World of Horror Reference Compendium

To find a reference, I suggest pressing Ctrl + F type in the reference you're looking for. There's a lot to comb through otherwise.

This is my own version of the deleted compendium of references.
If you know any more references, please let me know and I will credit you!

MIKU'S POSTER

This poster in Miku's room has FINALLY been identified, huge thanks to Steam user menherahair! I've been asking around for over a year and didn't think I'd ever find the origin for it without asking the dev himself!
This poster is part of the album cover for Lato w Ghettcie by Ćpaj Stajl.

STRUGGLING ARTIST

It's Junji Ito.

THE 'OTHER' NEIGHBOR

If you leave the game alt-tabbed for a bit and then come back, you might encounter a jumpscare from "your 'other' neighbor", as the achievement says. This will also unlock an oufit for Kouji called "Bloody Sweater". In Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood, Mr. Rodgers would ask the viewer if they would be his neighbor and is known for wearing a sweater, so this 'other' neighbor is like Mr. Rodger's evil twin.

Thanks to Steam user Cerasza for this idea!

CHAD

Kouji's outfit "Chad" is based off of Chad's outfit from Friday the 13th: The Game.

Thanks to Steam user O-Z for bringing this up!

CULT OF CORN

Toshiaki's outfit is a reference to the Stephen King's Children of the Corn, which is about a corn farming based town of cultish children who murder all the adults in town in belief that aren't following the word of God closely enough, with their own form of Christianity revolving around the corn itself.

Also - Toshiaki is known as the ex-cultist, and the cult he escaped from was the History Club, which was at the school - this means that Toshiaki is a teen. Legally a child, from a cult, which is in and of itself a reference to the story/movie.

MIMI'S TRACKSUIT

On Mimi's tracksuit, you can see a teeny tiny emblem with Cthulhu on it, who is from the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

HAIL TO THE KING

Moriko's Halloween costume "Hail to The King" (only wearable in timeline B) is a reference to Ash Williams from the Evil Dead franchise.
Also, there is an achievement added in the most recent update with the same name where you, as Moriko, have to kill an enemy with a chainsaw.

CHUPACABRA SWEATER

A reference to the game Faith, a pixelated indie horror game where you play as a priest. There is an image of an enemy from the game (refered to as a chupacabra in one of the games endings) on his sweater.

TEEN WITCH

Both Kirie and Ayaka have outfits is named after the show Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

NUGGET

In the player's room, there is a random chance you'll see 'Lil Nugget' or 'Meat Nugget', a monster created by Trevor Henderson.

MOVIE POSTER 1 - SAILOR SUIT AND MACHINE GUN

In your apartment when you go to change outfits, for almost every character has the same poster on their closet door (except Miku, who has different poster that I have as of yet, not identified). The poster is a reference to the Japanese movie Sērā-fuku to kikanjū, or Sailor Suit and Machine Gun in English.

Thanks to Steam user KenjiXccd for telling me about this!

MOVIE POSTER 2 - DEVIL ENGINE

The ship in your room is model from the game Devil Engine, and the picture to the right (might be) of it is the developer.
Thanks to user Wynona for pointing this out!

MAFIA

Haru's outfit 'Mafia' is a reference to the Yakuza games.

KIRYU

Also, if you put in the seed code "KIRYU" when you start the game, you get this screen, which is another Yakuza reference.

MAYIMA

If you use the word 'KIRYU' as a seed and set your background to 'Hunted by the Cult' you might get a special fight scene with a character from the Yakuza games.
Thanks to user PickledTacoTray for telling me this, I never would've figured this out!
... And also thanks for correcting my stupid error.

CLASS OF 1971

Based off of a series of SCP's (1833, 322, 1423, and 2316) surrounding the class of '76 at Kirk Lonwood High School. SCP-2316 in particular is an anomalous lake where the group of high school students drowned and it beckons others to join the bodies by convincing people that they "recognize the bodies in the water".

TOKYO

This outfit and achievement "House of Paper" are both a reference to the show La Casa de Papel.

VENDING MACHINE

Most likely based off of SCP-261, an anomalous Japanese vending machine that seems to sell various things labeled as snack foods from other dimensions.

