When I was a kid, trick-or-treat night was inseparable from The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror. Our neighborhood had trick-or-treat on Thursdays, and in the early 90s The Simpsons aired on Thursday nights, presumably in a vainglorious attempt to compete with NBC’s must-see-TV. For a few years, trick-or-treat would wrap up just in time to come home, take off any uncomfortable masks (as a “method trick-or-treater” I refused to remove any element of my costume until I was back at the house, no matter how many trees I crashed into from poor vision) turn on The Simpsons, and chow down on bags upon bags of candy.
Last year when I wrote about The Simpsons, I claimed my favorite Treehouse of Horror episode was the 5th one, but in my orgy of Halloween nostalgia I’ve been rethinking things a bit. By the time that episode came out I was in 7th grade, The Simpsons had moved back to Sunday night and even trick-or-treat was starting to lose some of its luster. Those early Halloween episodes were helped by the thrill of watching them with a big group of other kids, eating candy and reminiscing about the night’s adventure.
These shows were my first introduction to a lot of classic horror stories, from the Monkey’s Paw to The Raven to The Night of the Living Dead. "Bart Simpson’s Dracula" was even the first adaptation of Dracula I remember ever watching. The Simpsons was great for introducing a young audience to stories, movies, and other pop culture phenomenon that we wouldn’t have known about if not for the show. I doubt anyone can really say their life was enriched by watching Full House, but with The Simpsons I was often learning more about the world as I watched them mock it.
In re-watching these episodes (particularly Treehouse II, III, and IV) I’m astounded by just how much they remind me of Halloweens past. All the early framing stories, except the delightfully ludicrous, Conan O’Brien penned art gallery sequence, dealt with real American suburban Halloween traditions—trick-or-treat, ghost stories in the tree house, or a kid’s Halloween party. Something that The Simpsons has lost is that sense of realism—we all remember hanging out at a house while some adult forced us through silly Halloween games, and as much as triggering my own memories, these early shows do a great job of depicting being a kid of Halloween in the 1990s for millions of American children. Some of the jokes on these shows have yet to be topped, and I’m glad I got to experience them when they first aired with a group of like minded friends. There have been funny movies and TV shows since, sure, but I’ll never experience anything like sitting around the living room with my elementary school friends and watching the classic “zombie Flanders” bit for the first time.
Bart: Dad, you killed the zombie Flanders!
Homer: He was a zombie?
I don’t think I heard the next two of three minutes of the episode; we were all laughing too hard.
After those initial great Halloween specials the Treehouse of Horror shows began to decline with the rest of the series. I’ll admit that it’s been several years since I’ve watched one. Tonight at 8pm Fox will air the 20th Halloween Special, and I might just give it a shot. They’ve apparently cycled back to doing another zombie episode, and I have to assume that it won’t live up to “Dial Z for Zombie,” but I am interested to see where the show goes with it, twenty years on, and how they do the segments now that they’ve moved into the new four act structure.
Even though it still exists, for me The Simpsons Halloween Special will always belong back with cheap rubber masks and super-sugary gum, with chilly east coast autumns and sneaky ploys to get as much candy as possible from gullible neighbors. Though the new episodes don’t quite cut it for me, whenever I see that old graveyard introduction and hear the “spooky” version of The Simpsons theme I’m immediately taken back to the time when Halloween was fun, and when moments of sitting around laughing at great jokes with great friends were a dime a dozen. Just watching Homer Simpson battle an evil Krusty the Clown doll makes me hungry for a mini Snickers bar.
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