Cape Feare - Cultural References

Cultural References

Besides borrowing the overall plot structure of the Cape Fear films, the episode made several direct references to specific scenes from the films. References to the original include: Marge going to Chief Wiggum only to be told that Sideshow Bob has not broken any laws (also references the 1991 remake). References to the 1991 remake include: Sideshow Bob's tattoos; the shot of him leaving the prison gate; the scene with him smoking in the movie theater; part of his "workout" scene; his hiding under the Simpson family's car; Wiggum's rigging wire around the house to a toy doll as an alarm; his suggestion that Homer can do anything to someone who enters his home; Bob, strapped under a car, pulling up beside Bart for a conversation; and Homer's hiring a private investigator who attempts to persuade Bob to leave town.

The episode also contains elements of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho with Sideshow Bob staying at Bates Motel. Homer surprising Bart with his new hockey mask recalls the film Friday the 13th Part III and Sideshow Bob's tattoos on his knuckles are similar to those of Robert Mitchum's character in The Night of the Hunter (Mitchum also played the villain Max Cady in the original 1962 version of Cape Fear). While singing "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado during the car trip to Terror Lake, Homer and Bart's hats allude to I Love Lucy. The scene featuring Ned with his "finger razors" references the 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street and its villain Freddy Krueger (with Flanders seemingly threatening Bart with the razors) and the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands (with Flanders actually using the razors to cut his hedge in the shape of an angel, just as Edward Scissorhands cuts a hedge in the shape of a dinosaur).