Fitting for a series that loves Easter Eggs and Funny Background Events, Spooky Month has plenty of references to other media, particularly to horror and other Newgrounds works.
General
- Ooga Booga looks like a combination of the Trollface and Regan MacNeil when she's possessed by a demon. She's also a parody of the overuse of jump scares and screamer pranks, with her default face being one of the more infamous faces used from Regan's demonic possession, most famously in the Scary Maze Game.
- The way that Ooga Booga shouts her namesake Catchphrase "OOGA BOOGA!" during her jump scares is an almost one-to-one recreation of how Eustace Bagge yells "OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!" whenever he scares Courage with his big green mask.
- The Happy Fella doll is a parody of the Good Guy doll from the Child's Play franchise, being a child-sized doll with blue overalls. In "Deadly Smiles", it's also parodying Chucky himself, being possessed by the soul of an evil human who goes on a killing spree — though unlike Chucky, Dexter never actually succeeds at killing anybody.
- The Hobomen are expies of Captain and Steve, the protagonists of another Newgrounds cartoon called Tankmen. They even have the exact same voice actor.
- Starting in "Deadly Smiles", one of the candies on display in the Candy Club is a large lollipop with a red swirl and a star on it, Ã la the Invincibility Candy from the Kirby franchise.
- Bob Velseb as a whole is a homage to Michael Myers. Both are a highly durable serial killer whose killings always take place around Halloween, both possess a major personal link towards a female main character who they tried to kill in the past (Lila in Bob’s case, Laurie in Michael’s case), and both work with or have associations with a cult (the unnamed cult in the Spooky House for Bob, the Thorn Cult for Michael). Bob also spends his first few scenes in Tender Treats completely silent, just like Michael always is in most of his films, though he loses his silence once Lila threatens him with a lemon. The first part of Bob’s Rasputinian Death is also a direct homage to the end of the original Halloween (1978), as detailed below in Tender Treats’ section.
- Mayor N. Evermore's name is taken from The Raven — "Nevermore" of course being what the Raven says throughout the entire story.
- A few repeating lines of graffiti reading "The sugar is a lie" can be seen left of the door in the alley behind the Candy Club.
- In the second plush advertisement
, the song used in the commercial Skid and Pump are watching is set to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down", which is the same tune used for Silver Shamrock commercials in Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Skid, Pump, and Lila getting sucked into the television while Skid and Pump's bodies are turned into plushes also mirrors how the Silver Shamrock commercials kill everyone who wears their patented masks. - Rick stepping off screen to put on one of the shirts in the 2023 merch ad is followed by a technical difficulties screen mimicking the screens in Pizza Tower that pop up when Peppino falls down a pit, with a flat purple background and Skid, Pump, and Kevin drawn in pixel art. The "technical difficulties" is even in the same font.
It's spooky month
- A poster of Jason Vorhees can be seen on the wall next to Skid's desk.
- Skid and Pump play Luigi's Mansion together when they say they want to play a horror game.
- A doll of Jack Skellington is laying in Skid's room, and the boys happily exclaim it's "the spooky before Christmas" when Lila tells them it's November.
The Stars
- There's Sonic and SpongeBob flavored ice cream listed on the side of Frank's truck.
- One of the missing posters in the alleyway the clown is in is of This Man.
- The pan down to Eyes at the end of the short shows the skeletons of Popuko and Pipimi buried in the dirt.
Unwanted Guest
- At the mall, toys of Peppino Spaghetti and Boyfriend appear on the shelves where the boys are shopping. Pump is also standing in front of a plush of Kirby, specifically when he's copying Steve in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- At the mall, many cast members from the Touhou Project are seen browsing the isles, namely Udonge, Eirin, Mokou, Marisa, Reimu (first as a Yukkuri, later as a drawing), Youmu, Chen, Rumia, Sakuya, Cirno, Flandre, and Remilia Scarlet. The hidden advert in the same short even has a Happy 25th Anniversary (Thank you ZUN) dedication to it. Outside the mall, Lila's closet has Kogasa's umbrella hung in it, and one of the various photos in the house shows Lila dressed as Patchouli Knowledge.
- While at the hospital morgue, Skid and Pump doing the Spooky Dance attracts a bunch of cadavers to rise from death and perform the "Thriller" dance mixed with the Spooky Dance.
- Behind Kevin at the Candy Club, a treat with the face design and color scheme of Ena sits on display. Right next to it there's also an expensive alien donut from HANDS UP, another creation of Joel G.
- The end of the episode has the kids and Lila watching RedLetterMedia's Wheel of the Worst on TV.
Deadly Smiles
- While Happy Fella is already a Shout-Out to Chucky, the episode has direct references to Child's Play (1988):
- The opening Happy Fella cartoon is reminiscent of the Good Guy doll commercial due to the doll coming to cheer up a sad child and the suit actor portraying a large Chucky.
- Frank being frightened by the possessed doll coming alive to tell him "You stupid pig, you filthy skunk!" is a less profane parody of the scene in which Chucky revealed himself to Karen Barclay.
- Dexter trying to be friendly with Skid and Pump when he's trapped in the oven only to be told "We're not happy anymore, fella!" is similar to Andy's Pre-Mortem One-Liner "This is the end, friend!" before dropping the match in the fireplace to burn Chucky alive.
