Ever since the second season of The Simpsons there has been a tradition to broadcast a “Treehouse of Horror” episode around Halloween. Some of them are the best episodes the show has ever produced. These episodes tell three stories that allow the writers and animators to be as inventive as they want. They have been used to parody movies and TV shows, retell famous stories in folklore and even venture into political satire. So let’s look at some of the best Halloween segments The Simpsons has to offer.
15. Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind
The most recent Horror segment is 2009’s “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind.” The segment was a parody of zombie films, particularly 28 Days Later and I Am Legend. The zombie apocalypse was started by the good people at Krusty Burger by selling the Burger2 – a burger made from cattle that were fed with other cattle. After 28 days Springfield is ravished by zombies but when Bart has a craving for fast food the Simpsons discover Bart is immune to the zombie virus. They need to take him to the safe zone so a cure could be created
Besides the obvious parody of 28 Days Later and I Am Legend the segment also parodies Mad Max thanks to Apu who’s armed to the teeth and refuses to eat meat, leading the Simpsons to be jerks to their saviour. The episode had a brilliant takedown of one of the central tenets of Christianity.
For a modern Simpsons episode “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind” is a funny and exciting Halloween segment.
14. Dial “Z” For Zombies
“Dial “Z” For Zombies” is a famous Halloween segment that appeared in “Treehouse of Horror III.” After Bart does a book report on an alphabet book he is told to redo the assignment, leading him to the school library’s occult section. With Lisa mourning for her old pet Snowball I Bart decides to resurrect the cat but ends up starting the zombie apocalypse.
This segment is filled with funny lines and memorial jokes. The best involve Homer as he protects his family from the zombie hordes and gets Bart and Lisa to the school library. Who could forget jokes like Homer shooting Flanders and “is this the end of Zombie Shakespeare?” It was a fun, breezy piece of Simpsons Halloween fun.
13. Hell Toupee
One of Homer’s great shames is his baldness and he often seeks ways to recover his hair. The Halloween segment “Hell Toupee” gave him one option – a hair transplant. However, the hair used to belong to Snake Jailbird and uses Homer to get revenge against the people who put him in jail, including Homer’s son.
“Hell Toupee” was a strong possession story and a perfect fit as a Halloween story. It was a humorous horror take on The Simpsons. The highlight was when Snake takes over Homer’s body and murders Apu and Moe and attempts to kill Bart.
12. The HΩmega Man
“The HΩmega Man” is a homage to the Charlton Heston movie The Omega Man which is a loose adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend. In the segment Mayor Quimby offends the people of France by comparing them to frogs. For this egregious act the French military launch a nuclear missile at Springfield. Fortunately for Homer he was in a nuclear shelter and gets to have fun in the bombed out town. However, not everybody died in the explosion – some just turned into horrible mutants.
“The HΩmega Man” provides what you would expect from a post-apocalyptic story and more. Homer gets to punch a skeleton, go to the cinema, mourn his family and gets into a car chase involving with the mutants. He also gets to dance around the church naked. As an Englishman, fun being made at the expense of the French is a bonus.
11. Desperately Xeeking Xena
“Desperately Xeeking Xena” was a loving tribute to campy superheroes shows of the ’60s and a funny segment to boot. “Desperately Xeeking Xena” sees Bart and Lisa gaining superpowers after an incident with an X-ray machine, turning them into Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl – basically Mr. Fantastic and The Thing. After a load of successful missions they have to rescue Lucy Lawless from the supervillain The Collector, played by Comic Book Guy.
“Desperately Xeeking Xena” was basically a funny segment and a great send-up of superheroes and geek culture. Lucy Lawless, The Collector, and their interactions were the funniest part of the segment – such as Lawless having to deal with Xena fanboys and seeing being kidnapped as a more preferable opinion to being leered at. The Collector’s death scene gave Simpsons fans the immortal line ‘Best… Death… Ever…’
10. Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet
“Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet” is based on a famous episode of The Twilight Zone, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” In the segment Bart has a nightmare that the school bus crashes, killing everyone on board. It turns out Bart’s dream might turn true when he sees a green gremlin trying to destroy the bus’ wheel but no one believes him.
