On Sunday, October 22, The Simpsons will air the 28th installment of the "Treehouse of Horror" series. Since Season 2, FOX has run one of these Halloween-related stories each fall. Early on, these stories were more directly horror-centric, but since then "Treehouse of Horror" has become something of a clearinghouse for stuff the writers can't do during a "regular" episode. And we love it.
In honor of this Halloween tradition, we've ranked of every single "Treehouse of Horror" episode. Some of them are great. Others… well, it's hard to bat a thousand over almost three decades. Read on for our full list...
"The Diving Bell and the Butterball" is the single-worst "Treehouse of Horror" segment ever, and it's not particularly close. It's essentially one long, profoundly unfunny fart joke. The final segment is an Avatar parody that, like Avatar, has not aged well.
Guillermo del Toro was responsible for the opening sequence of this episode, but after that it's really bland. None of the segments are good in the slightest. In particular, the second segment, "Dead and Shoulders," involves Bart's head being attached to Lisa's body, which is a trope that has been handled seemingly dozens of times before, including in a previous "Treehouse of Horror" episode.
"The Others" is a fun segment where the "ghosts" of the original Simpsons designs haunt the current Simpson family. It's fun to hear Dan Castellaneta do his old Walter Matthau-esque Homer voice again. On the other hand, "School is Hell" is an example of an unfortunate trend that started to plague these episodes as things went on; super gory grossout humor that is unsubtle and unpleasant. Call it a mixed bag.
This is the most recent "Treehouse of Horror" episode, but it is so unmemorable you may very well not recall a single segment. That means none of them are particularly good, but also none of them are particularly bad. It's thoroughly mediocre. Also, this is the 600th episode, which feels unfortunate, but it did get us a semi-fun song tacked onto the end. You'd like such a significant milestone to be marked by something other than a bland collection of stories that includes an uninspired James Bond/Kingsman parody.
Sideshow Bob finally got to kill Bart. That's amusing in concept, although the segment isn't actually all that enjoyable. For such a "momentous" event, it didn't really stick the landing. "Homerzilla" is no "King Homer," but it's decent enough. One imagines it can be hard to keep coming up with new "Treehouse of Horror" segments, but it'd be nice for the execution to be a bit higher than these more recent ones, nevertheless.
"Mr. & Mrs. Simpson" is a parody of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which has nothing to do with Halloween. However, it's also the best segment in this episode, and a good, entertaining one overall. It's certainly an argument in favor of "Treehouse of Horror" stepping out of the Halloween and horror world. That's also true of the final segment "Heck House," which is definitely spooky, but equally mundane. The opening segment is an E.T. parody that's fine.
The opening segment is really fun, especially if you like the idea of Frankenstein's Monster dressing like SpongeBob. "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind" is a solid zombie story, although not as good as "Dial 'Z' for Zombies," which we'll talk about in a bit. The final segment is weird, because it's quite meta. It's basically the characters from the show putting on a parody of Sweeney Todd. However, that also makes it feel fresh, which is impressive 20 episodes in.
The clone story is funny, especially the dig at Family Guy they sneaked into it. On the other hand, "The Island of Dr. Hibbert" isn't funny in the slightest, and is one of the worst "Treehouse of Horror" stories. The first two segments are carrying that one to make this a middle-of-the-road outing.
This episode features an of-the-moment parody of Twilight, a very much not-of-the-moment parody of Dead Calm, and a -- now, anyway -- suddenly of-the-moment parody of Jumanji. They are all fine, although the Jumanji bit is surprisingly dark. That is if you consider the idea of two 10-year-olds being hanged dark.
There is a lot of potential in a Harry Potter parody, even in 2001, but "Wiz Kids" only partially succeeds. Pierce Brosnan is fun as the voice of a killer house in "House of Whacks," and the first segment is decent enough. This particular edition of "Treehouse of Horror" came at a time when popular opinion was starting to turn against The Simpsons, and also at a time when these Halloween episodes were airing in early November. Both of these things went against this episode, but time has revealed it as being an OK half-hour of TV.
"The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," a parody of the (alleged) panic stemming from Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast, has an interesting idea it doesn't execute in ideal fashion. It does eventually turn into a satire of America's invasion of Iraq, which you would think would date things, but… On the other hand, Richard Lewis voicing a neurotic golem is quite funny. Then Fran Drescher shows up and this Halloween episode gets rather Jewish (to its tremendous benefit).
"The Ned Zone" is really good, because it builds on Ned Flanders' mild-mannered personality, and also his sometimes antagonistic relationship with Homer. When a story is a flight of fancy, it's a lot easier to accept Homer being a complete jerk and doofus, and the stakes can be higher. Like, the destruction of Springfield through nuclear meltdown higher. The other two segments are pretty good, and we do get to hear Yeardley Smith put an English accent onto her Lisa voice.
Here is a case where every single segment could be met with "Eh, I guess that was OK." That makes for a decent episode of television, but also one that is somewhat difficult to discuss critically at length. At least The Simpsons got to take a shot at baseball in its opening sequence. At this time, the MLB playoffs were pushing "Treehouse of Horror" into November, which one imagines the folks on the show weren't too happy about.
"Reaper Madness" is one of the top 10 "Treehouse of Horror" segments of all time. Maybe even top five. Homer becomes the Grim Reaper, and the story ends with Homer trying to outrun God on a motorcycle in a parody of action chases everywhere. It's hilarious and a delight. On the other hand, the other two segments (including one with the late Jerry Lewis) aren't up to that level. In fact, the final segment kind of blows. This ranking is almost entirely thanks to the excellent "Reaper Madness."
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