- Pump's room has collectibles of Courage the Cowardly Dog, Billy and Mandy, the Lament Configuration, a parody of Goosebumps called "Goo" with Slappy from the TV series on the cover, Baby Talking Tattletail, Glommer, the girl from Missing Halloween, Lenore, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann among others. There's also a can of "Doy Plo" and a book titled GRAVEYARD BOOK in the room.
- A doll of Pico can be seen behind the hobos. There's also a drawing of Isaac on one of the nearby cardboard boxes.
- Nitori and Hina wearing Mario-styled hats enter the Candy Club as the Hatzgang escape from stealing some sweets. What makes it special is the following gag: Kevin tries to throw a paintball at the Hatzgang but hits Hina instead, causing her to spin, a common meme in the Touhou fandom.
- The moquette of the theater has the pattern of the Overlook Hotel's carpets.
- One of the posters in the police station is of Selene Delgado, a missing Spanish woman with an Urban Legend-like status due to the uncertainty of whether or not she actually exists.
- One of the keychains on the keys to the jail cells is a small figurine of Isaac.
- On a candy rack otherwise meant for candy based off people who worked on the fourth short, the bottom shelf has a minuscule Spamton G. Spamton on it.
Tender Treats
- A few paintings in Evermore's office are spoofs of classics featuring Evermore, such as The Birth of Venus and Saturn Devouring His Son.
- While Jaune is channel surfing, she flicks by a missing persons report for Dexter: the name of the channel and the format (photo on the left, bar with channel name on the top, and info on the right) is a reference to Canal 5 Al Servicio de la Comunidad, a series of TV spots from Televisa Networks' Channel 5 that informed the public about missing persons, and is the source of the infamous Selene Delgado.
- While the two are going house-to-house trick-or-treating, one of the transitions has Pump doing Jonathan Joestar's pose of his hand covering his face, while Skid is doing DIO's iconic WRYYYYY pose. Another features them doing their stacked pose from Friday Night Funkin'.
- A few of the background treat-or-treaters during the episode are wearing referential Halloween costumes, including:
- Popuko and Pipimi
- Kirby
- Heavy
- Isaac
- Shovel Knight
- A girl dressed as Stan Marsh is seen at the Candy Club.
- Batman
- Superman
- Reisen, Marisa, Alice, and Nazrin. These four are also the ones who applaud every time Bob is "killed".
- When Frank walks off after stealing a kid's bag of candy, lawn ornaments of a Peashooter, two Sunflowers, and a Digger Zombie are seen in front of a person's house in the background.
- The last jack o' lantern lined up under the porch of the haunted house has Hella Jeff's face on it.
- One of the haunted house workers is dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein mixed with Marge Simpson, while another is The Invisible Man.
- One of the Jack o' Lanterns in the Candy Club has large Xs for eyes and a Jagged Mouth, matching Corrupted Skid's face.
- There are stickers of Crewmates around the poster of Pelo cookies in the scene where Kevin asks Rick to help him fulfill Carmen's order.
- There's stickers of Neco-Arc and a Crewmate on the dumpster behind Costume Bob in the scene where he talks to Kevin and Rick.
- Roy makes himself a rapper costume by mugging two kids respectively dressed as Sans and Boyfriend for their hoodie and mic.
- Right before Skid and Pump encounter the Hatzgang, Edd, Matt, and Tom are seen in front of the movie theater, with Edd dressed as a zombie, Matt dressed as a vampire, and Tom dressed as Bart Simpson. Edd and Matt's costumes are also Mythology Gags to Eddsworld, with Edd's referencing the "Zombeh" series, and Matt's simultaneously referencing both "Matt Sucks", where Matt gets turned into a vampire on Halloween, as well as him originally wearing a black shirt instead of a purple hoodie.
- As Skid and Pump cross the street before they meet the Hatzgang, Kenny, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman can be seen behind them, each wearing costumes from different Halloween episodes of the show.
- When Pump says, "To be scared," while him and Skid are singing, a billboard showing the mayor reading Better Call Evermore can be seen.
- When Bob is drawing his weapons while getting ready to enter Boys 'n Grills' meat storage, a picture of Lucifer from Helltaker is seen dangling out of a nearby trash can.
- The first attack on Bob by the police is a blatant homage to the ending of Halloween (1978) where Dr. Loomis shoots Michael Myers out of a window. Like in the film, John and Jack take their eyes off of Bob for a moment before he disappears from their sight, just like how Michael vanishes after Loomis looks in a different direction, and Bob's clay model while he's laying on the ground is in the exact same pose Michael is in after falling out the window.
- When John takes out his wallet in the Newgrounds ending, there's a silhouette of Marge Simpson under the card holder.
Hollow Sorrows
- Kenny appears on a motivational poster in the hospital.
- Peppino can be seen in a framed photo.
- A wanted poster of The Medic can be seen when Father Gregor, Skid and Pump leave the hospital.
- The scene of Ignacio picking up a trash can to reveal Moloch behind it, before shooting the demon with a revolver is a near shot-for-shot recreation of the "Garbage Day!" scene from Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 albeit with the roles reversed.
- One of the episode's tracks, "Tubular Swings", is a swing remix of "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield, best known for its usage as the theme song of The Exorcist (which the episode is a loose parody of).