This segment starts with Bart and Milhouse viewing the new Krusty baseball cards and continues from there. This segment introduced the jolly German exchange student Uter to The Simpsons and Martin wearing a T-shirt saying ‘Wang Computers.’ The gremlin is weirdly cute and creepy at the same time.
The most memorable part of the segment which is one of the darkest endings for a Halloween segment. Bart ends up getting sent to a mental asylum for the rest of his life and just went he think he’s safe the gremlin reappears holding Ned’s decapitated head.
9. Homer3
“Homer3” was a segment that The Simpsons production team are particularly proud of due to its ambitious animation. In “Homer3” everyone’s favourite child strangler takes his chances going through a portal to another dimension instead of spending time with Patty and Selma. Homer ends up in a world that renders him to a 3D model and Springfield’s best and brightest do not know how to save him.
The segment is remembered for its 3D animation which was still in its early days – it came out the same year as Toy Story and only two shows used this style of animation at the time of broadcast. Whilst the animation was impressive for the time it means nothing if the jokes and story weren’t up to scratch and fortunately it was. “Homer3” was a straightforward story that had a level of peril and a good amount of jokes. The segment is particularly popular with people with knowledge of mathematics because there are pretty of maths jokes in the background.
8. King Homer
“King Homer” is a loving parody and hilarious of the 1933 film King Kong with Homer taking the place as the great ape. “King Homer” is pretty much a beat for beat retelling of King Kong, done in eight minutes – King Homer falls for Marge, gets captured, put on public display, goes berserk and gets married – okay, maybe that last part was a diversion.
“King Homer” parodies the key scenes of the film such as the giant gorilla fighting a dinosaur, the public show basically Kong standing around for three hours and Kong being unable to climb the Empire State Building. Yet even as a child eating 25ft monster Marge still loves Homer.
The joke “women and seamen don’t know mix” went over my head as a child.
7. Clown Without Pity
The killer doll trope is popular in the horror genre and in The Simpsons‘ take is the “Clown Without Pity.” Homer shows how much of a great father he is by forgetting his son’s birthday and goes to a store run by a creepy Chinese man. Homer finds the perfect gift, a Krusty doll – the only problem is it’s cursed and wants to kill Homer.
“Clown Without Pity” is a funny segment due to the Homer and Krusty have some classic lines and moments like when Homer speaks to the store proprietor who was ominous and jolly in equal measure, the various attempts on Homer’s life with one incident leading to Patty losing her last thread of heterosexuality and Homer trying to stop the doll – his greatest weapon being his socks which are so powerful that they can knock out a plastic doll.
6. The Devil and Homer Simpson
“The Devil and Homer Simpson” is a classic Halloween segment and the best that “Treehouse of Horror IV” has to offer. In desperation Homer says he would sell his soul for a donut and the Devil is only too willing to offer. Homer discovers a loophole where if he doesn’t finish the donut then the Devil won’t get his soul. But Homer finishes the donut anyway, leading to a trial because Americans have due process.
“The Devil and Homer Simpson” was an imaginative episode, especially when Homer has to spend the day in Hell where he has to suffer a load of punishments. The trial was also creative by showing Lionel Hutz’ incompetence, how the Devil picks the jury and how the Simpsons win the case. It is a segment filled with so many jokes that even the deleted scenes were funny.
5. Time and Punishment
“Treehouse of Horror V” is arguably the best Simpsons Halloween episode and one of the best episodes the show has to offer. All three segments from that episode make it onto this list and “Time and Punishment” will start it off for them.
