SPOILER WARNING: This article contains massive spoilers for Halloween, in theaters now.


The latest installment of the Halloween franchise has been released, and while the new film ignores all but the events of the 1978 original film, it still includes a host of nods and references to previous entries across the entire film series. Given that the definitive slasher franchise has run for 40 years with 11 installments now out, the filmmakers had plenty of material to draw from and the revival contains everything from re-staging classic shots and sequences to blink-and-you-miss-it Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans of the series.

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It's important to note that something like references to previous characters, including masked killer Michael Myers' first victim, his sister Judith Myers or his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis, do not constitute Easter eggs; they are relatively essential to the premise of the film. Having said that, there are plenty of subtle nods throughout the film. Here are the most memorable of the bunch!

Tragic Last Names

The prologue to the new film has British investigative journalists Aaron Korey and Dana Haines attempting to speak with an imprisoned Michael Myers in Smith's Grove Sanitarium for their true crime podcast.

While Aaron's last name isn't an overt reference, Dana shares a last name with one of the ill-fated security guards from the prologue of 2002's Halloween: Resurrection. Given the untimely end of both characters at the hands of The Shape (aka Michael Myers), the two characters unfortunately share much more than just a last name.

Old Wounds

For a surprising amount of the film, Myers is actually unmasked on screen, though the filmmakers are careful to never completely reveal his face to the audience. However, in a brief moment, Myers is shown to have a nasty-looking scar on one of his eyes.

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This old wound is the result of Laurie Strode stabbing Myers in the eye with a coat hanger during the harrowing climax of the original 1978 film. Myers' mask similarly features scars of its own, with a noticeable hole in the neck from where Laurie stabbed her attacker with a sewing needle.

Routine Transfer Gone Wrong

Myers' inevitable escape in the film mirrors him breaking out of confinement in the original Halloween. The slasher escaped during a routine transfer by bus, resulting in mental patients wandering the roads aimlessly as they do in the new film as well. The escape is punctuated by another callback to the original.

As a young boy that discovers the crashed bus makes it back into his truck to notify the authorities, Myers has since snuck in the backseat and snaps his neck in his first on-screen kill in the film. This echoes the murder of Annie Brackett in the original film, who has her throat slit by Myers from the backseat of her car. She, of course, is the first kill the adult Myers is seen committing on-screen in the entire franchise.

A Familiar Dollhouse

Throughout the film, the childhood bedroom of Laurie's daughter Karen is seen with a blue dollhouse off to the side. The dollhouse is modeled after the infamous Myers home, where a young Michael murdered his older sister in 1963.

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The bedroom also includes a familiar sunhat hanging above the bed. The same hat hung above Laurie's own teenage bed 40 years prior, a memento from days gone by, before Laurie Strode's life was changed forever.

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Somebody's Watching

Many shots and sequences from the latest Halloween feature Laurie taking the place of Michael Myers in terms of physical positioning in frame. The first major instance takes place early in the film; as Laurie's granddaughter Allyson attends her high school class she looks out the window to see Laurie outside, watching her.

This mirrors The Shape watching Laurie as she attended high school in 1978, right down the same posture between Myers and the now-older Strode. Fortunately, Laurie comes with good news for her granddaughter, giving her $3,000 and suggesting she take a relaxing trip to Mexico.

Gas Station Massacre

Upon his escape, Myers tracks down Aaron and Dana at a local gas station in order to re-obtain his mask from the journalists. The serial killer bludgeons a mechanic to death for his uniform, along with the gas station attendant. This is a recurring trope throughout the series, with Myers killing a mechanic off-screen for his uniform in the original, as well as killing a mechanic and attendant in 1988's Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers for their clothes.

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The more brutal proceedings take place in the gas station bathroom as Dana is stalked by Myers as she has a private moment inside. This is a callback to 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, which had The Shape stalk a mother and daughter in a rest stop bathroom before ultimately stealing their car. It also refers to 2007's Halloween reboot, which had Myers kill a truck driver in a gas station bathroom to obtain his clothes and knife.

Sinister Graffiti

As Myers kills Aaron and Dana in the gas station bathroom, a small bit of graffiti briefly is seen on-screen. While seemingly innocuous at first, closer inspection reveals that the bottom half of the graffiti strongly resembles the Mark of Thorn.

First seen in 1989's Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers before taking a more prominent appearance in 1995's Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, the Druidic symbol was associated with an ancient cult that used Celtic runes to drive Myers to kill and grant him immortality. While it may be a passing coincidence, the familiar triangle and line on the bottom do have a remarkable resemblance to the Cult of Thorn's symbol.

