Disney’s Haunted Mansion, out now in theaters, sets out to be both scary and family-friendly. That’s a difficult, sometimes contradictory combination, which mirrors the ambitions of the theme park attraction that inspired it.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the new Haunted Mansion movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should steer clear now.
The Haunted Mansion was one of the last rides that Walt Disney himself had a role in creating, though it went through several iterations before the Imagineers settled on the final hodgepodge design. Unable to decide whether to make the ride frightening or funny, the Imagineers opted for a noncommittal mixture of both. That’s why we get some parts of the ride that are fearsome, like the hallway of knocking doors; some parts that are silly, like the “swinging wake” in the graveyard; and some parts that ride the line, like the iconic stretching room.
That the ride manages to balance both is a small miracle, and it’s something that both Haunted Mansion movies—this new one and the old, Eddie Murphy-led movie from 2003—struggle to replicate. The new movie does a better job than the old one, to be sure, and it errs on the side of being scarier, rather than funnier. The movie is at its best when it hews closer to its source material, repurposing disparate elements Madame Leota, Master Gracey, Constance Hatchaway, and the Hatbox Ghost into a single, unified narrative.
Beyond that, though, it’s also a Disneyland fan’s dream come true as the movie is stuffed with references to the original Haunted Mansion ride, as well as other versions of the iconic experience at the company’s parks worldwide.
Here are 25 Easter Eggs and references we noticed in the new Disney’s Haunted Mansion. See something we missed? Let us know in the comments.