The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Episode 3

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Episode 3 

Aired: October 29th, 1992
Season 4: Episode 5
Written by: Atrocious Al Jean and Morbid Mike Reiss, Warped Wally Wolodarsky and Johnny Katastrophe Kogen, Scarifying Sam Simon and Vicious Jack Vitti



Welcome to the third Treehouse of Horror "Review". Let me start by saying this is one of my favorite Treehouse of Horror Episodes as the overall writing is arguably the best it has ever been for the Simpsons and this came out at the peak of their popularity.

The opening has Homer being revealed with his outline similar to Alfred Hitchcock even going as far as echoing the iconic phrase "Good Evening". From there Homer warns and mocks the audience about the episode being too scary and that everyone is too chicken to turn off the screen. With the screen "turned off" Marge scolds Homer for mocking the audience. Next comes the Treehouse staple of panning through the cemetery with mock tombstones and finally finishing with the coach gag showing the Simpsons as skeletons.

The episode centers around a Halloween party with a bunch of kids are over for a Halloween party and Marge starts telling a story of a witch that dies while passing out her "body" parts, which Homer consumes. The rest of the episode/segments are set up as scary stories told from Lisa, Grandpa and Bart. There are plenty of horror references since all the kids are dressed up but specifically Bart is dressed as Alex from Clock work orange.

Segment 1 - Clown without Pity 

This first story as told by Lisa starts at Bart's birthday with Homer forgetting a gift, so he runs out to the local House of Evil and purchases a Krusty doll. The back and forth between Homer and the shop keeper is really funny. Bart is thrilled with the new toy but Grandpa warns that the doll is evil, Marge says that he has been saying the same thing about all the gifts. Homer discovers the doll is evil and is attempting to kill him, although most of the family does not believe it. Finally Marge calls the company who made the doll and they end a tech out who tells them that someone must have set the doll to evil, so he switches him to good and all is well. There are plenty of funny parts in this episode but I love the scene where homer is being attacked and he screams out "Marge, Marge the doll is trying to kill me and the toaster's been laughing at me".

Here is the list of the references I noticed while watching this segment.
- Child's Play and "Living Doll" from the Twilight Zone: The premise of the segment and the actions of the Krusty doll in general are pulled directly from these two sources.

- Cape Fear: When Krusty attached himself to the undercarriage of the car with a belt like Max Cady

- Town without Pity (Song) - The title of this segment is a parody of this.

Segment 2 - King Homer 

Next up is Grandpa's story which is a "retelling" of King Kong, Simpsons style. The entire episode is a retelling of King Kong. Not much to say, if you have ever seen the original King Kong then you know what to expect it is funny and my favorite line has to be when Burns asks Smithers what he thinks about Marge joining the crew, Smither's responds with " I think women and sea men don't mix" Burns responds with "we know what you think". A solid segment that helps introduce younger people to the story of King Kong, at least it did for me.

Here are the references I noticed in the segment.
- King Kong: The entire episode is based on the King Kong film.

- The chief of the Island shouts "Mosi Tatupu", which is actually the name of an NFL running back

Segment 3 - Dial "Z" for Zombies 

The final story is told by Bart after Ned walks in and scares everyone dressed as an elaborate and gory Zombie. The story revolves around Bart needing to do a book report so he stumbles across a book the Occult section of the library which has spells to reanimate the dead. In an attempt to reanimate Lisa's cat Snowball 1 the kids go to the Pet Cemetery, but things goes wrong when Bart's spell wakes up all the zombies. In a desperate attempt to reverse things the Simpsons go back to the library and find a book that sends all the zombies back. I love this segment and it is arguably the first true "scary" episode with monster/zombies. There are plenty of funny lines but my favorite is tied between when the kids tell Homer they did something bad and he asks if they wrecked the car or raised the dead, they respond with raised the dead and he once again asks if the car is okay. Then when Homer shoots the zombie Ned Flanders without knowing he was a zombie.

Here are the references I noticed in the segment.
- Dial "M" for Murder: The title of this segment is a play on this title.
- Return of the Living Dead: The zombies keep repeating brains similar to the zombies in this film.

- Michael Jackson Thriller Album: While raising the dead Bart has this album on his head.

- Pet Cemetery: The pet cemetery is arguably inspired by the books/films.

Closing: There is no traditional closing that ties back to the Halloween party, which is odd since the other episodes always did that. Either way this is a great episode and one I would suggest people start with as a means to being introduced to the Treehouse of Horror Episodes. Good Night Everyone.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Episode 2

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Episode 2

Aired: October 31st. 1991 Season 2: Episode 3

Written by: Atrocious Al Jean, Morbid Mike Reiss, Jittery Jeff Martin, Gasping George Meyer, Slithering Sam Simon, Spooky John Swartzwelder

Welcome to the second Treehouse of Horror "Review". The opening is the same as the first episode with Marge warning the crowd not to watch, but that everyone ignored her last year. Once again this is a Frankenstein (1931) reference.

The camera moves through the Cemetery with some new names on the Tombstones which then shows the cast names made "scary" for the first time, which will become a Treehouse staple in future episodes.

Next we see Homer watching TV while eating candy when Jimbo and Nelson come demanding candy and then egging the house. Marge (dressed as the Bride), Lisa, Bart and Maggie come home after trick r treating and they begin gorging on the candy. Marge warns them all that is they eat too much candy they will have nightmares. These nightmares serve as the segments for the episode. I love this idea of the nightmares after too much candy, I can remember my parents warning me of this, so it ties perfectly into the Halloween season.

Segment 1 - Monkey's Paw (Lisa's Nightmare) 

The segment begins with the Simpsons in Morocco with Homer buying a Monkey's Paw after being warned by the seller that it can be dangerous with each wish granted.

