Top 10 Hidden Secrets in Sci-Fi Horror Movies
#10: “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”
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“Annihilation” (2018) We’re not going to delve too deep into the mind-bending plot of 2018’s “Annihilation” - we’d be here all day - but we did want to focus on one very specific reference to the real-life 20th century African-American figure Henrietta Lacks. In one flashback scene, Natalie Portman’s Lena is briefly seen reading Rebecca Skloot’s book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” a book which recounts how Lacks’ cancer cells were taken without her consent in order to help develop future cancer treatments. As “Annihilation,” via its dreaded Area X, is in essence about the nature of being, identity, and the transformation of biology and DNA — without consent — the reference acts as a reminder of how Lacks and her family were wronged years ago.
#9: Future Flags
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“Event Horizon” (1997) A movie about outer space, black holes and a graphic depiction of hell, “Event Horizon” will give you nightmares for years on end. But our easter egg pick for today swerves the horror aspect of the movie and instead focuses on a tiny, but neat costume detail. Being set in the future, the year 2047, you’ll notice that the flags stitched on some of the character’s jumpsuits are slightly different to what you might see today. This includes the EU flag, which features more stars than usual, and the Australian flag, which Sam Neill’s Billy wears. This Australian flag swaps out the Union Jack with the Aboriginal flag - leaving us to wonder what transpired in the future to change this.
#8: Familiar Cab Driver
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978) A simple but hat tip-worthy cameo next, as we venture again into the world of shape-shifting alien beings. Both the 1956 version and 1978 remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” are legendary films in their own right. And to pay homage to the ‘50s version, director Philip Kaufman snuck in this guest appearance. When Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams take a cab ride, we briefly see the moustached driver using his radio. That just so happens to be Don Siegel, the guy who directed the 1956 version of the movie. Or maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe it was just a Pod that looked like him. Also, bonus cameo, earlier on we also see the original movie’s Kevin McCarthy jump on top of a car.
#7: Poster Art
“The Mist” (2007) The literary and cinematic world of Stephen King is one that constantly intertwines within itself to give us a whole load of references and callbacks. And this opening scene from “The Mist”, a movie based on King’s book of the same name, is a perfect example of that. As the opening credits roll, we see Thomas Jane’s David Drayton, a painter, finishing up a poster in his art studio. And the art is a reference to King’s Gunslinger from his “Dark Tower” series. And the poster was actually painted in real life by Drew Struzan, an artist famously known for painting other movie posters, some also featured in this scene.
#6: "Get Over Here!"
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“Resident Evil” (2002) Director Paul W. S. Anderson is just as well known in the movie world as he is in the video gaming world - due to his penchant for directing adaptations. His most famous video game adaptations are 1995’s “Mortal Kombat” and, of course, the “Resident Evil” film series. And in 2002’s “Resident Evil”, there’s an awesome reference that ties these two worlds together. During a scene where the characters are fighting off the infected, a voice can be heard off-screen saying "Get over here!”. Fans of the “Mortal Kombat” games will of course know this as the deadly catchphrase of Scorpion. An appropriately terrifying use of it, we’d say.
#5: Young Ripley
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“Alien Resurrection” (1997) The “Alien” franchise has gotten more and more complicated with each new instalment. For example, “Alien Resurrection” has Ellen Ripley cloned using Xenomorph DNA. And it’s the opening cloning scene of the movie we want to draw attention to. As the camera moves through a lab, we see a young, foetus-like clone of Ripley in a chamber, and it slowly ages before our eyes. And it really does look like a young Ripley, aka Sigourney Weaver. And that’s because the VFX guys actually used baby photos of Weaver as a template. Cool - and a little creepy, right?
#4: The P.K.E. Meter
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“They Live” (1988) This John Carpenter masterpiece makes us laugh just as much as it freaks us out, from its messages about conformity to its weird alien, skull-face people. And although there are tons of subtle visuals throughout the film,,did you notice a familiar prop being used by the alien army guys? They use Psychokinetic Energy Meters, aka P.K.E. meters, as sensor and communication devices. And if they look familiar, that’s because the props, to save money, were lifted straight from 1984’s “Ghostbusters”. In “Ghostbusters”, the P.K.E. meter is used by the team to track ghosts, and Egon Spengler in particular can be seen using one throughout the movie.
#3: Alien Skull
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“Predator 2” (1990) We’re venturing into the Xenomorph’s territory once again with this easter egg, which sees a crossover between the worlds of “Predator” and “Alien”. When Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan discovers the Predator’s trophy room, he admires the numerous skulls mounted on the wall - a collection of past victims. A human skull is amongst them, obviously, but so is a Xenomorph skull, signifying that this Predator has previously killed one - and that both creatures co-exist in a shared universe. And this skull cameo also acted as a precursor to the eventual crossover movie, “Alien vs. Predator” in 2004.
#2: The Satellite Crash
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“Cloverfield” (2008) This found footage horror is jam-packed with references that have had easter egg-hunters and theorists scratching their heads for years. And we wanted to focus on the most controversial one of all - the satellite crash. During the movie’s closing moments, we see flashback footage of Rob and Beth on a date at Coney Island. When the camera briefly films the ocean, an object can be seen plummeting from the sky and splashing into the water. People have long debated that this might actually be the monster. But it was actually confirmed to be a piece of the ChimpanzIII satellite owned by the “Cloverfield” mining company, Tagruato. And it’s theorized that this could have been what awoke the monster at the bottom of the ocean.
#1: The Norwegian Warning
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“The Thing” (1982) A horror movie where the monster is spoiled within the first few minutes? That’s never gonna work! Well, it worked for 1982’s “The Thing”, and that’s because it was spoiled in Norwegian. During the opening helicopter and dog chase, the Norwegian pilot scrambles through the snow to take aim at a dog he is chasing. Coming face-to-face with the American crew, the pilot warns them that the dog isn’t really a dog - it’s actually something in disguise. But, the Americans don’t speak Norwegian, so they assume he’s trying to kill them - and they shoot him in self-defence. Imagine if they did speak Norwegian - that would have been a short movie.