Halloween II's Prologue Reimagined

When The Shape does make his full return to Haddonfield, he proceeds to break in to various homes and kill their unwitting inhabitants indiscriminately. The first two are women that are dressed just like characters from the opening of 1981's Halloween II.

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The first victim is seen wearing a pink robe and hair rollers, like Mrs. Elrod from the 1981 film's prologue, her living room and kitchen featuring a similar layout to the earlier character. While The Shape spared Elrod in the earlier film, opting instead to just steal the knife, her 2018 counterpart is less fortunate. The Shape then walks into a nearby house to murder a woman wearing a similar ensemble as his first victim in the 1981 film -- a young woman with a white top and dark pants.

Trick-or-Treat

It wouldn't be a true Halloween unless trick-or-treaters are present, and the new film is no exception -- children walk door-to-door in Haddonfield for candy and mischief. A pair of kids accidentally run into The Shape in the streets of Haddonfield, complete with the same synthesizer sting from composer John Carpenter that the bullies from the original film have. What's more subtle is that one of the children is carrying a boombox while dressed as a cowboy in a visual nod to trick-or-treaters in Halloween II.

The more sinister Easter egg is the sight of trick-or-treaters wearing the familiar Silver Shamrock monster masks from 1982's Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Leaning heavily into Celtic black magic, the third film is the only one in the series not to feature The Shape, but instead an evil organization intending to kill children nationwide through use of magically-imbued Halloween masks. Hopefully the children of Haddonfield are wearing a non-lethal variety.

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The Babysitter Murders

Sheriff Hawkins refers to the incident from the 1978 film as "the babysitter murders," which was the working title of the first film by writers John Carpenter and Debra Hill before being renamed Halloween. In the new film, The Shape targets babysitters once again.

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While Allyson's friend Vicky invites her boyfriend Dave to visit as she babysits a young boy named Julian, the backyard is full of white bedsheets air-drying in the wind, with Dave eventually venturing through them. The original film featured a sequence of The Shape stalking babysitters in a bed sheet-filled yard, but it also calls back to The Curse of Michael Myers, where he killed Debra Strode in a similar billowing setting. After killing Vicky, The Shape pins Dave to a wall with a knife, similar to how he killed Bob in the original film while he hides Vicky's corpse under a bed sheet, similar to how he surprised Lynda in the first film.

Comic Relief

An unusual amount of time is spent in the new film on two cops stationed just outside Laurie's home to protect her family from The Shape. The two officers banter back and forth while eating in their patrol car before they are approached by a rogue vehicle that has been secretly commandeered by Myers.

This is a callback to Halloween 5, which similarly had two police officers assigned to protect the film's character Tina Williams from The Shape, while also providing comic relief throughout the more tense proceedings. While the two cops here come off as more competent than their 1989 predecessors, they unfortunately meet a similar fate.

Role Reversal Revisited

The scariest sequence in the new Halloween occurs at its climax, when The Shape finally breaks into Laurie's new home. In one last bit of Laurie and Myers changing roles, Laurie hunts for her nemesis on the upper level of her home, checking out closets (full of wire hangers, no less) methodically. When Myers does attack Laurie, she is thrown from a balcony and falls on the lawn below.

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In the climax of the original film, Myers is shot repeatedly by Loomis before falling off the balcony on to the yard. After briefly checking on a wounded Laurie, Loomis glances outside to find The Shape has mysteriously disappeared. Just as with the 1978 film, after Myers is temporarily distracted with the arrival of Allyson at Laurie's house, when he returns to check on his longtime opponent, the elder Strode has similarly disappeared without a trace.

Fiery End

When Laurie does make her return for her rematch against The Shape, she floats into frame not unlike how Myers originally did, facing her in 1978. After being shoved into the cellar of Laurie's home, he rises in an eerily robotic way as he did from that initial confrontation.

What follows is a recreation of sorts of the climax of Halloween II. The 1981 film had Laurie and Loomis fill a hospital room with ether and oxygen to set the killer aflame in a fiery blast. This time around, Laurie has rigged her cellar to similarly pump gas from multiple pipes before setting the room and The Shape ablaze with a flare as she and her family flee to safety, the entire building presumably burning to the ground.

Halloween, directed by David Gordon Green and starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Nick Castle, Jefferson Hall, Rhian Rees, Toby Huss, and Haluk Bilginer is currently in theaters.