Dean said the word "Jinkies", which is a phrase often spouted by Velma which the brothers met in the previous episode ScoobyNatural (2018).
The plot about the tentacled being coming through an interdimensional portal by way of an incantation and sacrifice, seem be a page torn out of an HP Lovecraft novel, such as the Dunwich Horror. In the novel, one of the main characters needed a spellbook called the Necronomicon to open the doorway. It is interesting to note that Dean Stockwell of Quantum Leap (1989) and Battlestar Galactica (2004) fame, was both in the original adaptation The Dunwich Horror (1970) and the remake of The Dunwich Horror (2008), as Wilbur Whateley and Dr. Henry Armitage respectively.
The episode title seems to refer to the film The Thing (1982) which was a remake of an earlier film The Thing from Another World (1951), and had a prequel of the same name, The Thing (2011). It centers on a group in a remote arctic outpost, trying to keep an alien threat at bay.
Dean made mention of the place on the other side of the rift as "tentacle porn land". The Japanese demonstrated an interest in an area of pornography called "Tentacle erotica". It is a polite way of illustrating sexual intimacy without directly stating it, because the Japanese as a general rule try to avoid confrontation, or "save face" where possible.
If the actress who played Sandy seems familiar, it is because she is no stranger to the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Magda Apanowicz can also be found in the Battlestar Galactica (2004) spin-off Caprica (2009), and Continuum (2012).