The best Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes

published 31 October 2024

The Simpsons has been running forever, and its annual practice of churning out a horror-themed anthology episode has become a modern day Halloween tradition for many Gen X'ers, Millennials, and whatever we’re calling kids these days.

Each Treehouse of Horror episode consists of three snappy six minute parodies of established horror and horror-adjacent media. The key twist, of course, is the cast list for these ghoulish vignettes just happens to be filled by everyone’s favourite animated family, as well as assorted supporting characters.

Just like the overarching series they belong to, the quality and tone of these Treehouse of Horror episodes can vary wildly. Also like the main series, most of the best moments are to be found in the early years, back when The Simpsons was the sharpest show on cable TV.

With that said, the very best of the Treehouse of Horror episodes are inspired pieces of television, and we wouldn’t want to face a Halloween without them. Here’s a selection of what we reckon are the best of the bunch, including a couple of notable entries from recent years. Be sure to vote for your favourite below.

The 10 best Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes

There are a couple of iconic moments spread across this fourth Treehouse of Horror entry, none more so than everyone’s favouritest do-gooder neighbour, Ned Flanders, taking on the unlikely role of Lucifer. We meet this infernal Flanders when Homer sells his soul for a doughnut. Hey, we’ve all been there. Elsewhere in this entertaining episode, we have a classic Twilight Zone riff when Bart has to contend with a relentless gremlin on his journey to school. Dracula also gets an early Simpsons treatment, with the creepy count played by an even more deathly Mr. Burns.

Treehouse of Horror does like a good The Twilight Zone reference, and in its third iteration it turned to the episode ‘Living Doll’ (alongside a spot of Child’s Play) when Homer buys Bart a murderous Krusty doll. Elsewhere King Homer is a The Simpsons take on King Kong, with a classic black and white presentation, and with the huge ape played by the family patriarch. Dial “Z” for Zombies sees Bart accidentally creating a zombie epidemic whilst attempting to resurrect his pet cat Snowball.

The fifth of Treehouse of Horror entry is remarkably strong, starting with its famous riff on The Shining. Homer is steadily driven crazy while he looks after Mr. Burns’s winter lodge without recourse to beer or TV — it truly is the stuff of memes. Time and Punishment is an amusing take on the classic Ray Bradbury story ‘A Sound of Thunder’ in which Homer travels to prehistoric times, squishes a bug, and returns to to a dystopian present ruled by Ned Flanders. Nightmare Cafeteria brings yet more dystopian sci-fi references, as Bart and Lisa discover the sickening source of their school meals.

When a French neutron bomb kills everyone else in Springfield, The Simpsons find that they have the place to themselves – aside from a hoard of slathering mutants, of course. It’s a strong start to Treehouse of Horror VIII, which continues with a gruesome riff on The Fly, as Homer vaguely realises the matter-splicing potential of rudimentary teleporter technology. Things take a turn for the witchy in Easy-Bake Coven, as we head back to the Springfield of 1649 and a somehow familiar group of citizens bickering over who to burn at the stake next.

Treehouse of Horror VI is one of the most famous episodes thanks to its final section, in which the show slips its 2D shackles and heads into the world of 3D animation. As if that wasn’t enough, Homer Cubed also saw the newly computer-generated Homer emerging into the real world. Before that, Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace offers a pitch-perfect parody of A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Groundskeeper Willie taking on the demonic Freddy Krueger role. Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores has major B-movie vibes as Springfield’s giant advertising mascots come alive and embark on a rampage.

This is where it all started for the Treehouse of Horror series, all the way back in 1990. The whole creepy anthology format that we know and love arrived more or less fully formed, starting with Bad Dream House’s riff on the classic Amityville/Poltergeist-style haunted house movie. The Raven marks the first of many bold artistic gambles from this Simpsons sub-series, essentially acting out Edgar Allan Poe’s titular poem in full using our animated cast. Hungry Are the Damned, meanwhile, marks the first ever appearance of alien overlords Kang and Kodos.

In Treehouse of Horror’s seventh iteration, the Simpson kids discover they have a fourth sibling. Bart’s estranged twin Hugo has been locked in the attic since birth, but the delicious twist is that… well, we won’t spoil it for the three people who have yet to see it. The Genesis Tub sees Lisa creating her own rapidly evolving miniaturised race, while Citizen Kang takes a pot shot at mid-’90s US politics as alien overlords Kang and Kodos run for President.

The second Simpsons Halloween special saw three members of the family eating too much Halloween candy and experiencing vivid nightmares. And so we get The Monkey’s Paw, in which the Simpson family is granted four wishes, and promptly comes to regret (almost) all of them. The Bart Zone offers another form of terrible wish fulfilment, as young Bart is granted godlike powers, and proceeds to wreak havoc on his family. Finally, Homer dreams of his boss, Mr. Burns, implanting his brain into a new robotic body.

The most recent entry on this list, Treehouse of Horror XXXIII deserves to mix it with the classics for Death Tome alone. Taking as its source material the popular South Korean animation, Death Note, it switches up its crude animated style to suit. Out go the crude sketches, in comes a beautiful anime-inflected aesthetic. Elsewhere, The Pookadook sends up The Babadook with a frazzled Marge going on a supernatural tear up. Simpsons World goes full on meta, as our favourite fictional family realise they’re actually robots living in a West World-style theme park.

In an appropriately devilish plot twist, we’ve decided to include Not It here rather than a traditional numbered entry. Indeed, it’s something of a double twist: not only is this a stand alone episode, it’s also – shock horror! – from a recent season. This is a full on parody of Stephen King’s It, with the supernatural kid-nabbing clown played by Krusty (who else?). Not It even apes the dual time period settings of the source material, starting with a young Barney Gumble being pulled into a drain in 1990 before our adult cast reconvenes in the modern day to face their foe.

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Jon Mundy is a freelance writer with more than a dozen years of experience writing for leading tech websites such as TechRadar and Trusted Reviews.