History ShoutOut / AlanWake

** Also JUDY is very similar to Barbara Jagger's role as the BiggerBad to Mr. Scratch/DopleCoop BigBad.

** In Episode 2, we're shown a flashback in which Alan enters his apartment; his greeting to Alice? "Honey, I'm home."

* [[ShowWithinAShow Night Springs]] is an obvious homage to Series/TheTwilightZone. Also, in Alan's nightmare at the very beginning he's driving and a signpost on the road shows that "Night Springs" is up ahead. Fans of he ''Twilight Zone'' will remember the intro narrative "There's a signpost up ahead; your next stop is the Twilight Zone!"

** The manuscript pages from the Sudden Stop at the start of the second chapter mention a femme fatale, dead loved ones, and painkillers. The voice narrating the pages was none other than the voice of Max himself, James [=McCaffrey=].

* Following the Evil Dead car reference is the windmill at the Anderson farm, which looks like the windmill Ash finds himself in in Army of Darkness. Against a backdrop of a dark stormy sky, like in said movie.

* Barry and Alan get separated in Episode 4, with Alan at the top of a cliff and Barry at the bottom. When Barry proclaims that he can make it alone, Alan mutters, "Now he's {{Rambo}}."

* In a television scene in ''American Nightmare'', Mr. Scratch shows off various "tools" that he finds useful. Most of them are knives and other sharp objects, and he describes rather blatantly the morbid implications and uses of each variant. One is a roll of duct tape; all he says is that he can't tell you how much he's [[Series/MacGyver MacGyvered]] with it.

* The achievement "Damn Good Cup of Coffee", obtained by collecting 25 of the coffee thermoses hidden throughout the game, seems to be a reference to a repeated line in ''TwinPeaks''. Special Agent Cooper sure does love him some coffee.

** Bright Falls's diner bears a striking resemblance to the R & R Diner in ''TwinPeaks''.
** Sheriff Breaker's cutout in the The Signal DLC refers obliquely to the "secret society" that she had Barry contact in the game and is advertising a fake book entitled "The Only Girl in the Bookhouse." In ''TwinPeaks'', the Bookhouse Boys was a secret society devoted to protecting the town from a supernatural evil in the woods.
** Near the beginning of the game various charactrs mention good coffee, great air and Douglas firs. All these elements were mentioned when introducing Agent Cooper.
** Act I of Episode 5 is named ''Night Life in Bright Falls'', which is a transparent reference to ''Night Life in TwinPeaks'', a piece of soundtrack from the show [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7psOw0ilJl4]].

* One of the diner's bathroom stalls is tagged with [[VideoGame/MaxPayne Mirra]].

* In Episode 2, we're shown a flashback in which Alan enters his apartment; his greeting to Alice? [[VideoGame/MaxPayne "Honey, I'm home."]]

* The manuscript pages from the Sudden Stop at the start of the second chapter mention a femme fatale, dead loved ones, and painkillers. The voice narrating the pages was none other than ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' voice actor, James [=McCaffrey=].

* One of the books in the Alex Casey series is titled the same as a level from Max Payne.
** Also, another one is titled "The Things That I Want," which is a quote from one of Max Payne's monologues.

* A line of text in the end credits of American Nightmare says "Alan Wake's journey into the night will continue". The same line is found in the credits of [[MaxPayne Max Payne 2]], which was also written by Sam Lake.

* Creator/StephenKing is a blatant referencing point, ''what with "Stephen King" being the opening words to the opening lines.''

* One of the achievements is "What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks", a reference to RomeoAndJuliet. The description, once you get it, is "It is the east, and the FlareGun is the sun to 50 Taken." a continuation of the quote.

* One of the protected local heritage sites is a ancient tree called "[[Creator/HPLovecraft The Great Old One]]."

* StephenKing is a blatant referencing point, ''what with "Stephen King" being the opening words to the opening lines.''

** While hiding in a trailer, Alan makes a reference to [[JackNicholson Nicholson]] and ''Film/TheShining'' when a Taken begins chopping through the door with an axe.

* A very large example is how Agent Nightingale [[RunningGag frequently calls Wake]] [[ReferenceOverdosed by other author names.]] Authors referenced include Creator/StephenKing, Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/JamesJoyce, MickeySpillane, Creator/RaymondChandler, Creator/DanBrown, Creator/BretEastonEllis, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe and Creator/ErnestHemingway.

* Occasionally you'll hear long air-raid like sirens, ala ''Franchise/SilentHill''.

* Half of Barry's dialogue seems to exist simply to deliver (often hilarious) pop culture references, from ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' to [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]] to referring to a headlamp as his flaming [[LordOfTheRings eye of Mordor]]. And all his shoutouts are justified as he's a literary agent; he ''should'' know these things by profession.

** Back in 1999, Stephen King had been writing a novel but suffered from almost 18 months of writers block. Stephen King is also known to frequently visit a small town in New England to get away from the city and the population. The game's plot has a [[{{Homage}} number of parallels]] with King's novel ''Literature/BagOfBones''.

* There's a mode where you can play back cutscenes. Naturally, they have names to help differentiate between them. One of them is named, "[[MemeticMutation It's a]] [[StarWars Trap]]."

* In the new downloadable chapter "The Signal" Alan answers a call from Zane, who has been trying to make contact with him. Zane asks Alan over the phone "I am trying to reach you. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?" This last question is the line best known in the older Verizon commercials. This could be considered an EnforcedPlug since, incidentally, there are constant reminders of Verizon throughout the game. There are road billboards, an in-game television commercial, and the phone Alan acquires in "The Signal" is Verizon brand, which happens to show itself very obviously on screen. Particularly amusing when you consider the fact that Zane left the mortal world long before modern cell phones were invented.

* You can drive a car that, sans some cosmetics, could be the General Lee. They even offer a few ramps for you to jump off, though doing so does nothing other than give you the opportunity to yell "Yeehaw!" More obviously, though, the car is the right model and color to be the "Classic" from the ''EvilDead'' series (a 1973 yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88), which also appears in most of Sam Raimi's other movies as a cameo.

* StephenKing references:
** StephenKing and often mentions his work, which justifies the animated objects you encounter. Turns out Wake's a fan.

* From the outset Alan quotes Creator/StephenKing and often mentions his work, which justifies the animated objects you encounter. Turns out he's a fan.

* While hiding in a trailer, Alan makes a reference to [[JackNicholson Nicholson]] and ''Film/TheShining'' when a Taken begins chopping through the door with an axe.

* Back in 1999, Stephen King had been writing a novel but suffered from almost 18 months of writers block. Stephen King is also known to frequently visit a small town in New England to get away from the city and the population. The game's plot has a [[{{Homage}} number of parallels]] with King's novel ''Literature/BagOfBones''.