The Shining (1980) references in this movie.
Although this movie does indeed have a more Lovecraftian and Carpenter-esque overall vibe and atmosphere, but did anyone while watching this movie get a few references to Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" (1980), based on a Stephen King novel?
For one, those creepy possessed kids occasionally seemed to channel the two girls in the elevator in the infamous sequence from that movie. And in that town one of the kids at least seemed to resemble Danny. A few axe sequences including, SPOILER, when Neill's character himself grabs one towards the end, seem a clear nod to Jack Nicholson's character in that movie.
Not to mention also, that both movies involve a writer that is somehow either possessed or on the edge even though Neill's character is some kind of insurance investigator, but he is heavily into reading. And both The Shining and this film have an abandoned hotel with creepy supernatural goings on. And towards the end when in The Shining for instance Nicholson's photograph is displayed in that hotel, that woman Styles picture is shown in that creepy picture frame. And there seems to be other nods and similarities to that movie.
Anyone notice that, cheers.