Movies that "feel" connected but aren't?

[Chrispy_G]

I remember when Damon Lindelof said in his mind, Alien and Blade Runner both always felt like they were cut from the same cloth and occupied the same realm, between artificial people, the sci-fi worlds and the director...he said they just felt linked to him even if they weren't overtly.

I'm not trying to necessarily bring up movies with fun cameos or cross-connections and "shared universe fan theory" stuff....just films that, while not being connected in any official way...just feel sort of 'linked up' to you.

Psycho and Halloween(Plus Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills) - Each have a character named Sam Loomis(I'll avoid all of that "They could be the SAME person" stuff)...Janet Leigh starred in Psycho and Jamie Lee Curtis, her daughter, stars in Halloween. Killer uses a big kitchen knife to murder their victims. The films simply share DNA and occupy a similar realm.

And then Halloween Kills just took the link a little further. There is a murder scene in Halloween Kills that is framed, filmed and edited in a way that duplicates an iconic murder scene from Psycho. Creating just one more piece of shared DNA between the two properties.

Bonus - Evidently a deleted scene from Halloween 2018 had a character in the shower, and Michael entering the room in a way that mirrored the iconic scene from Psycho, only to turn out to be a prank being played by another character. Likely cut because it felt a little too goofy....but it shows that the filmmakers of the new Halloween Trilogy are aware of and are happy to feed into the lineage back to Psycho.

Robocop and Starship Troopers - Both future-set sci-fi action films. Both satirical. They share their Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Composer, and aspect ratio for what that is worth. They are also edited in similar fashion with various news/media breaks woven into the narrative of the film.

Again, no overt connection, but they feel that they just belong together.

Sometimes for certain Directors and some of their films you get this sense. From Tarantino, there is definitely the "Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown" type films, as well as the "Period Piece" films of Hateful Eight, Django, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That is independent of the various little winks, nods, connections and references he sprinkles across many of his films.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Deep Blue Sea and Apes Reboot Trilogy.

Deep Blue Sea was a secret prequel to the trilogy where the sharks were the first attempt for the cure of Alzheimer's which failed and was eventually moved onto apes due to them being our closest relatives.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Rampage - The MonsterVerse: Ever since it was brought up in another thread, my head cannon of Agent Russel in Rampage being related to the Russels in the MV. And the "other organization" he works for is Monarch.

And while there's nothing actually there making them look connected, I've always paired the 80s remakes of The Fly, The Blob and The Thing together.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Rampage - The MonsterVerse: Ever since it was brought up in another thread, my head cannon of Agent Russel in Rampage being related to the Russels in the MV. And the "other organization" he works for is Monarch.

Throw The Meg in there too.

Could have the bottom of the Mariana Trench a flooded hollow pocket connected to the hollow earth.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Rampage - The MonsterVerse: Ever since it was brought up in another thread, my head cannon of Agent Russel in Rampage being related to the Russels in the MV. And the "other organization" he works for is Monarch.

Throw The Meg in there too.

Could have the bottom of the Mariana Trench a flooded hollow pocket connected to the hollow earth.

Yeah. It really wouldn't take much to connect The Meg and Rampage to the MV.

[mikelcho]

I remember when Damon Lindelof said in his mind, Alien and Blade Runner both always felt like they were cut from the same cloth and occupied the same realm, between artificial people, the sci-fi worlds and the director...he said they just felt linked to him even if they weren't overtly.

I'm not trying to necessarily bring up movies with fun cameos or cross-connections and "shared universe fan theory" stuff....just films that, while not being connected in any official way...just feel sort of 'linked up' to you.

Psycho and Halloween(Plus Halloween 2018 and Halloween Kills) - Each have a character named Sam Loomis(I'll avoid all of that "They could be the SAME person" stuff)...Janet Leigh starred in Psycho and Jamie Lee Curtis, her daughter, stars in Halloween. Killer uses a big kitchen knife to murder their victims. The films simply share DNA and occupy a similar realm.

And then Halloween Kills just took the link a little further. There is a murder scene in Halloween Kills that is framed, filmed and edited in a way that duplicates an iconic murder scene from Psycho. Creating just one more piece of shared DNA between the two properties.

Bonus - Evidently a deleted scene from Halloween 2018 had a character in the shower, and Michael entering the room in a way that mirrored the iconic scene from Psycho, only to turn out to be a prank being played by another character. Likely cut because it felt a little too goofy....but it shows that the filmmakers of the new Halloween Trilogy are aware of and are happy to feed into the lineage back to Psycho.

Robocop and Starship Troopers - Both future-set sci-fi action films. Both satirical. They share their Director, Writer, Director of Photography, Composer, and aspect ratio for what that is worth. They are also edited in similar fashion with various news/media breaks woven into the narrative of the film.

Again, no overt connection, but they feel that they just belong together.

Sometimes for certain Directors and some of their films you get this sense. From Tarantino, there is definitely the "Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown" type films, as well as the "Period Piece" films of Hateful Eight, Django, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That is independent of the various little winks, nods, connections and references he sprinkles across many of his films.

