The Simpsons Gets Violent With Best Treehouse of Horror In Years

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Much like how The Simpsons has gone through multiple eras of the animated series, the Treehouse of Horror specials have gone through their own changes as well. Ever since the franchise reached the 30s, there has been a clearly renewed spark for the franchise as it has been fully diving into the Horror genre again. That’s especially true for this year as Treehouse of Horror XXXVI is definitely worth a watch to The Simpsons fans as it is one of the bloodiest and most brutal Halloween specials released in some time.

Treehouse of Horror XXXVI Doesn’t Hold Back on Death

Courtesy of 20th Television Animatio

Treehouse of Horror XXXVI is the third episode of The Simpsons Season 37, and it immediately throws fans into the thick of it with “The Last Days of Crisco.” Taking on films like The Blob and Jaws, this one is set in a 1970s version of Springfield as a mass of grease begins building in the sewers. Turning into a monstrous “Fatberg,” this mass eventually breaks out from underground to start absorbing all of the grease in the area (including the grease within people’s body). It’s an explosive start to the special with a lot of character death.

One of the more fun things The Simpsons gets to do with these Halloween specials is casually kill off its long running characters with funny jokes, and that happens a lot with this first segment. There are a ton of people who get killed by this mass of grease, and it leads to some rather brutal imagery. But at the same time, it never forgets to make jokes like Lou’s fiancé telling him to just enjoy the town carnival even amidst the blob’s attack. Then after this great opening, The Simpsons keeps up the intensity with the second segment, “Clown Night with the Devil.”

This one, inspired by Late Night With the Devil, imagines a lost 1995 taping of “The Krusty the Clown Show” where the Devil (voiced by Idris Elba) comes to collect Krusty’s soul thanks to a mysterious deal made to keep his show popular. This one is particularly brutal as it kills off multiple kids with ease (where the devil just points to them and they instantly explode into bloody bits), and there’s even a great yet scary joke mined out of Ralph being possessed by the devil at one point.

Courtesy of 20th Television Animation

This is definitely the most outwardly violent and bloody of the segments this year, and it truly has some horrific imagery within it like Sideshow Mel getting his face ripped off. The Simpsons gets away with this kind of wild visuals in its better Horror segments over the years, and that’s certainly the case here as the series continues to push the boundaries of how much death and violence it can actually get away with while still telling jokes (like the dark “Why did the monkey rip the man’s face off?” “Will the face go to heaven?”). This is the case for the chilling final entry, “Plastic World.”

The best Treehouse of Horror segments also come with an entirely new visual overhaul or style, and “Plastic World” imagines a Waterworld like future where the world has been buried in plastic. Not only is there quite a lot of violence between the survivors scavenging for the final bits of food to live, but the climax then introduces a whole new wrinkle as Homer and Marge mutated into deadly plastic people. Wanting to then turn Bart and Lisa into plastic as well, it leads to a bloody confrontation with a ton of characters caught in the bloody crossfire.

The most impressive aspect of this segment is just how good it all looks in motion as the 2D characters bounce off of the CG animated plastic figures. It’s wonderfully put together, and a fantastic and wild finale for the Halloween special this year. All three segments were strong and had a notable Horror base, and it’s definitely something you should check out this Halloween if you missed out because the creative team really went for it this year.

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