After Homer breaks the toaster he repairs it and accidentally makes a time machine, making him the second non-Brazilian person to travel back in time. When Homer is back in the Jurassic period he tries very hard not to change anything because it would affect the future. He fails miserably and creates many weird and wonderful alternative timelines including one where Flanders is the ruler of all the world, another where Maggie sounds like James Earl Jones and the one everyone would want to visit – the universe that rains donuts.
“Time and Punishment” is packed with jokes starting with Homer’s hand keeps getting trapped in the toaster to settling on a universe where people have lizard tongues. A second isn’t wasted and there is a dark moment when the Simpson family gets lobotomised.
4. Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace
“Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace” is a straightforward parody of the Nightmare on Elm Street films with Groundskeeper Willie taking the place of Freddy Kruger. After Homer inadvertently kills Groundskeeper Willie and the parents of Springfield Elementary students refuse to help the burning Scotsman, leading to Willie promising to kill their children in their dream. Skeleton power was his backup option.
Due to the setting of the dreamscape The Simpsons was allowed even greater scope and use different animation styles – Bart’s first dream was animated in the style of a Tex Avery cartoon and the dream sequences were inventive and exciting. The episode was dark, hilarious and darkly hilarious like the scene where Martin is killed by Willie and the students see his body after rigor mortis sets in.
The segment has some classic Simpsons lines like ‘lousy Smarch weather’ and my personal favourite ‘do not touch Willy, good advice.’
3. Nightmare Cafeteria
“Nightmare Cafeteria” is one of two segments from “Treehouse of Horror V,” arguably the best Halloween episode. In “Nightmare Cafeteria” the teachers at Springfield Elementary a solution to their detention overcrowding and insufficient food problems – use the children as a source of food. The teachers’ taste for flesh developed so much that almost all the students are placed in detention and Bart, Lisa and Milhouse try to escape from the school.
“Nightmare Cafeteria” was a memorable segment and a great closer to a great Halloween episode. It was one of most horrifying concepts with a final image that would induce nightmares. Showrunner David Mirkin deliberately made this episode more violent because of complaints that the main show was too violent – it earned a TV-14 rating in the US.
It was also a funny segment with the biggest laugh coming from Groundskeeper Willie’s third death.
2. Citizen Kang
The “Citizen Kang” segment is a personal favourite of mine, a wonderful condense satire of American politics. This segment focuses on the 1996 American Presidential Election where the country flips a coin between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. This happens to be the time when Kang and Kudos plan to take over Earth where Homer tells them about the election. Instead of doing anything logical like launching a full invasion or wait for the election to end Kang and Kudos kidnap the presidential candidates and take over their identities for the rest of the election. It’s up to Homer to save the world. God help us all.
“Citizen Kang” is a hilarious segment that starts strong with Homer willingness to sell out his family and preparing for a rectal probe and ends with the famous line ‘I voted for Kudos’. Due to the political nature of the episode there are plenty of political jokes like Kang/Dole summarising American politics in 20 seconds and saying that it doesn’t manner who we vote for. Other jokes I didn’t get until I was older like who Ross Perot was.
The episode had a cultural impact – a band named itself ‘I Voted for Kodus’ and many of the political jokes are brought up when an election is happening.
1. The Shinning
Topping this list is The Simpsons‘ parody of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. “The Shinning” sees Homer move his family to Mr. Burns’ luxury hotel in the middle of mountains and act as the caretaker during the winter months. To ensure honest work from Homer Mr. Burns cuts off the TV lines and taking away the beer supply. But no TV and no beer makes Homer make something something.
“The Shinning” was a condensed retelling of Kubrick’s film and was so good that I can’t watch the film without thinking of The Simpsons‘ version. The episode does a comedic retelling of some of the film’s most famous scenes like the trip to the hotel, the blood from the elevators, the axe chopping scene and the ending. Moe even appears as the ghost bartender who corrupts Homer into taking murderous action.
“The Shinning” was simply a damn funny parody of a famous and beloved horror film and ends up overshadowing the film it was based on for people from my generation.
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