DREAM MAN

I've flip-flopped a lot on whether to include this one because there's not much reason to say this is really a reference, but the event Dream Man makes me think of SCP-990, a man in a business suit who appears in the dreams or nightmares of SCP Foundation Personnel and tells them about major incidents - which are often taken as threats. The Dream Man here may be doing something similar; trying to warn you of the coming of the end, but his association with your nightmares makes him come across as a threat - the game doesn't state exactly what about him is threatening.

The image on the bottom is from the original SCP Containment Breach.

CURSED GRIMOIRE + NECRONOMICON

Toshiaki has The Necronomicon is from H.P. Lovecraft's works; written in human blood and bound in human skin, containing all sorts of forbidden knowledge. However, the Cursed Grimoire also seems to be based off this fictional book.

INSMASU CURSE

A Japanese pronunciation of "Innsmouth", based off of the HP Lovecraft story The Shadow Over Innsmouth where a small fishing village would interbreed with the fish people they worshipped, leading to the people there having gills, fins, and slightly large eyes.

HORRIBLE OLD MAN

Based off of the short story "The Terrible Old Man" by H.P. Lovecraft.

ARKHAM, MA

On the start of a new game, you'll see a sticker that says "ARKHAM, MA" on the briefcase given to you by a stranger. Arkham is a fictional town where many of HP Lovecraft's stories take place - also, this is where the Arkham from Batman comes from!

CRIME SCENE

When you get this event and select "try to learn what happened" and pass the skill check, you get this excerpt which talks about a glowing rock/meteorite. This could be a reference to the HP Lovecraft story, The Color Out Of Space, which talk about a meteor crashing down on Earth, bringing a new (cursed) color with it.

THERE WAS A HOLE HERE

A reference to one of most iconic lines from Silent Hill 2, "There was a HOLE here, it's gone now."
ALSO, the words on the board look like "Klatu Barada Nikto" which originated from the original The Day The Earth Stood Still, and was also in Army of Darkness.
Thanks to user richmondodyfor pointing this out - I didn't even notice those were words or letters on the board, they just looked like meaningless symbols to me.

I'M WAITING FOR YOU...

The letter you start with when you play as Yashiro has a caption that says "I'm waiting for you..." which is almost the exact same thing as the letter James gets from his wife at the beginning of Silent Hill 2 where says she is "Waiting for you...", including the ellipses.

XENOSHIBA

In the dog ending, the name of the alien dogs are called Xenoshiba, which is very close to Xenomorph, while the ship's name, Woofstromo, is very close to Nostromo - both from the Alien franchise.

Also, the fact that there is a dog/alien ending at all is reference to the Silent Hill games, which are known for having goofy alien endings and dog endings.

IWA

This ally is actually Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is nice sweater and necklace.

CLAPS / BOWS MECHANIC

The entire mechanic for clapping and bowing when fighting ghost enemies was inspired by the movie Norio: The Curse.

Thanks to user loot on Steam for sharing the direct link to the tweet!

410 BILLION

It's from a meme.

MEGA MIRK

This shirt Mizuki wears in her apartment is a Japanese pronunciation of the meme "mega milk", which came from the hentai comic... ugh... Tiny Boobs Giant Tits History.

MEMORY EXTRACT

Apparently, it's styled after this classic Jackie Chan meme.

PERVERTED INNKEEPER

Inspired by the Junji Ito story "The Licking Woman".
Also, his nose is bleeding, which is a sign of arousal in a lot of anime or manga.

BARK WOMAN

Probably a reference to 'The Birch' from Crypt TV.

DROWNER SPONGE

I don't know of any other sponge-related horror stories other than Goosebumps book It Came From Beneath the Sink! which was about a sponge that brought bad luck.

MERMAID IN A MANHOLE

The title for the ending "Mermaid in a Manhole" from the Macabre Mermaids case is named after the sixth entry of Guinea Pig, a Japanese straight-to-VHS horror movie franchise known for it's disgustingly grotesque special effects.

DEAD MAN'S FLOAT

This school event is named after the most well known episode of Are you Afraid of the Dark?, which was about a monster lurking in a school pool after hours and could only be seen when exposed to certain chemicals.

