Very quickly I gotta talk about the intro. The same guy responsible for the movie, The Book of Life animated it. He also done the ending animation as well. This movie has our song, yes my wife picked it. I absolutely loved everything about these animation sequences. I do like when Treehouse of Horror gets more creative with the intros.
The first segment is called The Information Rage. This reminded me of a particular episode of Supernatural. People's hatred on politics led to creating giant monsters. I will say this is notably better than their Godzilla parody story. What triggered this chaos was people's views over light usage. Yes people were so funny about electricity in light theme devices to cause this.
Hell House is the Supernatural episode in question all the way back in Season 1.
Just in case it isn't obvious what this is parodying. Pacific Rim involve an giant robot fighting giant monsters. There do exist similar concepts like Mechagodzilla. But some situations made Mechagodzilla ends up being an more villain character within those stories. This is also notably better than the terrible Transformers parody they done.
This also reminded me of a classic Treehouse of Horror story, Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores. Both involved giant monsters terrorizing that were caused by people. Homer stolen a giant donut angering it's mascot. Eventually other mascot characters joins in the chaos. Although it was more meant to get people's attention in order to continue existing like that.
I figured other Simpsons fans are going to directly compare it to Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores. I can say despite the similarities they are different giant monster stories. I previously criticize Clown v. Board of Education being too similar to Homie the Clown episode. Which I still felt the same way about that. The Information Rage is more of it's own thing in comparison.
It won't be as rememberable as King Homer. This is an interesting what if scenario. They wanted to directly parody the upcoming election. The Simpsons has a notable history with parodying politics. We even had former president George H. W. Bush get into a fight with Homer before. Of course there's the famous election poll rigged joke in an Treehouse of Horror episode's intro.
Update: I forgot to mention the obvious political Treehouse of Horror story originally.
There's also Citizen Kang heavily a political Treehouse of Horror story. Two aliens disguised as candidates to run for the President of the United States. Personally I felt this was the best political theme Treehouse of Horror story hands down.
I know it's a little silly all of this over usage of light devices. This is why one of the monsters being red representing the Republican side of Springfield. The blue monster being it's polar opposite being an Democratic monster. For a quick laugh, other monsters created from social media cameos. It's no secret those websites would've created monsters too.
Writing wise it's 50/50 at best. Parts of it was well written while others came off being rushed or not fully materialized. The story could've ended with the Simpsons kids defeated two of the monsters. There wouldn't be much left to watch though. I actually felt the ending they went with was better. Inevitably people's hatred that manifested these monsters destroyed themselves.
The only survivors being Bart & Lisa. We have seen some doomsday scenarios played out in Treehouse of Horror episodes before. The Homega Man a parody of The Omega Man starring Homer. Springfield angers French to launched an nuclear missile at the town. We get to see Homer having fun with a lot of the population killed off.
I also gotta mention The Greatest Story Ever Holed. The town of Springfield kept throwing stuff inside a small black hole. Until the black hole notably expands sucking everything up. I strongly felt both of these are way better than The Information Rage. I will give it a little credit though. Geriatric Park is a parody of Jurassic Park series.
Where the older civilians of Springfield got experimented on. In return transformed into dinosaurs, I disliked this Treehouse of Horror story. The Information Rage is notably better than that. Just to say it isn't all bad. There are some good things in this mess of a story. I just felt it's flaws going to hold it back a little too much.
It almost seem like something that could've happened in The Twilight Zone. Which also involved people's imaginations taking a life of their own life in many ways. The ending is kinda what you expected. There's not much left with the Simpsons kids that tried to stop it in a destroyed giant robot. I kinda liked the blue monster the most.
He actually done some surprising nice things. There was a brief funny moment Homer was inside the giant donut for a donut shop. He kicked the giant donut sending Homer rolling. I would say it's a little better you're expecting. I felt a handful of changes would've made it a little better. It's not terrible by any means. The Information Rage is very true to it's name.
I would say this is the weakest of the three segments. Mostly due to how predictable it was in comparison. Also how similar it was to an handful of other Treehouse of Horror stories. It barely does anything to differ itself from those. Especially the other two segments worked amazingly well. I will say this was a fine way to get things going with.
The second segment is The Fall of the House of Monty. The title is a direct reference to The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. The Raven from the original Treehouse of Horror episode cameos. Which also was adapted from another story by the same author. The actual main parody is a movie called Winchester.
I confess I never heard of the movie until recently. The plot is Mr. Burns being more like Ebenezer Scrooge than normal. He loss an wish bone challenge he rigged. Thus he decides to quickly get rid of the food his employees just won. I should point out he's having the workers making corn syrup. They also have to work on his mansion.
The workers barely get any room for anything. Homer caused a tragedy killing himself with the other workers. Parts of this does remind me of The Shinning story. Which also involved ghosts to terrorize people in some way. Obviously I gotta mention The Others that involved an ghost Simpsons family. I would say this is one of the better ghost stories they told.
