If you’re a fan of The Simpsons, a new Treehouse of Horror episode is like a holiday. You might have friends over, make fancy thematic snacks, imbibe intoxicants of your choosing—it’s always a good time. Depending on what else FOX is showing—the new Treehouse of Horror episode might happen any time between the end of September and early November. Lately though, it’s been an October thing, and fans are hoping it stays that way.
We ranked each ep as a whole, so all three segments (and when applicable) the wraparound story. We left intros and hilarious scary nicknames out of our ranking, since that’s not what anyone is tuning in for (except maybe James "Hell" Brooks). Spirited commentary is welcome, but if you “haven’t watched The Simpsons in forever,” it might be better to keep that to yourself. All that shows us is that you have no taste. Here's Every Single Treehouse Of Horror, Ranked Worst To Best.
26. XI. G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad; Scary Tales Can Come True; Night of the Dolphin
This ep caused many die hard fans, en masse, to say ‘wow, that wasn’t very good,’ for the second time ever. Shame, that. The best thing about this Treehouse of Horror XI is the opening sequence, which perfectly spoofs The Munsters. After that, it’s a bunch of lazy tropes we’ve seen in other milieus. The basic theme of G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad is that newspaper horoscopes can’t accurately predict the future. Scintillating, right? Conversations with St Peter have been happening to cartoon characters since before Bugs Bunny was a thing.
It doesn’t get much better from there. Spoofing fairy tales is also one of the oldest and laziest forms of comedy. Sure, they can be hilarious if done well. But not this time. And finally, Lisa the know-it-all decides to release a captive dolphin from a SeaWorld tank. This seems like a great idea to Blackfish. But if you haven’t, you might think an 8-year-old girl wouldn’t have the knowledge of a professional animal trainer. The biggest problem with this episode though, is that it lacks the traditional Twilight Zone spoof.
25. IX. Hell Toupee; The Terror of Tiny Toon; Starship Poopers
We just covered the second-earliest example of an unsatisfying Treehouse of Horror episode. This is the first. It’s also lacking in the customary Twilight Zone episode parody. Worse still, Hell Toupee was profoundly uninspired, and not especially scary. The best bit by far happens when Homer, possessed by the evil spirit of Snake Jailbird, whacks a terrified Bart in the face with a mallet. But wait—Bart making a terrified face was actually his school picture. Okay, that’s pretty funny. But the rest? Eh, not so much. Though we do like the couch gag with Freddy and Jason, totally getting along.
Bart and Lisa finding themselves in an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon should have been hilarious, but it was just more of the same. And a guest cameo from Regis Philbin and Kathy Lee Gifford? Are they TRYING to make Simpsons fans feel older than dirt? Regis is about as appealing to Simpsons fans as Frasier is to fans of Monday Night Raw. We do hope, though, that Scratchy and Snowball II have a long and happy life together. They won’t though, because Treehouse of Horror is not canon.
24. XVI. B.I. Bartificial Intelligence; Survival of the Fattest; I’ve Grown a Costume on Your Face
Our first question about this episode is why they would choose to spoof a movie that isn’t even in the horror genre. A.I. is best described as “grief porn,” though it’s also been called a drama. Either way, it’s more sad than scary. Bart being supplanted by a robot boy was as awful as Marge believing Homer’s absurd lie that the missing Bart went to culinary school.
Mr Burns hunting his workers for sport isn’t that much of a stretch, but still gives the episode a few funny and scary moments. By far the best segment from this year loosely references the Twilight Zone episode, The Masks. A witch changes the townspeople into their Halloween costumes—resulting in great things for some, and worse things for others. Sideshow Mel does make Spiderman. Wiccans cheered for the evil green witch who wore a pentacle. Martin Prince picked the worse possible year to dress as Oberon, King of the Fairies—mainly because Willy ended up a giant can of bug spray.
23. XIII. Send In the Clones; The Right To Creep And Scare Harms; The Island Of Dr. Hibbert
For many fans, the teen years of Treehouse of Horror were some of the least loved. It was around this time that we heard the first serious grumbles about how long the show had been on the air, and how much longer it would last. Note though, that 13 isn’t even to the halfway point of The Simpsons entire run. By far the best things about this episode are Bart spoofing a scene from Charlotte’s Web, and Homer reluctantly milking Ned Flanders after he’s turned into a cow (and not a bull for some reason).
Weaker segments include an anti-gun-control parody that suggests getting rid of all weapons would leave us vulnerable to the zombies of Kaiser Wilhelm and Billy the Kid. We’re also treated to a segment where we learn that if there were hundreds upon hundreds of Homer Simpson’s, we’d go through resources more quickly. You don’t friggin’ say! Watch for some great Homer clones that include original, Tracey Ullman-era Homer, and Peter Griffin.
22. XIV. Reaper Madness; Frinkenstein; Stop The World, I Want To Goof Off
It’s sad that this episode is so far down on the list, because it should have been incredible. Fans had been waiting for years at this point, for Jerry Lewis to show up and do a voice. When he did, he played the father of Professor Frink—something fans had been tacitly begging for, for over a decade. Imagine if Edward G. Robinson was able to show up and play Chief Wiggum’s dad? Yeah… and yet, the episode just didn’t come together, either with laughs or scares.
