When we first meet Katie, we learn a lot about what drives her. While her father is an avid outdoorsman, her mother Linda (SNL veteran and The Good Place scene-stealer Maya Rudolph) is a school teacher with good vibes to spare, and her little brother Aaron (Michael Rianda) is obsessed with dinosaurs, Katie loves movies. She loves watching movies, she loves making movies, and she is absolutely chuffed that she's going to get to study movies at the college of her choice.
As such, Katie's room is a tribute to her cinematic interests, filled with posters aplenty, some of which are fake, and some of which are not. One real film poster hanging on Katie's wall is for Isle of the Snake People, a 1971 Spanish-language horror film that is rather obscure, proving Katie's commitment to finding diamonds in the rough. Meanwhile, Katie's own mini-movies, most of which star her dog Monchi, her brother Aaron, or her homemade sock puppets, are inspired by real-life classics. Judging from Katie's stack of homemade DVDs, she borrowed from cult favorite (and box-office flop) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Y Tu Mamá También, kung-fu classic Fist of Fury, and plenty more while crafting her personal filmography.
The cinematic nods in The Mitchells vs. The Machines don't stop with Katie's collection, though. The filmmakers behind the movie also use The Mitchells vs. The Machines pay homage to some of their favorites, including a direct mention of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead during the big mall fight and quite a few nods to Star Trek, as seen in the movie's motel names.