It's no secret some deaths on Treehouse of Horror episodes are difficult to watch. The deaths in this story being some of the hardest to date by far. All because Homer wanted corn syrup no less. Sadly there weren't any waffles lol. Corn syrup is used in a lot of things people doesn't realize. I also wanted to say Mr. Burns' mansion is not what you're expecting either.
It's also very important to say this was clearly the scariest of the three stories. The ghost looks of the deceased workers especially Homer was terrifying. We are talking even scarier than what was scary within Treehouse of Horror episodes. Mr. Burns also married to Agnes, Skinner's mom in this story. The ending is Mr. Burns chosen to burn himself to death.
Editor's note: Agnes actually his ex wife in that section I checked.
I really wanna talk about the ghosts themselves. They done several takes on ghosts as well as spirits within Treehouse of Horror episodes. We seen them look just like when they were alive to well this. It kinda reminded me of Willie's death in Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace story. By pure coincidence, Willie also dies in this story.
At least he doesn't get axed to the back three times lol. This kinda makes me wanna watch the movie this was a parody of. Way more than the previous segment in that regard. This felt like a scary story you actually would tell people while camping or around kids. You might need to alter some stuff though. I am glad they went for this story.
Now what an ending this was right? I would actually say this was a good ghost story. Some may enjoy Bad Dream House more. Which is more of a possessed house story than an actual ghost one. I actually respected they tried being scary with some good jokes thrown in. It's kinda like the ideal Freddy/Chucky angle people wants em to be like in their movies.
Both these characters can be terrifying. At the same time, they often say funny one liners. This felt more of the better Treehouse of Horror stories in that regard. The part the ghosts went through the food in the kitchen truly disgusting. The truly mess up part is this took place on Thanksgiving. Which is kinda amusing because they previously done Thanksgiving of Horror.
In a rather unexpected way, they were referencing that too. Parts of the story could've been inspired by A Christmas Carol. There's so many versions of that classic Christmas story. I would be here all day going through them all. But the concept is roughly similar to this. Both involved a bitter old rich man that's ruthless to his own employees especially around the holidays.
They later get haunted by ghosts for different reasons. For Scrooge, it was to make him a better person before he dies. For Burns, he would've been haunted by them until he dies. Therefore, Scrooge would find redemption while Burns never planned to make things right in the first place. Not only that it's almost like directly seeing Scrooge's partner fate being played out too.
I do think they ended on the worst joke in recent years for Treehouse of Horror episodes. I am a huge fan of dark humor myself. Even I didn't like this following Black Friday joke. You felt bad for the employees, you wanted them to get their revenge on Mr. Burns. I do like when Mr. Burns is a focus within these stories.
They usually give Mr. Burns some rather crazy stories. His parody of Frankenstein with a huge robot. There was vampire Burns that heavily parodied the 90s Dracula movie. Not to mention, The Simpsons had to get shrunk down to go inside his body. He also ran an circus in another story. I still think they could do more with the character in these stories.
I also wanted to say Mr. Burns' parody of Frankenstein is better than Professor Frinks' parody of the same story.
Personally if I gotta choice the best Mr. Burns' story within Treehouse of Horror episodes. Survival of the Fittest hands down wins. This was the perfect story to give Mr. Burns. This is exactly Mr. Burns not holding back how truly evil he is. I will say I will recommend people to check out Fall of the House of Monty.
The third and final segment is Denim. I been very hyped for this one waiting months to see this. This was the most unexpected among them in my opinion. I know some may question that considering Disney also owns Marvel to a degree. But Venom movie series is actually owned by Sony. They also own a few Spider-Man movies as well.
They previously parodied Spider-Man in a terrible Treehouse of Horror story. Which by pure coincidence also stars Homer. The plot is Homer wants to win Marge. Yes they weren't married in this particular story. Obviously no kids for that matter which worked to this side's advantage. Homer was nervous about meeting Marge while trying on jeans.
Denim whose an alien jeans from a weird planet came to Earth. He quickly found his way to Homer in that brief period. A good amount of the story is a love story. At the same time, we got this best friends concept going on at the same time. Which would be directly parodying Venom series to a degree. There's no question this was the best overall written segment by far.
I would even say the funniest hands down with some clever jokes. Denim was partly done with stop motion from the same company responsible for Robot Chicken. They previously done an cough gag that's among my favorites. To clarify, some cough gags are done in different styles. Usually by guest animators mostly for Treehouse of Horror episodes.
The fact they somehow pulled off stop motion alien jeans in the usual animation style is kinda mind blowing. Sometimes you'll notice more shadow beneath Denim and Homer when he's wearing him. I actually like this gave off a darker shadow than normal effect. Denim has a weird ending some might see coming.