The paw offers 4 wishes that turn out to be the following;
- First wish - Maggie wishes for a new pacifier which arrives in a luxury vehicle.
- Second wish - Bart wishes for the family to be rich and famous, but soon everyone in town begins to hate them.
- Third Wish - Lisa wishes for world peace, everyone throws away their guns and then Kang and Kodos come to take over the world.

- Fourth wish - Homer wishes for a turkey sandwich, which turns out out to be dry.
Homer throws out the paw in frustration and Ned asks if he can have it, Homer purposely does not tell him that it is dangerous, however Ned manages to save the world and upgrade his house. This is a funny episode and I love the part where homer wishes for a turkey sandwich, they could have done a few things better but I still like it.

Here is the list of the references I noticed while watching this segment.
- "The Monkey's Paw": The entire segment is inspired by the W.W. Jacobs horror story "The Monkey's Paw"

- Midnight Express: When the Simpsons are about to board the plane, the Moroccan police stop them by aiming pistols at them in the kneeling position, then lift up Homer's shirt to find smuggled items taped to his abdomen, parodying the opening scene of Midnight Express.

Segment 2 - The Bart Zone (Bart's Nightmare)

The segment revolves around Bart having the ability to alter reality and read peoples minds. Basically Bart is running Springfield and we get to see him messing with people, especially Homer. This is my favorite segment of the episode, since it was inspired by the Twlight Zone episode and some of Homer's reactions once he is turned into a jack in the box.

Here are the references I noticed in the segment.
- "It's a Good Life" The Twilight Zone: The entire segments based on this classic episode.

- Twilight Zone Intro: The intro is like the Twilight Zone Homers Nightmare

Segment 3 If I Only Had a Brain (Homer's Nightmare)

This segment opens with Mr. Burns wanting to fire someone and picks Homer. Homer ends up working as a grave digger and falls asleep in one of the open graves. Mr. Burns and Smithers are in search of a fresh corpse in order to bring life to their new worker robot and stumble across Homer. Assuming he is dead they drag him back and use his brain. Unfortunately the robot is as lazy as Homer so they decide to reverse the process. In the process the robot falls on Mr. Burns leaving only his head, so Smither sews the head onto Homer.

This is a funny episode that may not be great but is all around solid with plenty of references to Frankenstein.

Here are the references I noticed in the segment.
- Frankenstein: The entire episode is based around this, from the grave robbing to the laboratory to the "monster"

- The Wizard of Oz:  Mr. Burns is humming "If I only had a brain" as well as the near-quote "You clinking, clattering, cacaphony of colligenous cogs and camshifts!" was originally used as an insult to the Tin Man.

Closing: The end has Homer waking from his nightmare only to find out that Mr. Burns head is actually sewn onto his shoulder. This ending is similar to the film, The Thing With Two Heads. Overall this is a good episode and moved the series in the right direction. Thanks for reading and goodnight!

History of Horror Films: A Terrible Night (1986)

A Terrible Night 

Alternate Titles: Une nuit terrible

Release Date: 1986

Director: Georges Méliès

Producer: Georges Méliès

Writer: NA

Country:France

Genre: Silent, Supernatural, Magic

Rating: .5 out of 5

Released in 1896 and directed by Georges Melies. The film depicts a man trying to sleep and is interrupted by a giant bug. I only mention this film because many consider that this is apart of the horror genre, personally I consider it a comedy. I guess it would be safe to say it is the first horror comedy, however it is nothing more than a silly short film. One interesting fact is that this is the first Méliès to use cinematic special effects. Since I cannot consider this a horror film I could only give this half a star out of 5. But watch for yourself.

IMDB Link 

History of Horror Films: The Haunted Castle (1896)

The Haunted Castle

Alternate Titles: Le Manior du diable, The Devil's Castle, The House of the Devil

Release Date: Winter, 1986

Director: Georges Méliès

Producer: Georges Méliès

Writer: NA

Country:France

Genre: Silent, Supernatural, Magic

Rating: 2 out of 5

Also known as The haunted castle in the US and the Devils Castle in the UK. This is a two-minute-long French film directed by Georges Méliès. This film was considered lost until 1988, when a copy was found in the New Zealand Film Archive.  The film tells the story of an encounter with the Devil (or Mephistoheles) and various attendant phantoms. The film contains many traditional pantomime elements and was intentionally meant to amuse people, rather than frighten them, however due to the nature of the subject and, because it includes a transformation involving a bat, skeletons, ghosts, and the devil it has even been called the first true horror film.  In addition to being considered the first horror film some also consider this the first vampire film, with the bat transformation and the fact that the “devil”| is banished with a crucifix. Although this is choppy and slightly goofy it remains an interesting film, but I could only muster up a 2 out of 5, considering the time this is still impressive. 

IMDB Link 

History of Horror Films: The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895)

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

Alternate Titles: The Execution of Mary Stuart

Release Date: August 28th, 1895

Director: Alfred Clark

Producer: Thomas Edison

Writer: NA

Country: US

Genre: Silent, Murder, Execution

Rating: 1 out of 5

Released in 1895 the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots may not be horror in the typical sense but it was the first depiction of a beheading, the first use of trained actors for film and possibly the first use of editing for the purposes of special effects. It was Directed by Alfred Clark and produced by Thomas Edison, yes the same Thomas Edison who invented the electric light, power utilities, sound recording, and motion pictures. Even though this is only 18 seconds long this was quite shocking for the time as many audience members thought a real woman was beheaded for the film. Not much else to describe here so I will let you watch this 20 second short without me babbling on. I would give this a solid 1 out of 5 for ingenuity, creativity and being the first in many categories. 

IMDB Link