The Psycho and Halloween (third version) also includes the upcoming Halloween Ends, right? Also, does it include Psycho II, Psycho III, and Psycho IV: The Beginning?

[Jetty_Jags]

Sometimes for certain Directors and some of their films you get this sense. From Tarantino, there is definitely the "Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown" type films, as well as the "Period Piece" films of Hateful Eight, Django, Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That is independent of the various little winks, nods, connections and references he sprinkles across many of his films.

Wait till you get a hold of this

Spoiler:

[MaxRebo320]

The Taking of Pelham 123 is set in the same universe as The Bullet Train. The Japanese guys from the railway company in Pelham is foreshadowing for the events that would occur in Bullet Train.

[Terasawa]

Samurai Pirate and The Adventures of Takla Makan.

[Spirit Ghidorah 2010]

Footloose and Tremors.

Think about it. Why would music and dancing be banned? It's because they would attract the Graboids! Bomont is Perfection, Nevada!

[MaxRebo320]

Samurai Pirate and The Adventures of Takla Makan.

I've always (lightly) humored myself in Takla Makan/Kigan Castle being released in the US as another Sinbad film. Just call it Sinbad on the Silk Road. Though the film's overt Buddhist themes might feel a bit at odds with Sinbad's traditionally Muslim portrayal.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Another that gets brought up a lot Se7en and the Nolan Batman films. Some fans theorizing the unnamed city in Se7en is in fact a pre Batman Gotham.

[Chrispy_G]

Deep Blue Sea and Apes Reboot Trilogy.

Deep Blue Sea was a secret prequel to the trilogy where the sharks were the first attempt for the cure of Alzheimer's which failed and was eventually moved onto apes due to them being our closest relatives.

I've always thought about that. Deep Blue Sea was absolutely a conceptual precursor to those Apes films!

I also...in ANOTHER sense...always considered Deep Blue Sea and Pitch Black to be ALMOST structural twins.

Both have an initial opening(first 'normal' shark attack/capture and Riddick's voice-over) centered on the sort of 'edgy' anti-hero with a bit of a dark past but an area of expertise that is extremely valuable to the coming problem. They end up being the ultimate hero of the film.

We then almost immediately move to a perspective centering on a bit of a 'decoy lead', in both cases, women which come off as the total centerpiece of the film...both of whom make some dubious moral decisions that in some way cause or significantly lead into the events of the remainder of the film. They wrestle with those choices and seem in every way to be the conflicted heroines of the story but ultimately prove to not be the true lead in the long run.

Both films have a preacher/'holy man' character trying to find the light and keep the faith in the dire situation.

Both have that sort of 'stranded on our own battling killer creatures' concept in a very isolated setting.

To me, in terms of some of the basics of how their ensembles play out, and get killed off, what kind of archetypes they have, how they zig and zag over who the real central focus of the film is...those two movies just "Go together" for me.

Added in 5 minutes 31 seconds:

The Psycho and Halloween (third version) also includes the upcoming Halloween Ends, right? Also, does it include Psycho II, Psycho III, and Psycho IV: The Beginning?

Yeah, that's all up for debate. It would naturally include Halloween Ends...and I secretly hope that they sneak in at least ONE more key tether to Psycho into Halloween Ends, just to REALLY solidify the links and connections even more. To make it feel like an overall horror saga would be cool.

I think one could easily throw in as many or as few Psycho sequels as they like. I certainly think Psycho II is a SUPER worthwhile sequel to the first film, even if it isn't on the same level. I'm not sure if Psycho II or III include any of those coincidental connections, references, or links into the original Halloween or this new batch of films.

[Terasawa]

Samurai Pirate and The Adventures of Takla Makan.

I've always (lightly) humored myself in Takla Makan/Kigan Castle being released in the US as another Sinbad film. Just call it Sinbad on the Silk Road. Though the film's overt Buddhist themes might feel a bit at odds with Sinbad's traditionally Muslim portrayal.

I'd like to think they'd try another decidedly non-Japanese folk character, like "Toshiro Mifune in... Ali Baba and (whatever)." Or fuck it, maybe another Samson or Hercules movie, lol.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

Personally like to think Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry are set within the same universe especially given their settings and lore having demonic beings and other creatures involved. Helps too given they're both owned by Capcom.

Also The Lion King and Hercules are set in the same universe. A traveling nomad in Africa eventually came upon the remains of what was left of Scar (After being killed and devoured by the hyenas) his skin being made to wear and eventually through trading made it all the way to Greece that Hercules eventually wore.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Looney Tunes: Back In Action. Bugs Bunny is also in some way related to Roger Rabbit (Brothers, cousins or whatever).

Samurai Jack and Powerpuff Girls. Due to his similar appearance. Professor Utonium is a descendant of Jack.

