Victor's friend and next-door neighbor is Elsa Van Helsing, a reference to Abraham Van Helsing, Bram Stoker's Dracula character, and Elsa Lanchester, the original La moglie di Frankenstein (1935).
The hair on the head of Elsa Van Helsing's dog Persephone is copied from the hair of Elsa Lanchester's character in La moglie di Frankenstein (1935) right down to the white streaks.
(at around 57 mins) The turtle "Shelley" is named for Mary Shelley, who wrote "Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus," the 1818 novel on which this film is loosely based.
Winona Ryder did her own singing. She agreed to do it when Tim Burton said the singing had to sound imperfect.
Tim Burton: [Alfred Hitchcock] (at around 1h 8 mins) A couple seek shelter in a phone booth, as in Gli uccelli (1963).
Tim Burton: [Dracula] A clip from Dracula il vampiro (1958) is shown, a main character is named Van Helsing, and Edgar's shadow briefly resembles Count Orlok from Nosferatu - Il vampiro (1922).