The Drinking Game

It was always thought that Dreidel of the Dead is a love letter to movies, and in particular horror movies. A movie by a horror movie nerd, starring a character who is a horror movie nerd for horror movie nerds. And so, as all self-respecting (if that’s possible) nerds like to flex their trivia and encyclopedic knowledge of film, I created a drinking game. Unlike other movie related drinking games, like Withnail and I, in which you drink whenever the characters drink, this is slightly different.

As this is a parody, a comedy, it is rife with movie references, some obvious, others subtle, from posters, to props to dialog, and even the shots themselves. So when you spot something, take a swig of your drink and write it down. The nerd with most correct movies referenced wins… most likely a trip to the ER.

THE LIST

1. Opening title card is the label on the Trioxin drums in Return of the Living Dead.

2. The rug and carpet are the same pattern as the Overlook Hotel in The Shining.

3. Eli’s entrance is the same as Shaun on the first day of the apocalypse in Shaun of the Dead.

4. On the walls of the living room: Freddie Kreuger’s hat and glove…

5. King of the Zombies poster

6. Woodsboro city limits sign from Scream.

7. The Machina de Kadavus from Spiderman No Way Home is on the sideboard.

8. As is the pumpkin mask from Halloween 2.

9. Zombie poster.

10. VHS of Night of the Living Dead on the shelf.

11. VHS of Evil Dead on the shelf.

12. VHS of Dawn of the Dead on the shelf.

13. Day of the Dead poster in the Kitchen.

14. Elm Street sign on the wall above the kitchen cupboard.

15. 28 Days Later title card.

16. Eli’s weapon of choice is a copy of Lucille, although that’s a Ball’s name, so his is called…

17. Bruce, as in Wayne, as in Bat-man.

18. Evil Dead poster.

19. When Babka drags Bloom away it is the final scene from REC and Quarantine with the Night Vision filter and camera sight.

20. The mugged by crackheads excuse was given by Pete in Shaun of the Dead.

21. Bloom does a zombie Wilhelm on the way down.

22. Bub graffiti from Day of the Dead.

23. Umbrella Corp graffiti from Resident Evil.

24. Steph graffiti from Listeners of the Dead.

25. Glitter Bitch posters from Queens of the Dead.

26. White Zombie eyes graffiti on lockup door.

27. City of the Dead rotten apple graffiti.

28. Uncontained billboard on the street.

29. Dawn of the Dead poster on the kitchen wall.

30. Yoni Solomon in the Shtetl scene is from the Undead Symphony novels.

31. Save the Mall poster from the Bloody Disgusting petition to save the Monroeville Mall.

32. Max Plyshevsky is the action figure of the Machete Zombie from Dawn of the Dead.

33. “Who died and made me King of the Zombies?” is from Shaun of the Dead and also references… well… King of the Zombies.

34. Dead Inside Do Not Enter headboard from The Walking Dead.

35. On the TV sequence… Dead Zero

36. Mirror of Malevolence.

35. The Damned and the Dead.

36. Night of the Living Dead. Twice.

37. White Zombie.

38. Oh Father’s Night.

39. “They’re coming to get you, Babka.” is a parody of “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” from Night of the Living Dead.

40. “What the Fulci?” Eli uses Lucio Fulci as an alternative swear word.

41. Talking to Ruthie they reference Friday 13th parts 2 and 5 with the Jason Vorhees masks.

42. Still poster during the horror nerd montage.

43. Eli wears a Jason Vorhees mask during the horror nerd montage.

44. The Nun painting on the bathroom wall during the horror nerd montage.

45. Shaun of the Dead poster during the horror nerd montage.

46. Blair Witch Project poster during the horror nerd montage.

47. Blair Witch stick effigy during the horror nerd montage.

48. Eli standing in the corner like the end of Blair Witch and seen grainy during the horror nerd montage.

49. Dead Zero poster during the horror nerd montage.

50. White Zombie poster during the horror nerd montage.

51. Ruthie has a snake called Plissken, after Snake Plissken from Escape from New York.

52 and 53. In the CHANNEL 5 NEWS clip the reporter is Barbara Streiner in a double reference to Night of the Living Dead 1968, her first name is the lead female protagonist, and the surname is from Russell Streiner who played Johnny, Barbara’s brother.

54. The chopper is being piloted by Flyboy, a reference to Dawn of the Dead 1978.

55. Although out of focus, one of the posters on the noticeboard is for the raffle from Shaun of the Dead.

56. Eli parodies the Tears in the Rain speech from Bladerunner.

57. The Dead Walk newspaper headline in the newspaper vending machine is from Day of the Dead and Resident Evil 2002.

58. “I see dead people,” from The Sixth Sense.

59. Ruthie references Human Centipede in the laundry scene.

60. Horror Con subway ride, Freddie Kreuger is standing next to them.

61. Ruthie is dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

62. Eli is dressed as a devil dog from Ghostbusters.

63. Eli paraphrases Ghostbusters with “there is no Eli, only Zu’ul.”

64. Eli with shaving cuts is based on Jim with cuts after his dry shave in 28 Days Later.

65. Zombie Kill of the Week is from Zombieland.

66. Eli refences both Dawn of the Dead 1978 and 2004, Romero and Snyder in his reason for killing Bloom.

67. The USS Gerald Ford is CVN-78, a nod to Dawn 1978

68. In his speech about zombie movies keeping him alive Eli references Lucio Fulci, George A Romero, Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later.

69. He uses the term “Negan the Shit outta of this town” which is also used later by Mrs Goldfarb.

70. The two buses are nicknamed 2004 and 1978 with reference to the Dawn of the Dead movies.

71. The buses are heavily modified and based on the shuttle buses from the 2004 Dawn remake.

72. The sailors on the USS Gerald Ford reference Dead City, City of the Living Dead and Nightmare City.

73. Eli paraphrased Dawn of the Dead, when he says “when there’s no room in Hell, the dead will walk New York City.”

74. In the final shot Bloom is sitting in the snow in the same position as Jack Torrance from The Shining. But unlike The Shining final shot, this is not a still.

75. The buildings on the street are named after actors from the genre: The Tallman Building is named after Patricia Tallman who played Barbara in the 1990 Tom Savini Night of the Living Dead remake, and Dead Air.

76. The Morley Building is named after Morley Nelson, writer and star of Uncontained.

77. The Foree Building is named after Ken Foree, Peter from Dawn of the Dead arguably the greatest zombie movie ever made.

78. And the Reitiger Building is named after Scott Reitiger, who played Roger in Dawn 1978.

79. Eli spends most of the movie in his Pjs and robe, this is a nod to Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide ot the Galaxy.

80. The sailor on the USS Gerald Ford is Seaman Harry Cooper, Harry Cooper is the antagonist in Night of the Living Dead.

81. His commanding office is Captain Rhodes. Captain Rhodes is the antagonist from Day of the Dead.

82-87. In their conversation Cooper lists Dead City, Nightmare City, City of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead and paraphrases Dawn of the Dead and Apocalypse Now.

88. When Eli talks to the imaginary zombie Mrs Goldfarb he asks what chance did she have against an Army of Darkness.

89. Eli also paraphrases the Dawn of the Dead, when there’s no room in Hell speech.

There are probably others… drink! drink! drink!