This series is to horror works what Duke Nukem 3D is to pop culture. Expect TONS of references.
In general
- The game's entire premise (a mid-western, hat-wearing cowboy named Caleb who, after meeting an attractive young woman and being lured into her cult of vampires, was subsequently betrayed, leading him to have a showdown against his own clan) is inspired by Near Dark.
- Caleb having the Sawed-Off Shotgun as his signature weapon is a nod to the Evil Dead franchise, more specifically to Army of Darkness.
- Said franchise forms the basis for a big chunk of his dialogue, including "I live... again!", "Hey, she-bitch, let's go!", and "Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." The crawling hand and mini-Caleb enemies are also ripped straight from those films.
- The recurring gag of "JoJo, The Idiot Circus Boy" appears to be reference to the title character's salesman rant from Tommy Boy (it was likely an ad-lib by Chris Farley, but if he was making a specific reference to some other work, exactly what it is has yet to be discovered).
Blood (1997)
- Enemies:
- Many of them share features with the deadites from the the Evil Dead series: glowing white eyes, chatting nonsense phrases, and very pasty/tight skin.
- Both the Choking Hands and their warning phrase ("I'll swallow your soul") are inspired by the disembodied hands from Evil Dead 2.
- When set on fire, the Cultists will scream "IT BURNS! IT BURNS!"
- The Cultists' robes are inspired by the tunic-wearers from Tombs of the Blind Dead and the undead monks from Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror.
- The Plasma Pak Elemental Pods are inspired by the Triffids from The Day of the Triffids.
- The Spirit Armor has a face resembling the face on the Necronomicon.
- The look and design of the Life Seed item resembles the possessed Tequila Worm.
- The corpses of bodies in metal drums and the Axe Zombies screaming "BRAAAAAAAAAINS!" are references to Return of the Living Dead.
- Speaking of those barrels, the first time you see them Caleb remarks "Ah, fresh victims for the ever growing army of the undead."
- In that same vein, occasionally interacting with a phone, particularly in the second level, will cause a man doing an impression of Apu to ask for a "Hugh Jass", one of Bart's more famous prank phone call routines.
- Speaking of those barrels, the first time you see them Caleb remarks "Ah, fresh victims for the ever growing army of the undead."
- Sometimes the civilians will shout "There's no place like home!" when injured.
- The Tesla Cannon was inspired by Nikola Tesla.
- E1M1 lets you find the grave of a fellow named Draven. Caleb's response to this is "Nevermore."
- The title of Episode 2 is "Even Death May Die", after a line from The Nameless City.
- E2M1 takes place on the HMS Victor, a ship frozen in ice, a nod to Victor Frankenstein's eventual fate and the book's framing device.
- E2M4: The Overlooked Hotel is a loose recreation of the Overlook Hotel from The Shining, complete with hedge maze and Jack Torrance's frozen corpse.
- The title of Episode 3 is A Farewell to Arms.
- A secret in E3M4 lets you find a stroller based on the one in the poster for It's Alive.
- E4M4: Crystal Lake is an extended callout to Friday the 13th. It takes place in what's pretty clearly meant to be Camp Crystal Lake, with one area even featuring Jason's mask and machete hanging from a wall next to the severed head of his mother.
- E4M9 takes place in a mall filled with zombies.
- In some levels, it can be heard the mantra enchant "Anal nathrakh, urth vas bethud, dokhjel djenve".
Blood II: The Chosen
- One of Ishmael's one-liners is "I find your lack of faith disturbing".
- The Orb is clearly inspired by Sentinel Spheres from Phantasm.
- The Flayer weapon in The Nightmare Levels summons meat hooks on a chain to attack enemies, inspired by Pinhead's signature attack.
- Speaking of Hellraiser, C3L1 is named "Frank Cotton Memorial Bridge", after the first victim of the puzzle box.
- The CAS Revenant from C1L7 and C1L8 is noted in the loading text for the former level to have the model number 1701D.
- The CabalCo Death Ray's design heavily resembles the Martians' ray guns from Mars Attacks!, complete with its secondary fire based on a scene of it using a "wide beam" to hit multiple people at once.