Why the hell did you kill Casey? What the hell were you thinking, man?
This article or a section of this article will contain full, or partial plot spoilers of an Alan Wake game or any other piece of media related to the franchise.
Mr. Scratch mentions Angus MacGyver as he picks up the duck tape during a presentation of tools for murder.
LOST
In the final season of LOST, John Locke is brought back to the island dead. By doing this, the smoke monster of the island becomes an exact double of him; it's not the actual Locke, but instead it is wearing his face. This is similar to how The Dark Presence is using the form of Alan Wake's double, Mr. Scratch.
Star Trek: The Original Series
In the episode "The Enemy Within", Captain Kirk has a duplicate of him created by the malfunctioning transporter pad; a more evil and twisted version of him.
Movies
Identity
The Motel featured in American Nightmare is an almost perfect replica of the Motel set from the movie Identity.
Pulp Fiction
Apart from the bolo tie, Mr. Scratch wears the exact same clothes as John Travolta in the famous dance scene.
From Dusk till Dawn
Near the end of the film, the sun rises and burns away all the vampires, with Seth and Kate, who are low on ammo. This is just like every time you play a Fight 'Till Dawn game.
Seth sarcastically once said that psychopaths don't explode in sunlight. In the game, Mr. Scratch, who is also deemed a psychopath, actually exploded in the light of the film projector, and not the sunlight at all.
Run Lola Run
Alan goes through three time loops, the same amount as Lola, except Lola and the other characters remember nothing of their previous experiences.
In each time loop in the film, Lola gets things right, fixing mistakes she'd made, just like Alan does in the game.
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is about a man who relives the same day over and over.
Back to the Future
Emma mentions the DeLorean car that traveled through time in the films.
Christine
Emma is repairing a custom colored red 1958 Plymouth Fury with white stripes. An antagonist car used in the 1983 horror movie "Christine" inspired by Stephen King's book with the same title.
Music
Kasabian
The game features the Kasabian song "Club Foot" and their CD as a central point when rewriting time at The Rest Stop.
Barry makes a reference to Milli Vanilli when Eddie Rodman wonders why The Anderson Brothers sound different between their singing voices and speaking voices. Milli Vanilli were known to have performed with vocals that were not their own.
Video Games
Death Rally
You can find a Death Rally arcade machine in the projector room.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
How Mr. Scratch is Alan's evil double is similar to how the character, John tries to hunt down his double, John Mirra, in the TV series Address Unknown in Max Payne 2.
John's double is trying to go after his girlfriend, much like that of Mr. Scratch going after Alan's wife.
