ONTD Original™ - Halloween Edition: 13 Fun Stories from 'The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror'

The Simpson Family moves into a new house because it is so cheap. The walls bleed blood, objects levitate, and there's a portal to another dimension in the kitchen, but Homer insists that they all give their new home some time before they leave. That night, the house possesses all of the Simpsons in an effort to make them harm one another. Marge snaps at the disembodied voice of the house, which was built on a Native American burial ground, once they all shake free of its thrall. When given the choice to live with the Simpsons or not, the house chooses to destroy itself.

• This segment references movies such as The Amityville Horror, The Fall of the House of Usher, Poltergeist, and Suspiria.


• The burial ground includes graves for: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, Pocahontas, Geronimo, Tonto, Sacagawea, Not So Crazy Horse, and Mahatma Gandhi (to poke fun at the usage of "Indian" in the term "Indian burial ground" trope).

After being fired from the plant, Homer becomes a grave digger. When Mr. Burns finds Homer sleeping inside a freshly dug grave, he decides to place Simpson's brain inside a robot. This does not go well as the robot acts like Homer - lazy and stupid. Smither convinces Burns to give Homer his brain back rather than tossing it. The procedure is a success, but Burns ends up paralyzed in a lab accident. Homer wakes up to find Burns' head attached to his body.

• This segment made use of convex and concave images of Burns and Smithers, which was tougher to do and more time consuming for the animation staff at the time.


• The story was influenced by Frankenstein's monster, but the title comes from the Scarecrow's "If I Only Had a Brain" song from The Wizard of Oz.

Hoping to resurrect dead Snowball I, Bart and Lisa use a spell from a book of dark magic. They instead cause the residents of a nearby cemetery to rise as zombies, which attack Springfield. Bart and Lisa find a reversal spell and return the living dead to their restful slumber.

• The segment is based on Night of the Living Dead, and the title is a play on Dial "M" for Murder.


• Bart's spells referenced popular game show hosts' surnames (Cullen, Rayburn, Narz, Trebek), shopping stores (Zabar, Kresge a.k.a. Kmart, Caldor, Walmart), '70s TV show detectives' surnames (Kojak, Mannix, Banachek, Danno), and condom brands (Trojan, Ramses, Magnum, Sheik).

On the ride to school, Bart realizes that there is a gremlin on the side of the bus. No one believes him, including the students and Principal Skinner. Bart eventually throws a flare outside at the gremlin, knocking it off the bus. Ned Flanders drives by and picks up the injured creature. Back at the school, the bus exterior is ravaged, and Bart is blamed for it. As Bart is wheeled away to an ambulance for a mental hospital, he sees the gremlin holding Flanders' severed head.

• The breakfast scene is full of art inconsistencies. Sometimes the bowls are full of food, sometimes they're not. Flatware and bowls also disappear and reappear from shot to shot.


• This segment is inspired by "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from The Twilight Zone. That episode was based on Richard Matheson's short story of the same name.


• Üter first appeared here, and he was meant to be a one-time character, but he showed up in future episodes.

When the Simpsons become caretakers at Mr. Burns' mansion during the winter, Burns cuts off the cable television and removes the beer, thinking this will ensure productivity. Well, Home goes mad instead and he tries to kill his family. The other Simpsons are chased by Homer outside, where Lisa soothes her father with Groundskeeper Willie's portable television. The family ultimately freezes as the Tony Awards, hosted by Tyne Daily and Hal Linden, begins playing on the TV.

• This segment is a parody of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. However, Simpsons creator Matt Groening had never seen the movie back then so all the references were lost on him.


• Dracula, the Mummy, the Werewolf, Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, and Jason Voorhees make cameos in the story.

• The final "real life" scene was shot on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.


• The story is based on the Twilight Zone episode "Little Girl Lost."

• Despite the similarities, the show insists that this segment was not inspired by the movie Basket Case.


• The title is inspired by the movie and play The King and I.

• The title is based on the name of a popular '90s toy called an Easy-Bake Oven.


• This segment is loosely based on the real-life Salem Witch Trials.


• Patty asks Marge, "So, you finally left Derwood?" at one point. This is a reference to Endora's habit of asking her daughter on the vintage witch sitcom Bewitched if she had left her mortal husband, Darren (who Endora calls "Derwood").

• Snake's televised execution was to be hosted by Troy McClure, but news of how his voice actor, Phil Hartman, was murdered in real life by his wife caused the show to change the host to Ed McMahon (who voiced himself).


• Moe's death was originally more violent, but showrunner Mike Scully asked the animators to tone it down.

• This story is a parody of the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer.


• Grampa was the villain at some point of the segment's development, and he was supposed to chase Homer through the roller disco. The disco was still seen for a brief moment in the aired version.

• The story was loosely inspired by The Birds, but the title is a reference to the movie Day of the Dolphin.


• The dolphins squeak to Bart's army's tune from "Bart the General."

• The segment is based on a combination of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bad Taste, and Demon Seed. The title is a play on House of Wax.


• The house attacked Homer with the automatic hammer he invented in "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace."


• The house wore Mickey Mouse type gloves.

• This story was inspired by the movie Multiplicity.


• Among the crowd of Homer clones are Family Guy's Peter Griffin and the The Tracey Ullman Show version of Homer.


• There was going to be another Family Guy joke, but the show cut it since Family Guy was just cancelled (for the first time) and the staff didn't want to "kick 'em when they're down."