I’ve come to find that writing horror articles is like making a horror movie: you’ve got to have a sequel eventually. And I loved picking out the references in The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula Season 2 so much, that I decided it was only fair to try again for the fans, and extract the moments, looks, and kills that honor horror history the most.
Fourth Times the Charm
With a series as long-running and legendary as Halloween, you knew the Boulets would have to put some respect on Michael Myer’s name eventually, and where better to do so than in the season opener? Down to the head-bashing, blood smearing kills of the paramedic, the Boulets play out the ambulance murders of a reawakened Michael Myers perfectly, re-enacting the rampage from 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers stylishly to kick off another season.
Remembering Frank Cotton’s Better Half
The demise of Violencia! in episode 1’s extermination short film could reference several different hammer killers of horror legend. Still, aesthetically it most resembles Hellraiser’s very own Julia Cotton. Fans of Frank’s demented accomplice will recognize her weapon of choice, the claw hammer, which she used to finish off the sacrifices she seduced and brought to the Cotton home to rebuild Franks body. In a way, it’s fitting; much like Frank’s resurrection, you can’t build the world’s next Drag supermonster without shedding some blood and cracking a few heads.
Evil Ernie, Eat Your Heart Out!
As someone who has frequented many spinner racks in my lifetime, I’ve gotten fairly in tune with many comics. One niche comic book reference in Week 1’s supervillain-themed competition is to the obscure horror comic character Lady Death. Dollya Black’s costume is a close pastiche of the Evil Ernie comic book character, clad in skimpy black leather and sporting white hair and deathly pale skin. Had I not known any better, I would have assumed it was an outright cosplay of the demonic death deity herself.
Bathory, Boulet, Same Thing Right?
The opening of episode 2 sees Dracmorda bathing in the blood of another sacrificed manservant, which is another classic vampire movie trope that’s hard to forget. In the tradition of Elizabeth Bathory, many famous vampire queens throughout horror have rejuvenated themselves by bathing in blood, and these queens are no different.
The Count Has Arrived
There are quite a few Dracula references in episode 2, as it is a vampire-themed challenge, so here are the two most important. Gary Oldman’s iteration of the character from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) gets a heavy reference drop in Evah Destruction’s look, with an instantly recognizable wig and lacy, gothic red clothing. The movie also factors into the extermination short film. Much like in the iconic opening to Francis Ford Coppola’s horror spectacle, a statue cries tears of blood in the wake of a Dracula’s wife dying. It’s just a shame it had to be a queen as great as St. Lucia to pass via staking.
Brothers Dearest
Episode 5’s opening isn’t an outright reference to a horror film, but it does reference a truly horrifying biopic. The Boulets berating of Israel and another manservant over cleaning the floors is a deliberate homage to a scene in the Faye Dunaway classic Mommie Dearest, complete with a lot of screaming and shaking of powdered floor cleaner.
Hollow Eve’s Got This in The Bag
The same trash-themed episode was capped off by eliminating the iconic and verbose (sometimes to her detriment) Hollow Eve. She went out in a short film tribute to the unforgettable plastic bag kill Clare suffers at the hands of Billy in the 1974 classic, Black Christmas.
Keep Calm and Slither On
The hardest to spot of the easter eggs for me, Dollya Black’s look was on the tip of my tongue, but it took a few rewatches to realize it was a play on the 2006 James Gunn cult film Slither. In Episode 6, Dollya takes on the role of patient zero for a leech mutation, hungry for flesh and blood in this hospital-themed challenge. Not only does this fit the bill for what happens to Michael Rooker’s Grant in the film after being exposed to the alien entity the Long One, but her right arm is also mutated into an elongated, leech-like appendage exactly how his does!
Maddelynn’s Nut Allergy Blues
All my Ari Aster fans out there must recognize the homage to Hereditary in the sixth extermination short film. With Milli Shapiro as a guest judge and plenty of tongue-click in-jokes from the Boulets, how could you not? Like Charlie, Maddelynn Hatter had the distinct misfortune of being decapitated while leaning out of a car window. But hey, at least it wasn’t a telephone pole with a demonic sigil for summoning Paimon on it, right?
Priscilla the Pinhead
Episode 7’s challenge gave us many circus-worthy aberrations. Still, Priscilla’s look was the most glaring. It was a reference to Pepper, a recurring character on both the Asylum and later Freak Show seasons of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story. Ms. Chamber’s makeup, childlike dress, and mannerisms were a spot-on imitation of Naomi Grossman’s character on the show.
A Test of Strength
Evah Destruction, however, did not fare as well as the other freaks, and short of the head split in episode 4, got the grisliest of the extermination short films. In another deep-cut reference, The Boulet Brothers took inspiration from The Other in 2018’s Hell Fest, mimicking how the masked killer dispatches a festival-goer with a strength test mallet, in the same way, crushing their head with a pulpy and macabre result. Play deadly games, win deadly prizes.
And so, we close the book of references on another season. How many of these were you able to spot on your first watch-through? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula articles like this one to come, only here on Horror Press!
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula is available to stream on Shudder.