How to Watch Every The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Episode
Gather your family on your pink living room sofa, it is once again the best time of the year. No, we don’t mean Halloween, or “spooky season”, we mean the release of the next installment of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror. This annual television event, which is highly anticipated by the show’s dedicated, multi-generational fans, has been a regular part of the series for the past 33 seasons. For years the writers have parodied horror media with their classic comedy style, poking fun at short stories and the top film releases of the year at the expense of America’s favorite cartoon family who endures significantly more violence in the annual horror-themed releases. With the 34th edition of the series’ spooky installments, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is doing something that the series has never done before this year, upping the ante in a way that their fans will surely appreciate.
What Makes 2022’s Treehouse of Horror Different?
Hold onto your hat, son. This year, The Simpsons franchise is making its audiences’ nightmares come true with a bonus Treehouse of Horror episode. In addition to the classic horror anthology-style episode, an entire second episode will devote its 30-minute runtime to a singular movie parody. No longer constrained by the six-minute minisode format, this change will give the writers an opportunity to dive deep into a fictional world with its own rich, terrifying story.
What Will 2022’s Treehouse of Horror Episodes be About?
Much of what the anthology episode will entail is still a mystery, though executive producer Matt Selman let attendees of his panel at San Diego Comic Con know that Caroline Omine has written a segment inspired by the Death Note anime series. Selman stated that in this portion of the episode, The Simpsons will go “full anime”, and therefore the animation will be handled by a completely different studio. Additionally, Selman has said that they will break a rule that they have never before broken in the series. Shrouded in secrecy, audiences will have to wait and see what more lurks in the anthology episode.
As for the bonus, singular movie-dedicated episode, fans of Krusty the Clown will get a bloody fantastic surprise. The beloved burn-out character will star in a parody of Stephen King’s It in an episode punnily titled “Not It”, with Krusty taking on a parody role of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Pennywise, meet Krusty. Krusty, meet Pennywise. Now we aren’t strangers.
When Will The New Episodes Be Released?
Lou, cancel the prom! The release dates for these two episodes have finally been set in stone! “Not It,” will premiere on October 23, while “Treehouse of Horror XXXIII” will premiere on October 30 (aka Halloween Eve). Though every moment we live without the new episodes is agony, that gives audiences just enough time to binge-watch the previous thirty-three Treehouse of Horror episodes leading up to the spooky Simpsons release, which rounds out at about 14 hours total.
Where Can You Watch the New Treehouse of Horror Episodes?
Well not on Candy Apple Island. As legend tells, the Treehouse of Horror episodes will continue to air on Fox during The Simpsons’ regularly scheduled slot, Sundays at 8/7c. But, if you’re looking to view the terror-ridden episodes outside of regularly televised timeslots, you’ll be able to catch the Treehouse tales the day after they air via the online streaming platform Hulu.
Where Can You Watch Past Treehouse of Horror Episodes?
Seasons 1 through 33 can be found on Disney+, though you’ll have to locate each episode individually in each season or in the curated The Simpsons “Horror” selection. In order to make your journey a bit easier, we’ve compiled this easy-to-navigate list. Every episode of Treehouse of Horror is a nod to well-known and lesser-known horror films, series, novels and short stories, making it an easter egg hunt for fans of the horror genre.
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Season 2, Episode 3 – Released in 1990 and titled simply Treehouse of Horror, this first installment of the horror-themed episodes parodied Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror, The Twilight Zone’s “To Serve Man” and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven”. Meet the alien sibling, Kang and Kodos Johnson, the recurring characters who make their first appearance in the minisode where a chilling cookbook is discovered.
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Season 3, Episode 6 – In a nod to another horror short story, The Simpsons pay tribute to W.W. Jacobs “The Monkey’s Paw” when Maggie gets her wish. The Twilight Zone’s “It’s a Good Life” grants Bart new-found power over his city, and Homer donates his brain in a rendition of the horror classic Frankenstein.