KOI WOMAN

The Koi Woman is designed after Creature from the Black Lagoon.

ASPIRING MODEL

Could be a reference to two things; the movie Eyes Without a Face, about a young woman with a disfigured face whose father kidnaps women and tries to surgically replace the daughters face...
And, the line the enemy says before initiating combat "pretty face... mind if I borrow it?" could be inspired by the movie Verotika, a horror anthology movie in which the second story "Change of Face" was about a stripper who stole other women's faces (and featured terrible dialogue).

ANATOMY HORROR

Both the monster and the event are probably based off the anatomical model from Corpse Party, which was actually a living monster disguised in plain sight.

CARPENTER HAMMER

When you click 'inspect' on the carpenter hammer, it gives you a quote from the game Hotline Miami.

WELCOME TO THE RICE FEILD

The event "Welcome to the Rice Field" is a reference to the deleted Youtube video "HOW TO SAY HELLO IN 30 LANGUAGES", made by Filthy Frank.

Thanks to user Watereater for pointing this out!

TWISTED CORPSE

According to the dev on twitter, this enemy was inspired by the game From Next Door.

STALKER

The card image for this curse has striking similarity to the first scene in Scream.

MIDASU TOUCH

Midasu Touch is the Japanese pronunciation of Midas Touch, from the greek myth about a king whose touch turned things to gold... but the more interesting part is that the art for this spell looks just like the cult leader Shoko Asahara of the Aum Shinrikyu cult.

Thanks to Farting sound effect long fart p for pointing this out!

ARCANE STORM

This town status talking about an unusual event basking the town of green is reminiscent of John Carpenter's The Fog, where a strange green fog slowly starts to cover a small ocean-side town, bringing with it zombie lepers hellbent of revenge.

BRANDED

The curse/mutation "Branded", at least visually, is probably a direct reference to the Brand of Sacrifice from Berserk.
Thanks to Steam user Tormènt for pointing this out!

FREAKY FEATURE OF FOUND FOOTAGE

This mystery is clearly based off of The Blair Witch Project (1999), and this screenshot specifically shows a specific reference to a scene in the movie where. after one person in the group goes missing, the two remaining characters find bloody human teeth wrapped in a piece of the missing man's shirt.

BLOODY BRIEF OF A BECKONING BULLETIN

This case is probably inspired by the movie Suicide Club, a Japanese horror movie about a string of mass suicides happening all over Japan.
It's most well known for having a scene with large group of young girls jumping in front of a train hand-in-hand, which is also similar to one of the investigation messages that pop up.

ALARMING ACCOUNT OF ABNORMAL ARMS

Could be inspired by the short Ito story The Groaning Drain, where a stalker hid inside a girl's plumbing system.

The monster itself is taken from a yokai called Tenaga-Jin, long armed people who would team up with the long legged Ashinaga-jin to catch fish.
Thank you to user Sissel for pointing this out!
However, the story itself is much more reminiscent of the X-Files episodes Squeeze and Tooms, about a man named Eugene Victor Tooms, who possessed a series of genetic mutations that allowed him to stretch himself - so he could fit through ventilation shafts as small as 6 inches across.

ROTTEN REPORT OF RANCID RAMEN

This case was based off of a REAL LIFE story where a noodle restaurant served their food with powdered poppy - which has a lot of opium in it. So much so, that people were failing their drug tests, and a man was even arrested before they found out that these people all went to the same shop before they were tested.
I'm like 99.99% sure Steam won't let me give links, but both BBC and CNN have written articles on the matter.

ATH-YOLAZSTH

From the Junji Ito book, Hellstar Remina, about a planet eating entity slowing coming towards Earth.

GOIZO, THE THING FORSAKEN BY GOD

Based off of the straight to VHS Japanese horror film Guzoo, The Thing Forsaken By God, where a group of girls staying in a villa are attacked by a tentacle monster that can reach into their dimension through mirrors.
I censored the VHS box art since the gore was more intense then anything else on here. if you want to see it, use Google.

