Buffy the Vampire Slayer

A dead black cat comes to life at the mask's beckoning, showing a sudden, vicious behavior which alarms Joyce and Buffy. This may be an allusion to the 1989 film Pet Sematary in which a man buries a cat in cursed land. The cat comes back to life but is not the same friendly animal it was before.

Near the beginning of the episode, Buffy finds a dead cat in the basement, and she and Joyce bury it. The next day, they discover that the cat has returned. This may be an oblique reference to the song "The Cat Came Back" (1893) by Harry S. Miller in which several attempts are made to get rid of a cat, but no matter what was tried, "the cat came back the very next day".

Xander: So skip the heartwarming stuff about kindly old people and saving the farm and get right to the dirt. This is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel "Anne of Green Gables," where an orphan girl named Anne was adopted by a well-meaning elderly couple who thought they were getting a young boy to help work on their farm. Xander probably says it after Buffy tells the group she used her middle name, Anne, while she was living in L.A.

Cordelia: Nice pet, Giles. Don't you like anything regular? Golf, USA Today, or anything?
USA Today is a national, daily newspaper. When it was first started publishing, it was the only major newspaper to print color photographs.

Cordelia: Yeah, but the outfits suck. This whole Rambo thing is so over. Rambo is a character in a series of movies starring Sylvester Stallone. Rambo's preferred form of dress was a tank top (or bare chest), headband, bandolier, and a big gun. Cordelia is exaggerating her outfit's resemblance to a Rambo ensemble.

Cordelia: Come in Nighthawk. Everything OK?
A catchphrase from the 1980s British sitcom "Allo Allo", set in wartime France. "Nighthawk" was the codename of René Artois, pusillanimous café propriator and unlikely "hero" of the French Resistance.

Oz: I think the dead man's party moved upstairs.
Oz speaks of the zombies moving upstairs with a reference to the Oingo Boingo song Dead Man's Party.

Xander: Man, this sucker wobbles but he won't fall down.
Xander equates the resilient zombie with a Weeble. Weebles were toys that were basically egg shaped and bottom heavy. The ad campaign said that "Weebles wobble but they won't fall down."

Giles: Like riding a bloody bicycle.
Giles compares hot-wiring the car with the ability to ride a bicycle. Tradition has it that if you once knew how to ride a bicycle you will be able to ride again, even if you have not ridden for a long time. Apparently, Giles 'the Ripper' did more than conjure demons during his youthful wild years.

Party Goer: You got the wrong casa Mr. Belvedere.
The guy on the phone compares Giles to Mr. Belvedere, a character from the television show (1985 - 1990) of the same name. The character Mr. Belvedere was a English butler.

Buffy: Mom I'm a Slayer. It's not like I need to ride a little bus to school.
Buffy responds to her mother's suggestion of special accommodations by the school by contrasting being a Slayer with a handicap. Often mentally or physically handicapped students in a regular school will have a special small bus. Riding the little bus is associated with a handicap.

Pat: Well between your situation and reading Deep End of the Ocean she was just a wreck.
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard is a novel about a family whose 3 year old son is kidnapped. The novel focuses on the ensuing family and marital problems.

Buffy: What about home schooling? You know it's not just for scary religious people any more.
In the United States, school is mandatory for children up to age 16. Parents who disapprove of the content or quality of public education may opt for home schooling, where the parents themselves teach the children. Home schooling is mostly associated with conservative religious people who disagree with the moral content of public school classes.