Homer decides to choose Denim over Marge. Denim reveals his race going to invade Earth. We see a huge zipper theme portal open with a lot of his species going down to Earth. I actually loved this particular shot myself. Sure the ending is technically a cliff hanger. It also was the best way to end this Halloween episode.
Parts of the ending reminds me of another comedy horror movie's ending. Shaun of the Dead, Shaun playing an game with zombie Ed. This part with Homer and Denim while talking about Marge came off like that. I just think it's a similar moment than an actual reference to that. I won't be surprise if someone else that's reviewing the same Halloween episode makes that comparison.
Denim is among my favorite Treehouse of Horror exclusive characters ever!!! They nailed how Venom was like to Eddie Brock in those movies with their relationship. I also liked he only controlled the lower half rather than the entire body that's funny. Due to being done with stop motion, his appearance stands out more.
It was comical of a concept, it quickly made sense they had to do this. To me, this felt like the true Simpsons style of such an concept. More so than the other two segments within the same Halloween episode. It's no wonder Matt Groening hyped this up at a particular convention the way he's done. I wouldn't be surprise this ends up being the most funny story of the entire season.
This is the fifth episode of Season 36 to clarify, I know quite an statement.
It kinda reminded me of usage of real life people within Courage the Cowardly Dog. It worked just as well as those while using a different animation style. There's no question this is the best Spider-Man related Treehouse of Horror story to date. They saved the absolute best for last. They really out done themselves with this parody.
This felt like the perfect story to end an Halloween episode on. They created a rather unique parody of Venom in a way that's fitting to Homer. The risks of using two animation styles paid off. Denim truly delivers in every sense of the word. I actually can't criticize it at all, it was so good!!! Hell they could've made it a spin off Treehouse of Horror story episode like Not It I'm not kidding.
Of course, some Simpsons fans going to compare this to a few Treehouse of Horror stories. Like Hell Toupee & Dead and Shoulders respectively. Hell Toupee centers on a criminal named Snake that gets the electric chair. His hair was transferred to Homer. Snake's hair controls Homer's body to murder people.
This actually would be the like what people expected of Denim. Except Snake controls the entire body. He couldn't fight Homer over at one point getting ripped off his head. Snake's hair gets gunned down with a great dark humor joke. Dead and Shoulder involves Bart gets his head cut off following an kite accident.
His head gets attached to Lisa's body in order to survive. Later on, he learns he can control Lisa's body to a degree. Which led to both of them getting their heads cut off. Twice now for Bart forcing both of them to get attached to other people's bodies. One of them cameos in the final segment of that Halloween episode too.
I wouldn't consider comparing Married to the Blob to this. Homer ate the blob to ended up becoming the blob himself. It's not the same as having another person taking control from your body. I will say I also enjoyed that Treehouse of Horror story a lot too. You could view it as a precursor Denim. On the grounds of Homer bonds with an alien in both those parody stories.
I actually wanted more of this story. Which is a true testament how truly entertaining it truly was. Going back to why I felt this was the most unexpected among them. This seem like a concept they might do in an Simpsons game. Maybe in those Disney+ Simpsons specials. Which some crossover with many franchises Disney owns.
For me, it was mind blowing this happened on Treehouse of Horror 35. I know they got the first Venom movie on Disney+. There's plenty of reasons this easily could've been one of the worst stories in years. Denim is absolutely impressive in what it offers. I even dare to say for a parody not on an horror film within Treehouse of Horror episodes.
This is easily one of the finest movie parodies they ever done!!! Sure some might not view it as highly as I do. When Denim gets compared to Not It. In it's defense, I actually found Denim to be much funnier. This is way better than their weird parody of The Cat in the Hat. It's more accurate to compare it to Simpsons World.
Some might view that being a little unfair since Simpsons World is full blown Simpsons nostalgia. I didn't choose it because of that. No both were based on particular franchises that isn't horror. Somehow were given very decent parodies within Treehouse of Horror episodes. I do think Denim is just as entertaining as that story.
Denim almost reminded me of earlier Treehouse of Horror stories. In terms of how well they parodied other things within The Simpsons with great writing. This already felt like it deserves to be a timeless classic. This episode as a whole was way better than last year's episode. I still prefer the episode before both of them more.
Treehouse of Horror 34 just in case you were wondering.
I would say this does deserve to be considered among the best modern Treehouse of Horror episodes. I always enjoyed how creativity they get with them. I am very satisfied with this episode. It's hard to say how the next few Treehouse of Horror episodes going to be like. I still got an spin off Treehouse of Horror episode later this month to watch.
They don't have a constant writing style for these episodes. Personally with they done with Treehouse of Horror 33. Each segment should have it's own writer. Plus giving them additional time than they regularly have with the normal episodes would go a long way here. Regardless Treehouse of Horror 35 was a good Halloween Simpsons episode, I recommend checking it out.