SHIBA-CHAN

The dog at the store that can sell you anything from maps to cigarettes is based off of the real dog in Tokyo that would man a tobacco stand.

Thanks to Steam user Tormént for reminding me of best doggo :o !

BLOODSUCKER

In Uzamaki, there was a chapter about the pregnant women in a hospital becoming like mosquitoes and needing to drink blood for their babies.

They even matched the blood type on the bag!

SCHOOL NURSE

I don't know if this was intentional, but the school nurse look identical to Pam from MeatCanyon's parody of The Office.

HEADLESS MANNEQUIN

Based off of the short story by Ito called "headless Sculptures", where statues made without heads come to life to steal the heads of humans.

BLOATED TEACHER

This guy looks just like the drowned body from Junji Ito's "The Supernatural Transfer Student".

SOMETHING TRULY EVIL

Based off of the Junji Ito story "The Model", where a young man somehow gets the attention of a horrendous looking fashion model who slowly starts to appear more and more in his life,

HOLE-RIDDEN THING

From the short story, Shivers.

GRUESOME ALTER

From Dissolving Classroom, where a creepy younger sister and her brother who has the power to make people melt- including their own parents.

RIBCAGE WOMAN

From Rib Woman, an Ito story about a girl with waaaaay too many ribs.
They probably decided to have the ribs in her face because of space constraints.

LOVESICK CORNER

This event is based off of the book Lovesick Dead (or Undying Love) by Junji Ito, where an attractive boy would appear to girls who participated in "intersection fortune telling" and say something negative that would drive them mad, or even to suicide.

STONE STATUES

From the story The Supernatural Transfer Student by Junji Ito.

WHITE SANDS

This event is based off of the short story Blood Sickness of the The White Sands Village by Junji Ito, where an isolated village had... weird trees.

ENIGMA OF AMIGARA FAULT

Sometimes, when you watch the news, this report comes up. It's a direct reference to The Enigma of Amigara Fault, a short Junji Ito story about an earthquake splitting a mountain open and exposing people shaped holes.

CADAVER THEATER

Based off of the story House of Puppets by Junji Ito.

AKA MANTO

Based off the Japanese urban legend of Aka Manto (which translates to red cape), where a ghost wearing a red vest or cape will appear in elementary school bathrooms if someone in one of the stalls has run out of toilet paper - offering them either red or blue (or sometimes purple) paper.

SCISSOR WOMAN

Based off of the Japanese urban legend "Kuchisake-onna" (translates to slit-mouthed woman), who's mouth is slit from ear to ear (although covered up with a mask or a fan) and asks anyone who comes across her if they think she's beautiful. If they say yes, she'll cut their mouth to match hers (to share the beauty), and if they say no, she just... kills you anyway.

SCISSOR-WOMAN, VERSION B

Only available in Timeline B, the boss fight with the scissor woman will be completely different - with the artwork being inspired by the Ito book Tomie.

ITADAKIMASU

Based off of the Ito book Gyo, where fish and other sea creature emerged from the ocean on legs.
Also, "Itadakimasu" basically means "Let's Eat" in Japanese.

SPIRAL REFERENCES

There are several references to spirals, such as the color palette and somebody in the school yard whose seen reading a 'novel about spirals' - all of which are a reference to Junji Ito's Uzumaki.

JAGUAR

The color palette "Jaguar" is designed to look like early 90's DOS graphics, but seems to be named after the Atari Jaguar, which came out around the same time.

The game on top is Mega Man for DOS, just for reference on what these games looked like.

LEATHERFACE

Named after serial killer from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

PUPPET COMBO PALETTES

The color palettes "Riverside Incident", "Samhain", and possibly "Ripper" are based off of Puppet Combo's games The Riverside Incident, Samhain, and The Night Ripper.

RETRO PALETTES

The "Retro" color palettes were designed to resemble Gameboy graphics.

The game on bottom is Kirby's Dreamland for Gameboy.

HAIRCUTS

The palette "Haircuts" is named after the band Haircuts for Men, and the colors are taken from their album ダウンタンブルと死にます,which translates to Down Tumble and Die according to Google Translate.
Thanks to user Energon on Dischord for linking me the music and telling me about the reference!

