If you were paying attention to all of the trailers that dropped at San Diego Comic-Con, you might have noticed that Godzilla: King of the Monsters delivered something fairly extraordinary in its first preview. Michael Dougherty's sequel to Gareth Edwards' Godzilla looks incredible, and the MonsterVerse movie even features a number of references to some truly legendary horror movies, such as John Carpenter's The Thing and William Friedkin's The Exorcist.
The first of these newly discovered references (via Comingsoon.net) is the nod to John Carpenter's 1982 classic, The Thing. Specifically, there is a sequence in the trailer in which a group of soldiers storms a snow-covered base called Outpost 32. This is a direct nod to Outpost 31, the location of the deadly events of that classic alien flick. You can check out the shot from the trailer, below!
Beyond the nod to The Thing, there's also a reference to William Friedkin's The Exorcist that's arguably even more on-the-nose and obvious to die-hard fans of horror movies. At one point in the trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, a statue can be seen buried in a shot, and it bears a striking similarity to the statue of Pazuzu seen in the original Exorcist movie. If you want to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters' take on the Pazuzu statue, you can check it out, below!
Of course, if that is what the folks behind Godzilla: King of the Monsters were willing to show in the trailers, then we cannot wait to see what other secrets the film has in store for us when we finally get a chance to watch it. With his work on films like Krampus and Trick 'r' Treat, director Michael Dougherty has proven time and time again that he knows his way around the horror franchise. If that continues to hold true, then there's potentially no limit to the number of deep cut references and awesome Easter eggs that we may possibly see in this latest take on the MonsterVerse and its behemoth inhabitants.
Audiences will get a chance to see all of these horror movie references (and potentially even more) when Godzilla: King of the Monsters debuts on May 31, 2019. We will keep you updated on all of the significant developments associated with the film, and until we learn more, you can head over to our movie premiere guide to read up on the films that are set to debut this year!