This episode also features Homer as the Grim Reaper, a job you’d think he’d be reasonably good at since it only involves finding and touching people. But no… we’re given a plot where he’s actually supposed to fool God into thinking he killed Marge. Blech. Later, Bart and Milhouse parody the TZ episode, A Kind of Stopwatch. Seeing Bart and Milhouse as balding, do-nothing adults is just depressing. We did enjoy seeing The Simpsons as The Fantastic Four though.
21. X. I Know What You Diddily Iddily Did, Desperately Xeeking Xena, Life’s a Glitch, Then You Die
Part of the problem with movie parodies of popular films, is that we won’t know for years whether those films will actually hold up. How many people still have strong feelings about the hook-hand fisherman from I Know What You Did Last Summer? Not many. Still, I Know What You Diddly-Iddly-Did is still pretty scary, as is any scene where Flanders is a killer. The idea of werewolf Flanders finding Homer too much meal for him is also pretty funny. Eyes bigger than your stomach, eh Wolfie?
The other two segments are equally dated, Xena Warrior Princess, which is almost forgotten among Lucy Lawless’s roles in Battlestar Galactica, Spartacus, and Agents of SHEILD. No matter what anyone says, Jeff “Comic Book Guy” Albertson (who should have been named Louis Lane for crying out loud) does not a good villain make. And a segment about Y2K? Scary if only because so many people were legit frightened of it.
20. XVIII. ET Go Home, Mr & Mrs Simpson, Heck House
An episode that didn’t air until November, it wasn’t really worth waiting for. Bart and Kodos in a parody of E.T. The Extraterrestrial should have been amazing. It wasn’t. It was full of cheap humor and predictable jokes—yeah, who could have thought the bad alien who is bad in every single episode he appears in—turned out to be bad? Pretty much everyone. This is followed by another parody of another movie that isn’t horror or scary at all. Sure, it might be fun to see Homer and Marge as sexy assassins or whatever, but not at Halloween. This is a holiday for scariness, and maybe carving and displaying gourds to ward off evil spirits.
Heck House is easily the best segment, parodying uber-Xian anti-Halloween houses. In it, Ned Flanders depicts possible outcomes of engaging in the Seven Deadly Sins. As expected, the biblical punishments are far more gruesome than any horror movie (well, except Martyrs; that mess was brutal!).
19. XVII. Married to the Blob, You Gotta Know When to Golem, The Day the Earth Looked Stupid
At this point in our list, we’re nearing the end of the selections that are actually bad - but we're not there yet. Treehouse of Horror XVII represents at least the third time we’ve seen Homer dramatically increase in size for laughs. Hahaha. No, seriously, Homer is giant and eating people. The only remotely funny thing happening is when he says Dr Phil tastes like his acting doppelganger, Jeffrey Tambor.
After seeing the Golem-centric segment, many fans were left feeling like its litany of Jewish jokes topped off with Fran Drescher’s most annoying voice was vaguely anti-Semitic. Even if it’s culturally kosher, it just wasn’t funny—no matter how much you love the movie it’s spoofing. The last segment is easily the strongest despite some heavy handed political commentary. The War of the Worlds parody was inspired, and the Iraq War metaphor was on point.
18. XII. Hex and the City, House of Whacks, Wiz Kids
This is another of the episodes that didn’t air until November, thanks to the non-stop thrill-ride that is Major League Baseball. Segment one introduces a delightful gypsy that is ruined by Homer’s buffoonery and who proceeds to curse the whole family. It’s hilarious, all of it. Segment two features Pierce Brosnan as the voice of the house from Demon Seed. Seriously, who thought enough people saw Demon Seed that it warranted a Treehouse of Horror parody? Granted, there’s some 2001: A Space Odyssey in there as well.
The final segment of this pretty good year is the Wiz Kids. Watch for Bart to still manage to be lame at learning magic in wizard school, and for Lisa to still be awesome at it. Watch for Mr Burns as “Lord Montymort” and Smithers as Nagini. Best of all, the end of the episode combines characters from all three segments leaving the FOX parking lot. When people say “I the Simpsons back when they were funny,” this is the kind of episode they’re talking about.
17. XXII. The Diving Bell and Butterball, Dial D for Diddly, In the Na’Vi
Has the world run out of horror movies to parody? Is that why Treehouse of Horror insists on making parodies of non-horror movies for Halloween? Sure, this spoof of Dances with Smurfs or whatever that Ferngully reboot is called was almost as pretty as the film. But honestly, who the hell cares? Even sillier, this ep also references The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Even fans who adore French cinema don’t find this appropriate to Halloween. We’d like to say that a guy who communicates exclusively through farting is ridiculous and would never work. But Swiss Army Man probably disagrees. Treehouse 22 also features an homage to 127 Hours that’s pretty funny.
The saving grace of this episode is the middle segment, Dial D for Diddly. In this case, we’re willing to accept a parody of a black comedy even though Dexter is decidedly not horror. And Satan getting his giggity on with Maude in hell? Parental discretion advised, am I right?