Weird connections between famous movies

Through in-jokes, cameos, and simply borrowing footage, some movies have formed  unexpected weird connections with other totally unrelated movies. For example...

“Django Unchained” is a prequel to "Shaft"

Quentin Tarantino secretly fashioned “Django Unchained” as a prequel to a ‘70s classic. Attentive viewers may remember that Django’s wife Broomhilda bears the surname “von Shaft”-- well, according to Tarantino, his intention was to infer that John Shaft from “Shaft” is a descendent of Django and Broomhilda. Of course, the reference is subtle, so no intellectual property lawyers told Tarantino to shut his mouth for just talkin’ ‘bout Shaft.

“Casper” implies a depressing fate for the Ghostbusters

The 1995 children’s fantasy/vaguely necrophiliac love story, “Casper,” features a cameo from Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz of the Ghostbusters. Depressingly, Ray seems to bust ghosts solo now, appearing in a professional capacity completely alone. So where are the other Ghostbusters? Are they dead? Did they quit? “Casper” serves as a depressing coda to the “Ghostbusters” saga.

“Scream” and “Clerks” occupy the same fictional universe

For some insane reason, Jay and Silent Bob from “Clerks” appear in “Scream 3”, a.k.a. the “Scream” movie where no one seemed to care anymore. Of course, this implies that all the Jay and Silent Bob movies share the same cinematic universe as the “Scream” movies. So next time you watch “Mallrats” remember that while Brodie is serving out poo-smeared pretzels, a bunch of teenagers are about to get murdered on the other side of the country.

The beginning of “The Shining” is the end of “Blade Runner”

For the ending of “Blade Runner,” Ridley Scott needed some landscape photography. Rather than just pull some stock footage, like some common non-Ridley Scott-type person, Scott phoned up Stanley Kubrick, who offered him some outtakes from “The Shining”-- specifically, unused takes from that iconic helicopter shot of the winding Colorado mountains.

The villain from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” killed Bambi’s mother

Early drafts of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” revealed that the movie’s villain, Judge Doom, was the same Toon who murdered Bambi’s mother, thus emotionally scarring generations of children. A later comic book sequel to “Roger Rabbit” further elaborated on the character’s back story, explaining how Doom began as a Toon who portrayed villains in movies. After a fateful concussion, however, he woke up thinking he actually was a villain.