monstrous creature in the original film. The date on the letter also places it before the events of the first film, making this universe’s timeline all the more complex.
Bride of Chucky – Evidence Locker
From the opening moments, the tone is set when Charles Lee Ray’s ex-girlfriend and former accomplice retrieves Chucky’s remains from the police evidence locker. It seems as though all major horror franchises exist within the same universe, as Chucky’s remains are kept with the likes of Jason Voorhees’s hockey mask, Freddy Krueger’s glove, Michael Myers’ mask, Leatherface’s chainsaw, and even the puppets from Puppet Master. Granted, these are all off-brand references (Wisconsin Chainsaw Massacre), but the implication remains on this tongue-in-cheek Easter egg jackpot. This Easter egg wins extra points, considering director Ronny Yu would go on to helm Freddy vs Jason a few years later.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday – Jason vs. Freddy…vs. Ash?
The final moments stole the show of this weird sequel, in which Freddy’s glove bursts out of the ground and pulls Jason’s mask down below. The implications of an epic battle between the two horror juggernauts is a main event fans salivated over. But there’s a much bigger horror franchise that looms over this sequel; the Evil Dead series. There are nods to other films found within the Voorhees home, particularly that of the Crate from Creepshow in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but hero Steven actually picks up and flips through the Necronomicon. More than that, it’s the Kandarian dagger that’s used to kill Jason. This didn’t just tease a Freddy vs. Jason showdown, but a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash battle. Too bad no one asked permission from Sam Raimi for the use of these props, and he didn’t approve.
Scream – Janitor Fred
In a film that lovingly deconstructs horror tropes and is filled with references and nods to horror films, this particular Easter egg wins, hands down. When Principal Himbry (Henry Winkler) is being targeted by the killer after the school has emptied for the day, he steps out into the quiet hall and finds janitor Fred mopping the floors. Fred is wearing a Freddy Krueger-like sweater and hat, but more importantly, Fred is played by Krueger’s creator Wes Craven. Not only is this cameo a reminder that this wasn’t the first time Craven changed the horror landscape, but that the director also had a major sense of humor. He’ll be forever missed, and Janitor Fred is only one of a million reasons why.
Final Destination series – Death’s Clues
The 2000 supernatural thriller that kicked off a major franchise set the precedent with elaborate death sequences that lent well to majorly effective suspense and tension that had us sinking into our seats. We know that Death is coming to reclaim its victims, we just don’t know when. But Death cleverly tells us repeatedly how each one is going to die. Death doles out clever clues for each death for those that are paying close attention. Example: Evan Lewis meets a gnarly demise in Final Destination 2 when his eye gets impaled by his escape ladder. It’s hinted at over and over, beginning with his fridge magnets spelling out E-Y-E.
Saw – Hospital Bed Reveal
James Wan and Leigh Whannell have mastered the art of dropping Easter eggs since their major horror debut in Saw. Billy the Puppet appears in just about everything from Insidious to Dead Silence, and they often sneak each other into their respective films. That’s only the tip of the iceberg. So, we’re going back to the beginning, in which the duo spelled out the killer’s identity long before the major reveal. In a brilliant misdirect, a flashback scene shows Dr. Lawrence Gordon being approached by detectives in regard to linking evidence found at one of Jigsaw’s games. Gordon happened to be in the middle of discussing terminal patient John Kramer at his bedside. If the detectives would’ve looked down, they would’ve seen Kramer’s designs of the “reverse bear trap” laid out for all to see.
Evil Dead II – Freddy Krueger’s Glove
There’s long-running history of jabs between horror masters Sam Raimi and Wes Craven that began when Raimi included a torn poster of The Hills Have Eyes in his breakout film The Evil Dead. Craven noticed, and returned the nod by having Nancy Thompson fall asleep to The Evil Dead in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Raimi opted to be a bit less subtle when he filmed Evil Dead II, and hung Freddy’s glove in both the cellar and the work shed, in prominent view. That glove never left, either, as it was once again displayed in the cellar in Ash vs. Evil Dead.
Predator 2 – Trophy Room
The cinematic moment that firmly put Predator in the same universe as Alien, and it was glorious. Just before the final showdown between protagonist Harrigan (Danny Glover) and the Predator that’s made Los Angeles its hunting ground, he finds its spaceship hidden underground. The battle takes place in the ship’s trophy room. Of all the skulls on display, the one fans zeroed in on was that of the Xenomorph. Suddenly, we didn’t really care about Harrigan versus Predator. We wanted to see a Predator square off against a Xenomorph. I still do.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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