After the highpoint of Treehouse 3, this one starts to dip. The segments, The Devil and Homer Simpson, Terror at Five and a Half Feet, and Bart Simpson’s Dracula, manage to have some great jokes but never really get anywhere.
The Devil and Homer Simpson is probably the best of this bunch. It’s full of classic moments and one liners that all of us should remember. It’s when they start spoofing movies that things fall apart. Even though Bart Simpson’s Dracula has one of the funniest lines of the episode, it never does any better than that.
Ned sends Homer to hell for some fitting punishment, although it doesn't really bother Homer.
The Devil and Homer Simpson is my favorite of this episode and has some of my favorite jokes in it. Seriously, who hasn’t said to someone before “Arrr, this chair be high says I.” Of course, Ned as the Devil couldn’t be much more perfect. When Homer sells his soul for a donut, the Simpsons demand that he be given a fair trial. To avoid being outwitted at the end, Ned turns Homer’s head into a giant donut. There’s just so many great parts here. Homer in hell having to eat all those donuts, which he does, and all the cops waiting outside for Homer to bring his donut head out are the highlights. It’s kind of downhill after this in the episode.
Another parody of The Twilight Zone doesn't really deliver the laughs.
I’ve never really been a huge fan of this particular Twilight Zone story and The Simpson’s parody of it isn’t much better. In fact, the best part of this segment would be Uter. He’s always offering up some strangely named treats to Bart or Milhouse and I can’t help but crack up when he says to Bart, “Would you like another lick of my flavor bar?” This was the first appearance of Uter and he’s always managed to make me laugh ever since.
Vampire Simpsons is still better than Twilight.
Here we go with another film parody and another segment that I didn’t really enjoy. I always prefer the original stories over some of the straight up spoofs. It’s great when the stick a bunch of references in a segment, but when they stick to one film or show, I find it never works right. This episode does contain one of my favorite parts though. Mr. Burns is a vampire, basically like Dracula from the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Homer is the one who goes to stake him in his coffin. He pulls the lid open and announces “Take that vile fiend.” and pounds the stake a few times. Lisa walks up and says “Uh, Dad, that’s his crotch.” Gets me every time!
This one was a slide down from the previous years episode but it still gets some laughs. With this episode, the wraparounds stopped, leaving more time for the actual segments. That’s probably a good idea and a bad idea. If a segment isn’t hitting the right notes, we’d be stuck watching it a bit longer. Of course, when they were good, we’d get more of them. Even when they’re not that good, Treehouse of Horror is still better than so much out there. Plus, I don’t want to get in trouble and have anyone trying to stab me in the crotch.
In the shadows – Will
