The Best Treehouse of Horror Episodes

For most horror fans, Halloween is our Christmas.  Suddenly, casual fans will want to talk horror films.  There is a plethora of horror to be found on television.  And, best yet, the Simpsons do their annual Halloween special entitled The Treehouse of Horror.

The Simpsons debuted on as a short on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987 on the fledgling Fox Network.  The series’ first episode aired on December 17, 1989.  It became Fox’s first hit, and helped propel the network to an elite network.  It was during the second year that the first Treehouse of Horror premiered, and it has taken on a life of its own.  All in all, there are now 25 episodes now (which would fit nicely on a DVD set…just saying).

They have also been a staple in my household when I was a kid and I watch them together with my kids today.  The Treehouse of Horror episodes embody everything that is good with horror.  We all tend to like being scared, but laughing in its face with The Simpsons cast makes it even better.  Because of the series, they were interested in reading and discussing the poem The Raven.  The series has often parodied classic horror (as well as those forgotten films big in the last 25 years like Bram Stoker’s Dracula) and old Twilight Zone episodes which makes it a perfect for all ages.

All 25 episodes start tomorrow on FXX.  Many of them are lore to my children, and I’m excited that to show them what I loved as a child.  (Honorable Mention goes out to Cape Feare, the Simpsons episode that parodies Cape Fear with Sideshow Bob and those rakes.)

10) Treehouse of Horror VIII (The HΩmega Man, Fly vs Fly, Easy-Bake Coven)

Parodies: The Ωmega Man, The Fly, The Crucible

Best Segment:  Fly vs Fly

Best Quote:  But Aquaman, You can not marry a woman without gills. You’re from two different worlds (Sees the nuclear missile coming) Oh I’ve wasted my life.  (Comic Book Guy)

9) Treehouse of Horror VI (Attack of the 50 foot Eyesores, Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace, Homer³)

Parodies: A Nightmare on Elm Street, Twilight Zone episode Little Girl Lost

Best Segment: Homer³

Best Quote:  Oh, just get it out of here. Not into the kindergarten!  (Principal Skinner to morgue worker removing Martin’s body from school)

8) Treehouse of Horror XXIII (The Greatest Story Ever Holed, UNnormal Activity, Bart and Homer’s Excellent Adventure)

Parodies: Paranormal Activity, A Sound of Thunder

Best Segment:  The Greatest Story Ever Holed

Best Quote:  Oy Carumba (Jewish Bart)

7) Treehouse of Horror XXV (School in Hell, A Clockwork’s Yellow, The Others)

Parodies: A Clockwork Orange, The Others

Best Segment:  The Others

Best Quote:  Skinnnn-HIM! (Demon Superintendent Chalmers)

6) Treehouse of Horror X (I Know What you Did-iddily-Did, Desperately Seeking Xena, Life’s a Glitch, Then you Die)

Parodies: I Know What you Did Last Summer, Deep Impact (and, strangely 2012)

Best Segment:  I know What you Did-iddily-Did

Best Quote:  Hey….we just got away with murder! And it was so easy (sees Milhouse in street) you know… I’ve never liked that little wiener Milhouse (turns to run over, Marge stops him) (Homer)

5) Treehouse of Horror XIII (Send in the Clones, The Fright to Keep and Scare Harms, The Island of Dr. Hibbert)

Parodies: Multiplicity, The Island of Dr. Moreau

Best Segment:  The Fright to Keep and Scare Harms

Best Quote:  Play us some pian-ee. (Homer begins playing Für Elise, and then a bullet ricochets) That’s piano! I said pian-ee! (Homer plays western-style music.) (to Marge) You! Play the cell-ee! (Marge plays a honky-tonk tune.) (to Bart) You! Sing a song about cattle-russlin’. (to Lisa) And you! Sing one about, uh, robbing banks. (Bonney)

4) Treehouse of Horror III (Clown without Pity, King Homer, Dial ‘Z’ for Zombies)

Parodies: Child’s Play, King Kong, Alfred Hitchcock Presents

Best Segment:  Dial ‘Z’ For Zombies

Best Quote:  He was a zombie? (Homer, after shooting Flanders)

3) Treehouse of Horror VII (The Thing and I, The Genesis Tub, Citizen Kang)

Parodies: Twilight Show Episode The Little People, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

Best Segment:  The Thing and I

Best Quote:  Unshrink you? Well that would require some sort of a Rebigulator which is a concept so ridiculous it makes me want to laugh out loud and chortle… (Little Professor Frink on whether he can return Lisa to her normal size)

2) Treehouse of Terror V (The Shinning, Time and Punishment, Nightmare Cafeteria)

Parodies:  The Shining, A Sound of Thunder, Soylent Green

Best Segment:  The Shinning

Best Quote:  Well, what do you think, Marge? All I need is a title. I was thinking along the lines of… No TV and no beer make Homer something, something. (Homer)

1) Treehouse of Terror I (Bad Dream House, Hungry are the Damned, The Raven)

Parodies:  Amityville, Poltergeist, The Raven

Best Segment:  Bad Dream House

Best Quote:  It chose to destroy itself rather than live with us. You can’t help but feel a little rejected. 

What’s your favorite episode?