This is my first blog post and I wanted to center my content around holiday Movies and TV specials. I think holiday shows give people that warm feeling of enjoyment in a world of stressful work schedules and fast passed living. I want to dive into some of these classic movies and television episodes to remind people there’s always something to look forward to through out the year and it’s something we all need.
Starting this blog in September/October allows me to begin with the top three holidays that I refer to as the holiday entertainment goldmine. Halloween being the first in the trinity of holiday viewing pleasure. One of the biggest aspects of these classic shows and movies is the nostalgia factor that seems to be predominant amongst millennials such as myself. We look back to that golden age of television/cinema transitioning into the internet era.
The Treehouse of Horror episodes have become a staple to the The Simpson’s franchise. Every Halloween for the last 31 years we see a new trilogy of frightening parodies told by the Simpson’s family. Now the treehouse of horror didn’t begin until the second season. Thus 32 seasons and only 31 Treehouses of Horror.
I’d like to dive deeper into each Treehouse of Horror special and really appreciate the creativity that Matt Groening and the Simpson’s team puts into every episode. Starting off with the original Treehouse of Horror we open with Marge giving her motherly warning that the show will be a scary one. She heeds all viewers not even to stay tuned and choose something else to watch. We see that the three tales will be told by the Simpson’s children from the treehouse (thus the name duh). Homer comes back from a trick or treating haul himself and eavesdrops to hear the stories from below.
The first story we have is Bart’s “Bad Dream House”. We see that the Simpsons are moving into a new home and from the looks of it it’s eeriely similar to that of the Addams family. Apparently Homer got a great deal because the house was built on an ancient burial ground (Poltergeistesque). We hear a creepy voice telling them to “Get out”, there’s blood dripping from the walls, and even a portal into another dimension just casually in the kitchen. Marge wants to leave after all this, but Homer convinces her to sleep on it. That night we hear the voice telling the family individually to kill the rest (a call back to the Amityville Horror). Marge quickly puts a stop to this before anything heinous happens. She stands up to the house and tells the house he has to get used to them living together. Ultimately the house destroys itself instead of coinciding with the Simpsons.
Lisa scoffs at Bart’s story in which he comes back with “Hungry are the damned”. Which is a parody of the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man” where the Kanamits (an alien race) has come peacefully to help earth with it’s biggest problems such as hunger with their book titled “To Serve Man”. They seem to be helping allowing many rides to their home planet described as a paradise, but their true intentions are found out when the book is decoded to be a cookbook for people. Similarly the Simpson’s are abducted by Kang & Kodos (who make appearances in basically every treehouse of horror). Once on board the aliens cook delicious meals for the Simpsons & it seems they’re fattening them up. Lisa discovers their human cookbook and foils their plans. A twist of events shows that the aliens intentions were actually genuine and wanted to take care of the Simpsons.
Finally Lisa takes the reins once again and gives us a classic Edgar Allan Poe tale “The Raven”. We have special guest James Earl Jones narrating the poem with his soothing baritone voice. We find Homer as Edgar Allan Poe in his chambers saddened by the loss of his love Lenore (Marge). Enter obnoxious trouble maker Bart Simpson as the raven. Bart angers and frustrates Homer through out the poem as we hear the classic lines resighted. Bart feels the tale doesn’t hold up with today’s standards of scary stories.
Marge calls the kids to bed who aren’t phased by the tales, but Homer is a little more affected by the kids stories and ends the episode hiding under the covers. A great start to the Simpsons plethora of tales in their Treehouse of Horror library. The trilogy of story telling is the basis for every Treehouse of Horror special and will help me to break down future episodes I review. Would love to know what everyone thinks of the Treehouse of Horror article and if there’s any great easter eggs or parodies I missed.
Happy Holidays!
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