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Season 4, Episode 5 – “You killed Zombie Flanders!” This 1992 iteration pokes fun at the cult classic horror film Night of the Living Dead, as well as doing a segment based on the then newly-released Child’s Play.
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Season 5, Episode 5 – With Conan O’Brien added to the writers roster for the fourth edition of Treehouse of Horror, the anthology parodies another horror anthology, 1970s Night Gallery, in addition to painting quite the horrifying picture of Mr. Burns in the cartoons’ take on the wildly popular Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
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Season 6, Episode 6 – Not tv and no beer make Homer go crazy! Stephen King’s The Shining gets a cartoon adaptation in the fifth Treehouse installment, which also dips into dystopia with a play on the 1973 thriller Soylent Green when the kids in the school cafeteria run low on resources.
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Season 7, Episode 6 – Following John Swartzwelder’s original “Attack of the 50-foot Eyesores” The Simpsons find themselves in a Nightmare on Elm Street, I mean, Evergreen Terrace, in which groundskeeper Willie finally seeks his revenge.
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Season 8, Episode 1 – What a way to start the season, Treehouse of Horror gets political in a segment titled “Citizen Kang”, a play on the cinema classic, though the episode is inspired by none other than the 1996 US presidential election.
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Season 9, Episode 5 – Opening with “The HΩmega Man”, Season 9’s Treehouse episode references two horror classics, including the 1958 science fiction film The Fly, and Marge gets a witchy makeover in “Easy Bake Coven”.
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Season 10, Episode 4 – In Season 10 writer David X. Cohen graced audiences with his short “Starship Poopers”, and Stephen Spielberg‘s anthology series Amazing Stories gets a new-look in “Hell Toupee.”
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Season 11, Episode 4 – Nosey neighbor Flanders knows what you diddily-iddily-did last summer in the episode that aired in the months leading up to the “disaster” known to this day as Y2K.
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Season 12, Episode 1 – The classic horror stories meant to scare children into good behavior known as Grimms’ Fairy Tales is given new life in Season 12’s Treehouse rendition, which also pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
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Season 13, Episode 1 – Season 13 brought references to some of the biggest names in entertainment media of the time, including Sex and the City and Harry Potter. Don’t worry, they are referenced in different segments. Additionally, the cult classic 2001: A Space Odyssey meets the twisted story of Demon Seed in a short known as “House of Whacks”.
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Season 14, Episode 1 – Three new writers helm the fourteenth season’s Treehouse storylines, and bring with their references to the 1896 science fiction novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, and the 1996 science fiction film Multiplicity.
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Season 15, Episode 1 – Longtime Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder returns to write all three minisodes of Season 15, opening with a short titled “Reaper Madness” and bringing back the classic Twilight Zone references.
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Season 16, Episode 1 – Bill Odenkirk, the younger brother of Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk, wrote the entirety of the sixteenth season’s stories. From Hell to The Dead Zone, Odenkirk references many horror, mystery, and science-fiction favorites.
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Season 17, Episode 4 – Eat my machine-programmed human-mimicking simulation shorts. Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence gets a Bartified reboot, and “Survival of the Fattest” pushes Homer to his physical limits in a reference to the 1924 short story “The Most Dangerous Game.”
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Season 18, Episode 4 – Homer is the butt of the joke in an episode inspired by 1958’s The Blob, which is followed by an adaption of a Jewish folktale, The Golem, and the earth-shattering radio series The War of the Worlds, which took US farmers by storm when unbeknownst to them, it was a fictional performance and not a real-life newscast.
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Season 19, Episode 5 – Science fiction favorite, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and action-romance flick Mr. & Mrs. Smith gets a cartoon makeover in the 2007 Treehouse of Horror episode, which closes out on a segment with the PG-13 title “Heck House”, Ned Flanders’ splendiddley alternative to haunted houses.
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Season 20, Episode 4 – You can’t have a Halloween series that doesn’t reference the classic and well-loved Peanuts special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Though poor Milhouse is in for more than just a night of shattered childhood dreams.
