Remember when the early Treehouse of Horror episodes would begin with Marge stepping in front of a red curtain to encourage the audience to switch off? Well, maybe we should’ve listened to her, as unfortunately some of The Simpsons‘ latter Halloween specials have fallen far short of the high bar of quality established by the show’s original dips into the horror genre.
With three different segments in each episode, sometimes with a lengthy intro sequence as well, every Treehouse of Horror is like a bag of Halloween candy — some bites are tastier than others, but you’ll find something to enjoy in it somewhere. Even many of the weakest episodes have something to make it worthwhile. “Treehouse of Horror XVII” isn’t great, for example, but at least it opens with Guillermo del Toro’s incredible twist on The Simpsons‘ classic couch gag.
The following five, however, have very little to recommend them. So, to do my best Marge impression for a moment, I urge you not to seek these Treehouse of Horrors out on Disney Plus this spooky season. Or you may live to regret it…
5. “Treehouse of Horror XXIX”
The first Treehouse of Horror specials were so creative and fun because the Simpsons creators clearly lapped up the chance to break off the shackles of canon, traditional story structure, and general good taste and go as crazy as they liked. Unfortunately, by the time the ToH tradition was gearing up for its 30th year, the routine of having to come up with three horror spoofs per year had become a shackle in itself.
Case in point, “Treehouse of Horror XXIX,” which basically just shrugs three one-gimmick-strong segments at the audience and gives up. “Intrusion of the Pod-Y Switchers” is — no prizes for guessing — a belated Invasion of the Body Snatchers spoof with an equally dated “everyone’s obsessed with phones today, man!” message. Yeardley Smith voice-acts her butt off in “Multiplisa-ty,” but this Split spoof is otherwise a wasted attempt to parody M. Night Shyamalan. And the less said about “Geriatric Park” the better. When you’re ripping off jokes The Naked Gun did 24 years before, you know you’re in trouble.
4. “Treehouse of Horror XXVII”
Remember when Treehouse of Horrors were supposed to be spooky? Apparently the makers behind the 27th special didn’t either, with two out of the three segments being unremarkable parodies of recent (but not that recent) blockbusters that weren’t part of the horror genre.
Namely, “Dry Hard” bites off more than it can chew by attempting to combine the dystopian The Hunger Games with the post-apocalyptic Mad Max: Fury Road in about seven minutes flat. Meanwhile, “Moefinger” is a lame Kingsman/James Bond riff — wholly unnecessary when you remember The Simpsons spoofed the spy genre far better in the classic “You Only Move Twice.”
At least things get supernatural in the middle segment “BFF RIP,” which gets points for being an original story — Lisa’s childhood imaginary friend, voiced by Sarah Silverman, returns and gets murderously possessive.
3. “Treehouse of Horror XXI”
I’ll say it off the bat — the fact that they got Daniel Radcliffe in to voice an Edward Cullen expy in a Twilight spoof almost saved this episode from appearing on this list, as the Harry Potter star skewering his old Goblet of Fire co-star Robert Pattinson’s role is a delicious piece of meta-casting. Unfortunately, the “Tweenlight” segment itself just doesn’t live up to its potential.
As for the first two segments in “Treehouse of Horror XXI,” they are sadly among the most forgettable in the tradition’s history. Jumanji spoof “War and Pieces,” only has a few toothless board game jokes to bring to the table while the decision to parody 1989 Australian thriller Dead Calm in the middle section — in which Homer and Marge invite a stranger (voiced by Hugh Laurie) onto their yacht — has to be the most likely and unwanted ToH spoof. All in all, an episode you’ll forget about as soon as the Gracie Films logo tells you to shush.
2. “Treehouse of Horror XXVI”
The 26th Treehouse of Horror episode had one big selling-point. In its opening segment, “Wanted Dead, Then Alive,” Sideshow Bob actually murders Bart (“24 years of trying to kill a 10-year-old child have finally paid off!”)… Or, more precisely, he murders him over and over again once he finds a way to bring him back to life. The animators are clearly having fun with the gory death scenes, but the endless infanticide grows tiresome. There’s a sentence I didn’t expect to write today.
“Homerzilla,” meanwhile, is fatally flawed as this black-and-white segment in which Homer is cast as a classic movie monster only reminds us of the brilliance of “King Homer” from “TOH III.” Not a good idea, especially when this one loses its way when it decides to morph into a parody of Hollywood remakes instead. Last and definitely least, “Telepaths of Glory” is an unfocused Chronicle spoof in which Lisa, Bart, and Milhouse get telekinetic powers.
1. “Treehouse of Horror XXII”
Your mileage may vary, but in the opinion of this Simpsons fan (who has wasted countless hours of his life watching this never-ending, ever-declining series, but it’s too late to turn back now), “Treehouse of Horror XXII” is the Halloween special you should most definitely avoid streaming on Disney Plus.
The closest thing this episode has to a hook is its final segment, an Avatar parody titled “In the Na’Vi” which feels like it only exists because the writers thought they had to take a stab at the biggest movie in the world. The second, “Dial D for Diddly,” casts Ned Flanders as Dexter but will only remind you of better ToHs from the past in which Ned was a villain. The episode’s greatest crime, though, is “The Diving Bell and the Butterball,” in which Homer becomes paralyzed and the only way he can communicate is through… bodily emissions. Yes, it’s basically just seven minutes of fart jokes.
Not only are the spoofs lacking in panache and punch, the humor throughout is juvenile and lazy and a far cry from what the show is truly capable of, even in its dotage. I love you, Simpsons, but this wasn’t it.