Review: The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XXVIII”

Its that time of year again. The Simpsons is back with another delightfully wicked Treehouse of Horror.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

So, this year’s Treehouse of Horror episode starts us off with a funny parody of the Seth Rogen animated comedy, Sausage Party. We see The Simpsons as 3D animated pieces of candy (With cute names like “Barterfinger”) left out for trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. High-fructose silliness takes place, with Grandpa getting eaten, and The Simpsons candies trying to avoid the same fate. The Sun rises and they survive the night, only to be put on a high shelf where they’ll be forgotten just like the Easter bunny chocolate who lives there and wishes for death. Then we close as The Simpsons candies eat the chocolate bunny.

And that’s just the couch gag!

The episode properly starts with our first Halloween story, “The Exor-sis”, which is, of course, a parody of the classic horror film, The Exorcist. Homer accidentally buys a statue of the demon Pazuzu while trying to order a pizza. Naturally, Pazuzu promptly possesses Maggie during a cocktail party The Simpsons are hosting and causes chaos. After she puts a few of the party goers to a gruesome end, Homer and Marge manage to restrain her in her crib until a mysterious exorcist arrives to save the day. But things go awry when the exorcised Pazuzu possesses Bart instead, and finds his soul so dark that even he is blown away by it. The newly demonically-powered Bart proceeds to impale Homer on his devil horns, and the story comes to a rapid conclusion.

Next up is a quite creepy parody of Neil Gaiman’s cult children’s movie, Coraline, “Coralisa.” Lisa finds a mysterious tunnel in her room which takes her to her “other family” in a creepy 3D animated world. A world where her family has creepy button-sewn eyes and Lisa’s cat Snowball can talk and is voiced by none other than the legendary Neil Gaiman himself! Lisa’s other family appears to be perfect for her, though. They like kale, tofu, and jamming out playing jazz music while Lisa takes the lead on saxophone. She has the choice to stay there forever, but to do so she must have buttons sewn over her eyes. In a funny twist, however, Lisa decides its a pretty good offer to get away from her normal family. Bart soon decides to go as well, and Marge not long after trying to find Bart and Lisa. Snowball chides Homer for losing his family, so Homer decides to go in after them, only to find that everyone likes the other world better and has gotten buttons on their eyes. The family then decides to all live together as one big double creepy button-eyed family. Who doesn’t like a happy ending?

The final short, “Mmmm…Homer” is presented by Lisa, who warns the audience that the following story is absolutely disgusting. And she’s absolutely right. Homer gets left alone by himself while Marge and the kids go to see Patty and Selma for a couple weeks. Homer takes the opportunity to gorge on everything in the house and be a total slob, which soon leaves him completely out of food in the house. To sate his hunger, Homer tries to cook up alone frozen hot dog he finds in the freezer but accidentally cuts his finger off in the process, which begins to cook on Homer’s grill. Drawn to its aroma, Homer decides to eat his own finger, which he finds is the most delicious thing he’s ever eaten. Homer finds that all other foods pale in comparison, and despite his efforts not to, ends up addicted to his self-cannibalism. This goes about as well as you would expect, with homer progressively eating more and more of his body. When the family finds out, Marge and Homer go to counseling for Homer’s addiction, but Marge can’t handle Homer’s cannibalism and leaves him. Then, by pure chance, Homer meets famous chef Mario Batali. (Played by Mario Batali) At Homer’s request, Batali uses Homer as an ingredient in a string of successful food chains, as Homer looks down smiling from Heaven. Yup, this is what a Halloween episode looks like.

Our Take:

This year’s Treehouse of Horror is a delicious treat. The episode is a twisted cavalcade of the strange and grotesque, all with that Simpsons wit that has defined this show. Each story is gruesomely amusing in its own way, with plenty of morbid jokes and even a musical number for each story. To top it off, there were some great guest voices making cameos, with Neil Gaiman’s spot as Snowball steals the show in “Coralisa.” A satisfying October staple that gets you into the spirit of the season, “Treehouse of Horror” number 29 is an excellent Halloween special.

Score
9/10