Halloween is fast approaching which means it’s time for Simpsons fans to start revisiting their favorite Treehouse of Horror episodes. These Halloween-themed episodes have been a huge part of The Simpsons series from its early days and allow the show to branch out with some outrageous and gory humor.
Along with some original scary stories, the Treehouse of Horror segments are known for spoofing movies. While there are well-known parodies like their spoofs of The Shining and Child’s Play, some spoofs are missed by fans. Whether it’s an obscure movie or one from one of the later seasons, there are some movies you didn’t know were spoofed on Treehouse of Horror.
Sausage Party (Treehouse Of Horror XXVIII)
Sausage Party is a crude R-rated animated comedy from the minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The movie follows the various food items inside a grocery store who uncover the horrors of what happens to food once humans take them home.
Given the hilarious gruesome “eating” scenes, it’s a major stretch to see why The Simpsons thought this would make for a good Treehouse of Horror parody. The short intro story depicts the Simpsons as Halloween candy trying to avoid getting chewed on during Halloween night.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (Treehouse of Horror XXVII)
The more recent seasons of The Simpsons have really play fast-and-loose with what kinds of movies are parodied on the Treehouse of Horror episodes. The show was no longer interested in just doing horror films, but rather tackled anything that was popular at the time.
One particularly odd segment took on the spy movie homage/parody Kingsman,in which Bart discovers a secret society of spies run by Moe. The segment even mocked the infamous church fight scene from the movie, but the rushed nature of the segment made it seem pretty pointless.
Mad Max: Fury Road (Treehouse of Horror XXVII)
Sometimes one film parody isn’t enough for a singled Treehouse of Horror segment. The story called Dry Hard takes place in a post-apocalyptic future in which Mr. Burns controls all the water and forces Springfield’s children to fight to the death in an obvious parody of The Hunger Games.
However, the segment quickly abruptly abandons that idea and turns into a take on Mad Max: Fury Road. The switch comes and goes so quick that some viewers might have missed it entirely. It might have actually been more interesting just to spoof Fury Road the whole time.
Chronicle (Treehouse Of Horror XXVI)
Given how popular found-footage became in the horror genre, it’s not surprising that Treehouse of Horror episodes have tackled a few of those movies. However, fans might have missed the spoof of one of the genre’s more popular films, Chronicle.
The episode is shot in the found-footage style with plenty of jokes about the practicality of that style. Like the movie, Lisa, Bart, and Milhouse stumble into a cave and find a mysterious substance that gives them superpowers. And, of course, Milhouse is the one who goes mad with power.
The Amityville Horror (Treehouse Of Horror)
The very first Treehouse of Horror episode kicked off which a spoof of a classic horror film. Given how many haunted house movies are around these days, fans might not even be familiar with The Amityville Horror which serves as the main basis for the segment Bad Dream Home.
The hilarious segment finds the Simpsons moving into a new house only to find that it is possessed by evil spirits that attempt to drive the family into killing each other. It’s a great, inventive spoof which helped show how fun these Halloween episodes could be.
The Omega Man (Treehouse Of Horror VIII)
End-of-the-World scenarios are nothing new for the Treehouse of Horror episodes. However, this particularly memorable segment drew from a movie that most of the younger Simpsons fans likely never heard of.
The Omega Man was a sci-fi horror film that starred Charlton Heston as the last living person on Earth who discovers that he is not alone. The movie was remade into I Am Legend years later. In The HΩmega Man, Homer finds himself the only survivor of a nuclear attack before encountering hungry mutants.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (Treehouse Of Horror IV)
Many of the early Treehouse of Horror episodes drew inspiration from classic stories in the original Twilight Zone series. However, one particular segment seems to also draw from the movie version of Twilight Zone that came out in 1983.
Terror at 5 1⁄2 Feet is a spoof of the classic Twilight Zone story Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, which was remade in the Twilight Zone: The Movie. It starred John Lithgow as a man who sees a creature on the wing of a plane and tries to warn the other passengers. The Simpsons version finds part seeing a similar creature on the side of the school bus. The segment even ends with a similar ending as in the movie.
2001: A Space Odyssey (Treehouse Of Horror XII)
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most beloved movies of all-time, which means it was bound to be parodied on The Simpsons at some point. The classic film finally got the Treehouse of Horror treatment in the segment House of Whacks.
The segment finds the Simpsons installing a smart home system (voiced by Pierce Brosnan) who becomes obsessed with Marge. The AI is clearly based on 2001‘s villainous HAL including the simple yet iconic “red eye” design.
The Fly (Treehouse of Horror VIII)
David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a popular and deeply disturbing horror movie about a scientist who accidentally crosses his DNA with that of a housefly. Fans of the film might have noticed that the “Treehouse of Horror” segment “Fly vs Fly” shares a lot of similarities to that story.
But the segment actually draws from the original The Fly from 1958. The image of Bart’s body with a fly’s head is taken directly from that film as is the scene in which Bart the fly gets caught in a spider’s web.
Day Of The Dolphin (Treehouse of Horror XI)
The Night of the Dolphin is a Treehouse of Horror segment in which Lisa frees a dolphin from an aquarium. The freed dolphin then leads its fellow dolphins in a rebellion to wipe out the humans for their years of mistreatment.
While the segment clearly spoofs Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, it also borrows from a more obscure film called Day of the Dolphin. The 1973 film is about a scientist who teaches dolphins to speak but then the government uses the dolphins as killers. It’s just the kind of bizarre plot that works so well for The Simpsons.
