The sun is setting on Bloomburrow, but don’t worry, dusk is on the horizon. Duskmourn: House of Horror, the next set, has its Prerelease Weekend on September 20th. While that may seem far away, we already have teasers for the set and previews officially start on August 31st! It has me vibrating in excitement, and while preview season is three weeks out, we already have a handful of cards that give us a small taste of what this plane has to offer.
As of writing this article, we hae seen thirteen preview cards (minus the basic lands), and many of these cards have horror movie references you might not have noticed. Worry not, dearest gentle reader, for I watch way too many horror movies and am here to help decode these references for you!
Come Back Wrong
Come Back Wrong is a fun start to the horror Easter eggs, because each printing references a different horror movie. The original art for Come Back Wrong is a reference to The Evil Dead (1981). The art features a clearly dead woman gripping an ankle. The flavor text references burning the bodies, which is one of the few ways to kill a Deadite in the Evil Dead universe.
The paranormal frame treatment, however, is a bit sadder. The flavor text indicates that an unknown person brought back a loved one back from the dead. This is more of a reference to Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. In this iconic movie, people are buried in a pet cemetery and come back to life…but they aren’t quite right. The flavor text, coupled with the name of the card, feels like a reference to Judd’s line in the movie: “Sometimes dead is better.”
Cursed Recording
The moment I saw Cursed Recording, I squealed in delight! Never in my days did I think I’d ever see a Ringu (The Ring) reference on a Magic card. Everything from the name down to the art and ability screams the Ring, starting with the name ‘Cursed Recording’, which references the iconic cursed videotape in the film.
The ability, however, is where the reference is truly visible. Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, you put a time counter on Cursed Recording. Then, if there are seven or more time counters on the Recording, you remove those counters and it deals 20 damage to you. This is a reference to the main plot point of the movie. Once someone views the tape, the viewer has seven days left to live before they succumb to a mysterious and gruesome fate (by the hands of a dead girl crawling out of a TV, no less).
When I heard Duskmourn was going to be inspired by horror movies, I expected to see things like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Amityville Horror. Seeing a reference so contemporary as The Ring is a huge win for horror fans!
Doomsday Excruciator
Now, this reference was one I didn’t notice until I was able to see the unobstructed art posted on an MTG art sales Facebook page. At first glance, the full-art version of Doomsday Excruciator seems pretty basic. It’s a Demon leaping towards us, ready for the kill. However, once you remove the frame and text boxes, you quickly realize that the full art version of this card is a reference to the iconic movie poster of They Live.
The movie poster features an alien in the reflection of the glasses, and that is clearly mirrored in Doomsday Excruciator. While the remainder of the card has nothing else to do with the movie, that reference caught me by surprise and made me excited to see what other niche references are to come.
Ghost Vacuum
This is where things get a little tricky. Ghost Vacuum is one of the cards where we only got to see the art. No ability or card type whatsoever. While this is definitely a bit of a bummer, there is still excitement and curiosity about what this card could do or be.
I have never seen a clearer Ghostbusters reference in all my life. Much like the Proton Pack and Ghost Trap in the movies, the user here is sucking up one of the ghostly entities that haunt the Duskmourn plane. If I were to guess, this could be a really cool Equipment card that maybe exiles a Spirit underneath it until it leaves the battlefield, kind of like an Oblivion Ring effect. Or maybe every time you destroy a Spirit creature, the equipped creature gets a proton counter that buffs it. This is all just speculation, but I have a lot of happy childhood memories related to Ghostbusters. In all honesty, I would be extremely surprised if we didn’t get a Ghostbusters Secret Lair collaboration with this set.
Haunted Screen
Poltergeist has never really been a favorite of mine, but I fully expected to see it pop up in this set at least a few times. Haunted Screen is the most apparent one (with maybe Enter the Enigma being a close one).
Poltergeist is one of horror’s most iconic films for many reasons. From the use of real skeletons to the “cursed” production set, the movie is infamous amongst horror fans. I can remember a time when the “TV people” terrified me. Haunted Screen seems to depict one of those “TV people”. While I want to guess that this is an artifact spell, part of me wants it to be a Spirit creature instead. While I know some aren’t excited about the idea of televisions being depicted in Magic cards, I think the way Duskmourn is doing it is the way to go.
Let’s Play a Game
Out of all the horror movies to choose from, I never thought Wizards of the Coast (WotC) would choose Saw to reference. Saw is one of the most iconic horror movies of the early 2000s, cementing itself as a pillar in the torture subgenre of horror. For those unaware of the plot of Saw (it’s basically a soap opera in horror), a serial killer known as Jigsaw kidnaps people and puts them through torturous tests in order to teach them a lesson. They either live, at a great painful cost but with their lesson learned, or die.
The most iconic line from this movie (referenced in the name of this card) comes from Billy the Puppet. He appears on a glitchy TV screen, and in a deep, gritty voice, says, “I want to play a game.” Rather than it being Billy on screen, we have the first razorkin, the Lord of Pain. While the razorkin scream cenobites from Hellraiser to me more, Saw is such a cool thing to pop up in a paranormal plane like Duskmourn.
Unsettling Twins
Finally, we have probably the most iconic and easy-to-identify reference in the form of Unsettling Twins. If you were unaware, worry not, I have you covered. Whether you’re a horror fan or not, I’m sure you have seen The Shining, a Stephen King novel turned movie featuring Shelly Duvall and Jack Nicholson. The plot follows Jack Nicholson’s family as they act as caretakers for a haunted hotel during the winter season.
One of the most iconic scenes features their son, Danny, riding a tricycle and coming across two creepy twins at the end of the hallway. They beckon him to play with them while he gets flashes of their chopped-up corpses on the ground. The art is a dead ringer for the iconic scene, even depicting them in a similar end of a hallway. Rather than being chopped up, however, it appears that they may be a terrifying monster in disguise. When I saw this reference, I knew this plane was going to be a boon for horror fans and a love letter to the genre.
Be Kind, Rewind
I know many people are still on the Bloomburrow train, but like an 80s VCR, I am buzzing with excitement. As someone who loves horror down to their very core, it is so exciting to be able to pick up on the references made in the very few previews we have seen so far. Rest assured that once preview season begins, I will create a comprehensive reference guide so that you will be the coolest nerd at your local game store’s Prerelease event. Until then, happy haunting, deckbuilders!