The Aero Theatre (where Donnie and Gretchen see The Evil Dead) closed down in 2003 was a real movie theater located in Santa Monica, CA. It reopened in 2005.
The skeleton costume that Donnie wears at his party is the same worn by Johnny and his gang during the costume party scene in The Karate Kid movie.
Richard Kelly modeled the tone of the movie after Stanley Kubrick’s movie Lolita, which was released in 1962. To follow this theme, Elizabeth Darko (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is dressed as Vivian Darkbloom (Marianne Stone) from Lolita at the Halloween party.
One of the deleted scenes shows Donnie’s English class discussing Richard Adams’s novel Watership Down. The plot of this novel involves a rabbit who tells of the impending destruction of the rabbit warren. This scene was later included in the movie (and not shown as deleted scene) when the director’s cut was released onto DVD.
During certain shots of the Halloween Party - in the background the sound of a wolf howling can be heard. It is the same howl from the werewolf in the film An American Werewolf in London.
When Donnie’s mother is calling home to say they’ll be on the red-eye flight, the airport announcement in the background says that Flight 2806 is boarding at gate 42 and leaving at 12 AM. In theory, this is the flight they’re taking, and also a reference to the 28:06:42:12 countdown prophecy that Frank tells Donnie.
