Guillermo del Toro opening sequence/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

Cultural References

• There is a Mecha and a Kaiju battling it out in a reference to the 2013 Del Toro film, Pacific Rim.
• Chief Wiggum looks similar to the Cyclops from the 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
• Alfred Hitchcock tosses bird seed on Mrs. Krabappel and birds attack her, referencing the movie, The Birds (movie).
• Groundskeeper Willie's appearance is a reference to Hellboy and the character he buries under the leaves is a Kroenen from the film.
• Homer's mutated appearance is a reference to the reapers from Blade 2. Carl's appearance is a reference to Blade as well.
• Matt Groening's original designs for the Simpson family from "The Tracey Ullman Show" are buried underground, as well as the skeleton of Godzilla.
• Mr. Burns is re-imagined as the Pale Man from Guillermo del Toro's Oscar-winning "Pan's Labyrinth", who ends up eating the unfortunate pixie Smithers.
  • The family also later recreates the final scene of the film during the couch gag.
• Maggie rides on the grocery checkout belt with scarabs from del Toro's first film, "Cronos"
• del Toro's second film, "Mimic", is referenced, with Marge as the giant cockroach.
• The characters standing on the sidewalk are:
  • Author H. P. Lovecraft is having coffee with the giant winged and tentacled monster Cthulhu, a reference to perhaps his most famous creation.
  • Edgar Allan Poe, who holds up his arm for the (3-eyed) raven to alight, a reference to Poe's poem "The Raven".
  • Ray Bradbury adding tattoos to a tattooed man, a reference to his book The Illustrated Man.
  • Fantasy and science fiction author Richard Matheson standing next to a hooded, cloaked figure wearing dark glasses, a zombie from the 1971 movie The Omega Man, based on Matheson's novel I Am Legend.
• The Universal monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, the Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and the Mutant from Metaluna from "This Island Earth") chase after a crowd of Springfield citizens. Referencing the mob that chases after the monster.
• Maggie terrorizes Milhouse behind the wheel of the evil 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III from "The Car".
• Among the creatures and characters in the field next to the Simpsons' house are:
  • Two aliens from the 1957 movie Invasion of the Saucer Men.
  • The flying saucer and robot Gort from the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Gort shooting out a laser beam from his visor.
  • Three of Ray Harryhausen's sword-wielding skeletons from the 1963 movie Jason and the Argonauts.
  • Ray Harryhausen's Ymir from the 1957 movie 20 Million Miles to Earth.
  • The vampire Count Orlok from the 1921 movie Nosferatu.
  • The robot monster from the 1953 movie Robot Monster.
  • The pinhead Schlitzie from Tod Browning's 1932 movie Freaks, which could also reference Pepper from American Horror Story: Asylum.
  • "The Man in the Beaver Hat" from the 1927 lost film London After Midnight.
  • Rod Serling, author and host of the TV series The Twilight Zone, smoking a cigarette.
  • The robot from the TV series Lost in Space.
  • Coming out of the ground, a Morlock from the 1960 movie The Time Machine.
  • A line drawing in profile of Alfred Hitchcock as in the beginning of TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, being drawn by Hans Moleman
  • The alien from the 1979 movie, Alien.
• Homer is a pale-skinned ghost with a smoking head from del Toro's "The Devil's Backbone"
• Lisa falls down the rabbit hole a la Alice in Wonderland.
• Hypnotoad from Futurama makes an appearance.