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Season 21, Episode 4 – The Office writer Daniel Chun helms Season 21’s Treehouse episode, giving burn-out bartender Moe a new outlook on business in a Sweeney Todd-inspired short. Additionally, two zombie movies clash in “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind”, which draws inspiration from 28 Days Later and I Am Legend.
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Season 22, Episode 4 – A Twilight-inspired Treehouse episode with Lisa as the bewitched damsel was necessary, and when coupled with a Jumanji reference, you can’t go wrong. But things for Marge and Homer, who are trying to enjoy their honeymoon at sea, go very wrong indeed.
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Season 23, Episode 3 – Flanders reaches new levels of creepy in “Dial D for Diddly”, a Dexter-inspired short. The epic science fiction film Avatar is also referenced, as is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, though Homer’s gaseous communications are less eloquent than that of inspirational Jean-Dominique Bauby.
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Season 24, Episode 2 – Something unnatural is afoot in “Un-Normal Activity”, the Paranormal Activity inspired minisode, which is paired with Bart and Homer’s father-son adventure in a Bill and Ted meets Back to the Future short.
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Season 25, Episode 2 – 2013’s Treehouse episode features an opening sequence by Guillermo Del Toro. Said to be the scariest episode yet, Episode XXIV draws inspiration from The Cat in the Hat, 1972 sci-fi blaxploitation comedy The Thing with Two Heads, and Tod Browning‘s 1932 carnival sideshow film Freaks.
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Season 26, Episode 4 – Bart may have finally met his match in “School is Hell”. Inspired by 2001’s The Others, the family is haunted by strange, alternate versions of themselves, and writer Stephanie Gillis brings the family into a mind-bending take on A Clockwork Orange.
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Season 27, Episode 4 – In a series first, “Halloween of Horror” sees the Simpson family celebrating Halloween separate from the spooky tales in the treehouse, and follows Lisa, who feels humiliated after being traumatized at Krustyland’s Halloween Horror Night when she and Homer are visited by some unwelcome house-guests, meanwhile Marge promises to take Bart trick-or-treating in a wealthy neighborhood.
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Season 27, Episode 5 – In the opening segment “Wanted: Dead, The Alive”, Sideshow Bob finally gets his hands on Bart, and Homer reaches new heights in a Godzilla-inspired short.
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Season 28, Episode 4 – Mad Max meets The Hunger Games in Joel Cohen’s short titled “Dry Hard,” and Moe dives into the world of 007 in “Moefinger.”
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Season 29, Episode 4 – The Tim Burton stop-motion animation film Coraline is referenced in “Coralisa,” Maggie gets possessed in “The Exor-Sis,” and Homer brings a Stephen King short story to life.
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Season 30, Episode 4 – The psychological thriller Split inspires a Lisa starring minisode. The 1959 horror classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers gets flushed by the comedy writers, and Grandpa pays the price when the terms geriatric and Jurassic get mixed up.
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Season 31, Episode 4 – Episode 666, this episode of Treehouse of Horror pays tribute to 1976 horror classic The Omen. Minisode “Danger Things” parodies the Netflix original series Stranger Things, and the episode closes out with a tasteful mash-up of When Harry Met Sally and The Shape of Water.
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Season 31, Episode 8 – In a special Thanksgiving installment, cleverly titled “Thanksgiving of Horror”, there’s a clever send-up of Apocalypto with a Thanksgiving coating in “A-Gobble-Ypto,” a Black Mirror parody “The Fourth Thursday After Tomorrow,” and a cranberry sauce goes wild in the parody of 2017’s Life in “The Last Thanksgiving.”
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Season 32, Episode 4 – Following the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, “Into the Homerverse” was born. Toy Story gets a little gory, and Be Kind Rewind meets Russian Doll to close out the episode.
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Season 33, Episode 3 – It features references to Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, 2002’s The Ring, and the world’s fascination with social media platform Tik Tok.
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