FROM NEXT DOOR

Arcording to this old tweet from the dev, there's a palette and a few enemies that's a inspired by the indie game From Next Door... and judging from his screenshot, I think the palette used was "Archives".

BACKROOMS

This palette is named after urban legend created on 4chan (description below).

CURSED SLAB / MONOLITH

Probably a reference to the Ithotu slab you find at the top of the lighthouse, or, just as much of a reference as the "MONOLITH" pallet is to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

SAYONARA ZETSUBOU SENSEI

One of the students you can find in the schoolyard might be based off of a character from the anime Sayonara Zetsuboi Sensei.
Thanks to Steam user Mod_bucket.png for this one!

YOU WERE ALWAYS SUCH A KIDDER

When asking students to join you in the courtyard, you'll probably get the line "You were always such a kidder!", which is a direct reference to the comedy horror point and click masterpiece (citation needed) Harvester, where a man named Steve with amnesia wakes up in a strange parody of 1960's America, and every time he shares his issues, he's just met with the line "You were always such a kidder, Steve!"

Thanks to Steam user richmondody for pointing this out - I love Harvester, I feel embarrassed this slipped past me.

[komare]

Bloated Teacher is based off of Krzysztof Kononowicz, a polish lolcow.
Specifically from this video: https://youtu.be/vJ1azOueh90

[Wilsky]

A bit on the nose, but the lighthouse is a set-piece in both this game, and in Uzamaki. Although in Uzamaki it is used as a one-off spiral event about the light from the lighthouse drawing kids to it.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/uzumakijunjjiito/images/3/30/Kirie_rocking_that_dress.png/revision/latest?cb=20141228115301

[Nobiiinoct]

The use for the Pocket Knife is highly reminiscent to their use in Resident Evil 2 Remake, where you can escape zombie clutches safely if you've got a knife handy

Reference or coincidence, the jingle upon completing sidequests might be similar if not the same jingle in the movie licensed NES game, Friday the 13th.

That's all I got for now! I'm sure people know this, but it's still worth mentioning and putting here ^^

[Gofr]

U forgot about the clock that says that the time is 21:37 for people from poland its a funny number bc pope John Paul 2died on this time

[butters1992]

Also, "resting at home" art ( https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ExriI0iShLw/WhMoTZcc16I/AAAAAAAAj1o/yXY68ajThjYS5GH8OVn5eNApE7KnDhA3wCLcBGAs/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/WORLD%2BOF%2BHORROR.jpg ) is a reference to some PC-98 game https://m-a-r-s-h-m-a-l-l-o-w.tumblr.com/post/57023826417

[Gnorts]

definitely not also gonna read Tiny Boobs Giant Tits History.

[Gnorts]

First off, how the fuck did I ALSO miss that Harvester reference

Second, I'm not so sure that Something Truly Evil is based off of The Model, but then I can't say what it IS a reference to, so who knows.

Third, I now need to watch Sailor Suit And Machine Gun because that sounds awesome.

[BRIMStone]

the carpenter hammer is referencing hotline miami with the quote, but also the artist "carpenter brut" who made some of the music used in the same game.

[Baitō Gaikōkan]

The character Ayaka Kuroi is almost certainly a reference to Misa Kuroi - a morally grey high school girl witch who is the main character of one of the most influential old-school horror manga series, Eko Eko Azarak.

[hannah bee]

Additional reference considerations:

Another scene in the aforementioned 2005 Japanese horror movie, Noroi: The Curse [en.wikipedia.org] (ノロイ) , could have been referenced in ALARMING ACCOUNT OF ABNORMAL ARMS: one of the psychic characters, Mitsuo Hori, is found dead and crammed in a vent (most likely to hide from the demon Kagutaba, not as a voyeur or centipede-human hybird).

In the 2001 Japanese horror movie, Pulse [en.wikipedia.org] (回路, Kairo; "Circuit") could be referenced in BLOODY BRIEF OF A BECKONING BULLETIN: ghosts are invading the world of the living througha website on the internet, cursing those who enter "forbidden rooms," and eventually resulting in suicide.