Soul Calibur and Tekken. Tekken is Soul Calibur but in the present day. Evidence of this is based on the Yoshimitsu title being passed on through the generations as the Yoshimitsu we see in Tekken is likely from the same clan and probably descendant of the one from Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur might also be the origin of the devil gene considering their evil-like nature. There's also a good possibility of Josie Rizal being a descendant of Talim due to being Filipino girl fighting characters from their respective franchises. What strongly further indicates this being more likely is the fact they're both owned by Namco.

[The One and Only]

The original HALLOWEEN ,and John Carpenter's other horror classic, THE FOG. In HALLOWEEN Anne and Laurie on the way to their babysitting jobs talk about the upcoming dance and who Laurie might be interested in going with. Anne mentions a bloke named Mike Baxter, and Laurie mentions she'd rather go with Ben Tramer. Who we see meets a fiery fate in the original HALLOWEEN II . But in the current retconned timeline we assume might be still around when his name was dropped by Hawkins in HALLOWEEN KILLS. Mike Baxter on the other hand apparently left Haddonfield, and moved to Antonio Bay, California. Where he became a crew member of the fishing boat, the Seagrass. Unfortunately Mike Baxter met an unfortunate end with the Seagrass' crew when they became victims of the revenge seeking specters of the Elizabeth Jane in the first third of THE FOG.

A popular fan theory out there is that British spy, John Mason, played Sean Connery, in the 1996 action opus, THE ROCK, is in fact an alias for MI6 most prolific spy with a license to kill, James Bond. Held by our government for the theft of J. Edger Hoover's secret files, and disavowed by the British government.

Also, I keep thinking watching reruns of the classic cult series, KOLCHAK:The Night Stalker on MeTV. That seedy reporter Carl Kolchak lives in the same world of the classic werewolf flick, THE HOWLING. The photography of the series, and Joe Dante's werewolf opus share a similar look. And I could see Kolchak investigating the death, murder of newswoman Karen White on TV after she turned in to a werewolf. And tracking down the events that led up to her death. Encountering Marsha Quist, the femme fatale werewolf queen, and consulting bookstore owner, proprietor ,Walter Pasley , on his knowledge of werewolves.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

It's a headcanon of mine that Trollhunter (2010) is also part of the MonsterVerse.

TSS (Troll Security Service) is really a branch that was formed by MONARCH in managing trolls from reaching civilian areas. The trolls being titan fauna (Jotnar being classified as a Titan due to its size) having come from the hollow earth having settled in Scandinavia since ancient times.

To relate on this headcanon as well. Given there are hollow pockets connected to the hollow earth, some of those have different environments, hence an environment similar to Scandinavia being suitable from that hollow pocket where the trolls came from.

So the MonsterVerse, Rampage, The Meg and Trollhunter are all in the same setting.

[NSZ]

A recent one I thought up is Return of the Living Dead (1-3), the Re-Animator films, and Overlord.

All three properties deal with a chemical capable of reviving the dead, and the dead coming back wrong.

The tar from Overlord could be the source, with RotLD's Trioxin being a govt. funded attempt at replicating & perfecting it, having learned about it through Operation: Paperclip, merely passing it off as an experimental anti-marijuana herbicide, while West's Re-Agent is his own private attempt at replicating & perfecting it, having learned about it during his time in Europe.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Another one I've always thought as being somewhat connected...

Terminator - Alien & Predator

Abysmal comic crossover aside, I've often thought how these would mix. The Terminator's future is much closer to our real timeline than the Alien franchise is, giving a large window of recovery for humanity after Skynet fell. When Skynet does fall, humanity is virtually forced to try and find resources elsewhere because of Judgement Day and the fact Skynet had used a lot of the planet's natural resources. Technology isn't as "advanced" as it was at the turn of the century (see the computers in the Alien films) simply because humanity doesn't fully trust it again. The androids are a somewhat faulty but also successful attempt at utilizing AI (perhaps a history repeats itself type of thing in the even greater future). Because of Skynet's constructs and advances in machinery, it did allow humanity to start interstellar travel, leading up to the events of Alien and beyond.

And, of course, the famed T-800 is based on the body of Dutch from Predator. Skynet hoped to somehow use this to draw a Predator ship back to Earth for reverse engineering and eventually eliminating any alien threats to its existence. Imagine a Predo-Terminator...

[o.supreme]

While Land & People that Time Forgot are a proper duology, there is no doubt that At the Earth's Core and and Warlords of Atlantis feel like part of the same universe mostly due to similar themes, all having the same director (Kevin Connor), and lead actor (Doug McClure)

Also, while I obviously didn't understand as a Kid when I saw the films Battle Beyond the Stars and Space Raiders. I thought one was the sequel to the other simply because they had the same ship (I had no idea it was just Corman being Corman and reusing footage )

Lastly, mostly because of my father, but he told me as a kid that Hang 'Em High was actually supposed to be a 4th film in "The Man With No Name" Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western trilogy. Obviously , it isn't true, but things like that stick with you