7. The Horror References
The whole film is designed to be a reference to classic horror films, from the soundtrack, which draws heavily on the familiar tones of the Psycho score (and the setting, which of course also has a grand tradition of association with horror movies from Psycho to The Shining.) The Shining actually has an even more explicit reference, in the shape of the keys used to enter Bonnie and her mother's motel room...
Then of course there are the horror movies referenced in the opening sequence itself, which pre-form Mr Pricklepants' Scream like deconstruction of the genre, including an obvious nod to Dracula. More explicit, and more nerdy perhaps is the use of the line "I'm coming to get you Betsy" in the sequence, which is clearly a reference to Night Of The Living Dead ("I'm coming to get you, Barbara!") As a clever reference to the technical conventions of the genre, Angus MacLane confirmed that there is one scene in the film, which is atypically shot without computer animation. The sequence in the graveyard includes a bat - very obviously rubber - which flies across shot atmospherically: the shot was achieved according to MacLane "the old fashioned way: ordering off of the internet and seeing which was the floppiest."