Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of bullying, sexual violence, rape, child abuse, child sexual abuse, addiction, graphic violence, sexual content, death, physical abuse, and emotional abuse.

In the Acknowledgements, Ahlborn admits that horror movies inspired her novel. She concedes a comparison to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), where a group of young people stumble into a rural setting and become captives to a family of cannibals. The relationship is overt, with the Morrows capturing and killing people before Momma cooks them. However, Momma has a type—young girls that look like her—while the family in Chainsaw doesn’t target a specific kind of person. The well-known character from Chainsaw is Leatherface, who captures the victims and dissects them with the titular chainsaw. Leatherface links to Momma, who organizes the lethal violence in Brother. At the same time, Leatherface and Reb have much in common: They’re workers who are arguably exploited by their other family members.

However, Ahlborn says that the primary inspiration for the novel was a more recent film, Chained (2012). As with Momma, the Chained killer, Bob, inflicts the trauma that he experienced as a child onto young women. Bob also trains a young person, Rabbit, whom he abducted, as Momma trains Reb and Michael. Rabbit and Michael both misunderstand complicity and loyalty. However, while Brother doesn’t have a clearly uplifting end, Chained concludes with Rabbit neutralizing Bob and breaking free.

Brother also includes references to several horror movies in the narrative. Alice, Lucy, Reb, and Michael see The Shining (adapted from Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name), and the film stays with the characters. Alice and Michael discuss it and want to rewatch it. In the movie, Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy, and their son Danny look after the sprawling Overlook Hotel while it shuts down for the winter. The property, like the Morrow’s farmhouse, turns into a symbol of haunting isolation and violence. Reb, confirming his role as a cinematic villain, repeats Jack’s famous line, “Here’s Johnny,” before he sets Misty’s death in motion. As with Jack, Reb misuses alcohol, and they are both villains who lack agency: Jack is possessed by the hotel, and Reb is manipulated by Momma.

The novel also briefly refers to both The Exorcist and Deliverance. Concerning Misty, Reb says, “She was, like, possessed, you know? Like that movie about that kid where her head spun around and she floated up to the ceilin’ and all” (379). The movie is The Exorcist (1973), and like the film, Reb advances the trope that demonizes the sexuality of young women. Ahlborn undercuts Reb’s gendered notion by presenting the sexuality of young men as unwieldy. Michael’s unsettling sexual feelings possess him like a harmful spirit. About Michael’s rural home, Alice quips, “Sounds fun. Kind of like Deliverance” (136). The 1972 horror thriller (based on James Dickey’s 1970 novel of the same name) follows four men from the city who take a Canoe trip through the Georgia wilderness. The locals, who connect to the Morrows, prey on the men and rape one of them. Unlike the Morrows, the locals have no backstory that sheds light on their cruelty.