You can expect a lot of things from Quentin Tarantino films: violence, swearing, liberal usage of confrontational racial language and a slightly creepy obsession with feet. He's a dependable film-maker after all - an auteur, in other terms - whose commitment to his own topes is only as strong as the director's mainline into the beating pulse of film history. Because Tarantino is an obsessive film collector, his films are inevitably stocked full of references, parallels and straight up redone beats from films he loves and those that have in some way shaped his knowledge and style. Given that he is a massive Western fan, it's no surprise, then, that The Hateful Eight is positively drenched in Easter Eggs, references and homages to the genre. And the references go beyond that, dipping into Tarantino's own canonical mythology and borrowing liberally from other genres easily, to the point where watching almost invites the challenge of spotting where you've seen things before and why they matter to the director...
18. The Numerical Title
Interestingly - and somewhat shockingly - The Hateful Eight is Tarantino's longest title yet. Everything else he's released has come in at two words: with an almighty three, this one's a comparative monster. The eight in the title is also no accident: this is Tarantino's eighth film after all, and the naming convention follows Fellini's decision in titling 8½, which was his eight and a halfth release. Obviously, the title is also a play on The Magnificent Seven.
