Our Favorite Horror Easter Eggs
With the Easter Bunny scheduled to make his rounds this weekend, What Sleeps Beneath wanted to celebrate with delightfully creepy Easter eggs. Now, while there really aren’t any “good” horror movies about the Easter Bunny (despite some of the seriously terrifying costumes we’ve seen on the Internet), there are definitely some films with horror “Easter eggs” in them that we’ve picked up on and appreciate.
Midsommar (2019) | Ari Aster
In one of the brightest horror movies we’ve ever seen, Aster captures an incredible amount of folk art and details that most viewers might have missed their first time watching. As the story goes, after living through the traumatic murder/suicide of her family, Dani ends up traveling to Sweden with her boyfriend and friends for a midsommar festival.
After Dani decides to partake in hallucinogens upon arrival—a common experience even for American music festivals—viewers can see the effect in the way the grass and trees move around her on screen. However, the taking of drugs doesn’t end there. Throughout much of the movie our characters are drinking tea and partaking in food in order to see “true” nature. As a result of the trauma and embodying the culture of a Swedish midsummer festival, one might catch Dani’s sister’s face in the trees, among other shapes in the background.
While these hidden “Easter eggs” are some of our favorites, the film can’t go without mentioning the very opening scene: the tapestry. As if telling the story before it's already begun, this folk art attempts to warn us about what we’re about to watch.
The Haunting of Hill House (2018) | Mike Flanagan
When The Haunting of Hill House was first released on Netflix, we weren't sure what to expect. Based on the 1959 novel by Shirley Jackson, the first of The Haunting anthology series follows the story of five siblings and their paranormal experiences at Hill House—a haunted estate their parents were attempting to fix up.
The Crains were architectural preservationists and restorers. They loved fixing up something old and making it new once more. And what wasn’t to love about living in an estate from time to time, when projects allowed? Unfortunately, this project would be one that would haunt and scar the family forever. Apart from largely traumatic occurrences, the siblings were constantly experiencing the paranormal—and not always in a good way.
In alternating between the past and present, each episode offers up the opportunity to find the ghosts that inhabited Hill House. While the storyline and acting is enough to keep you hooked, when watching and rewatching (because we know you will), the search for “hidden” ghosts becomes its own added bonus. From the very first time we’re introduced to the space to when we leave it, they are just about everywhere—even where you might least expect them!
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) | Jim Sharman
Do we even need to explain this one? Touted as one of the most popular cult classics of our time and praised for its musical touch and comedic characters, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is without a doubt an enjoyable watch any time of the year.
While we weren’t expecting to read about the film regarding “Easter egg” occurrences, we’ve since learned that this list couldn’t be complete without it! Did you know that an intentional, or perhaps an unintentional Easter egg was left on the set after the cast hosted its own hunt on set? Well, it’s true! In what might be the most epic of all Easter egg hunts, one egg (perhaps more) was left unfound and even made it to the big screen.
Insidious (2010) | James Wan
James Wan has become a legendary name in the horror community having been at the helm of three of horror’s most successful franchises in decades, starting, of course, with the Saw franchise. Wan has moved on from directing the ongoing Saw films, but it’s clear that he hasn’t forgotten his humble, low-budget beginnings. Billy the Puppet, the iconic dummy that speaks for Jigsaw, seems to follow Wan around wherever he goes.
In 2010’s Insidious, for instance, a drawing of Billy can clearly be seen on the chalkboard over Patrick Wilson’s shoulder. You can also find Billy in other Wan-directed films like Dead Silence (2007) and Death Sentence (2007), as well as those directed by Saw writer Leigh Whannell, like The Invisible Man (2020) and Upgrade (2018).
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) | Scott Glosserman
If you’re looking for Easter eggs in a horror film, though, a great place to start would be in the meta-horror genre, with films like Scream (1996) and The Cabin in the Woods (2012). Not only do these movies build their plot around awareness of the horror genre, they nearly always include a ton of great Easter eggs for viewers to find.
One of my favorites of these is almost too easy to miss. Behind the Mask is a mockumentary meant to follow Leslie Vernon, an aspiring slasher-style killer who goes to great lengths to recreate the experience forged by the likes of Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. In one scene, while Leslie chats with his mentor, Eugene, in a well-lit living room, an unassuming box can briefly be seen sitting on a side table, along with a coffee cup and a few papers. It’s a Lament Configuration, the infamous puzzle box that summons the Cenobytes in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser series.
Halloween (1978) | John Carpenter
Though this is less about this specific film than it is about a decades-spanning pedigree, John Carpenter’s Halloween bears one of the more recognizable characters bearing this name. Dr. Samuel Loomis, the tireless doctor who feels responsible for the terror that Michael Myers has become, is actually named after Sam Loomis in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), who coincidentally is just as responsible for his girlfriend Marion Crane’s death at the hands of Norman Bates.
Between Psycho and Halloween, though, Dark Shadows, the television series and its many iterations, involved a handyman and eventual vampire’s familiar called Willie Loomis. Not to be outdone, Wes Craven would use the name again in Scream, giving it to the vengeful (and arguably repressed) Billy Loomis as well as Billy’s mother in Scream 2. Undoubtedly, we haven’t heard the last of the Loomis name as one of the longest running Easter eggs in horror.
Article written by The Academic Horror Writers League
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