Line #7 YMMV/TreehouseOfHorror


1	* AngstWhatAngst: Frequent due to the short runtime and generally silly nature of the segments. For instance, "The Homega Man" has Homer believing his whole family is dead after a nuke hits Springfield, [[MoodSwinger reacting as expected for a few seconds, and then rapidly putting that aside]] to enjoy some ApocalypseAnarchy.
2	-->'''Homer:''' No! No! No! I can't just wallow in sadness! It's time to laugh again! ''(cackles)''
3	* {{Anvilicious}}:
4	** The ending to "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid." It was originally going to be even more so, [[ViewersAreMorons with Kang outright comparing the situation to the Iraq War]].
5	** A few episodes have opening skits dealing with the American elections, due to Halloween taking place near them. They usually aren't subtle on the showrunners' political leanings.
6	* BizarroEpisode: Even when the main ''Simpsons'' series itself started off and had fairly down to earth plot lines, the Treehouse of Horror specials from the get go consisted of very surreal and cartoony horror parodies with zero continuity to the rest of the show. This was excused in earlier episodes, where the segments were often [[FramingDevice stories]] told by the canon-Simpsons in a wraparound, though [[ForgottenFramingDevice this format was eventually ditched]]...
7	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
8	** In "Treehouse of Horror V":
9	*** Groundskeeper Willie's status as a ButtMonkey is exaggerated when him being killed with an axe is turned into a RunningGag.
10	*** In "Nightmare Cafeteria", the students are eaten by the school staff. It turns out to just be Bart’s nightmare. Unfortunately, a weird fog seeps in through the window, turning the Simpsons and Groundskeeper Willie inside out. And as they sing a demented version of "One" from ''Theatre/AChorusLine'', Santa’s Little Helper then eats Bart’s intestines.
11	** In "Hell Toupee" from "Treehouse of Horror IX", [[FaceHugger Snake's hair smothers Bart's face]], and Homer immediately begins punching Bart's head. And after Bart yells "That's my face, you idiot!", Homer starts strangling him.
12	** In “Wanted Dead Then Alive” Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart. But Bob isn’t satisfied, so he brings him back to life and kills him over and over until Lisa and Santa’s Little Helper finally discover the corpse.
13	** In “BFF R.I.P.”, this happens WAY more than twice, when Rachel kills Janey, Sherri and Terri, Milhouse, Lisa’s therapist, Snowball whatever number they’re on now, and Homer’s imaginary friend Sergeant Sausage. Of course, since Sergeant Sausage is an imaginary friend, he can’t actually die, but Homer eats his exploded body anyway. Also, Snake kills Chief Wiggum.
14	** In “Dead and Shoulders”, Bart accidentally decapitates himself, so his head is grafted onto Lisa’s body. After a mishap, Bart ends up attached to Selma and Lisa is attached to Krusty. Selma-Bart reappears in the next segment as “The Terrifying Callback”.
15	** In “Dial M for Murder” from “Treehouse of Horror XX”, Bart kills Miss Hoover and Principal Skinner. When Lisa fails to kill Mrs. Krabappel, Bart is upset. Lisa then tries to kill Bart in revenge, but decides not to go through with it. She tosses the knife away... and it lands in Bart’s head, killing him anyway.
16	** In “Send In The Clones”, one of the Homer clones kills Ned. The real Homer then dies after falling into a gorge.
17	** In “Wiz Kids”, Montymort (Mr. Burns) dies after being struck in the shin. Slithers (Mr. Smithers) then eats his corpse.
18	** "Treehouse Of Horror IV"'s "Terror At 5[-1/2-] Feet" ends with Bart being sent to the asylum even though he was right about the gremlin attacking the bus. And then, the Gremlin showing Ned’s decapitated head scares Bart.
19	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
20	** Some of the monsters such as Count Burns, Devil Flanders, Witch Marge, and King Kong Homer. An unusual example is Krusty in vampire get-up from ''Treehouse of Horror IX'' who, despite not really playing a role in the segment, has been seen in ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' merchandise and media.
21	** Kang and Kodos, the two space aliens from the very first Treehouse of Horror segment [[ToServeMan "Hungry Are The Damned"]]. They've appeared in every special since (or not, which they ''will'' unhappily acknowledge) and have even made the odd appearances in the regular episodes.
22	** Even some of the goofier characters, like Disney Princess Homer, certainly leave an impression.
23	* FirstInstallmentWins: Many fans consider anywhere between the first eight to ten specials to be the most popular, and in particular ''II'', ''III'' and ''V'' as their all-time favorite.
24	* JustHereForGodzilla: Several writers, animators and guest stars have said that one of their biggest reasons for wanting to work on ''The Simpsons'' was getting to make up a 'scary name' for the credits. When the names were removed for XII and XIII, they were reinstated because of requests from fans to bring them back.
25	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The familiar ScareChord from the [=THOH=] [[https://youtu.be/I1MLQ2WlAKg promos on Fox]], which have been included in the promos since the [[https://youtu.be/5JEWj5fogGs early]] [[https://youtu.be/k-JfUfIJQFE 90s.]]
26	* NightmareFuel: Unsurprisingly, it has [[NightmareFuel/TreehouseOfHorror its own page]].
27	* SeasonalRot:
28	** Much like the canon episodes. Later TOH instalments have relied more on BlackComedy and parodying movies and television shows than actual horror, with some of the parodies not even being based on the horror genre.
29	** ''Treehouse of Horror XXII'' is often considered to be the worst TOH episode. The first segment relies almost entirely on ToiletHumor (before turning into a ShallowParody at the end out of the blue), the second segment ends with a CaptainObviousReveal, as well as Homer's cruelty towards Ned Flanders being uncomfortable to watch, and the third segment is another (out of touch) ShallowParody of a non-horror movie, complete with more gross-out humor.
30	%%ZCE* ShallowParody: Has become increasingly common over time.
31	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The ScareChord heard in the ''Treehouse of Horror'' promos sounds quite similar to Music/MichaelJackson's "Thriller".
32	* TearJerker:
33	** In "Treehouse of Horror XXVI"'s "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive," Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart by [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shooting him straight through the chest with a spear gun]]. Bart's voice gradually weakens and trembles over the following dialogue before breaking as the realization that he's dying sinks in.
34	--->'''Bart:''' Ah-ha. [[WrongGenreSavvy Nice try, Bob, but I'm sure you made some stu...pid...]][[OhCrap mistaaaaaaaaaake]].
35	--->'''Sideshow Bob:''' Not this time. ''(he pulls the gun back in, [[AndShowItToYou yanking Bart's heart out]])''
36	--->'''Bart:''' ...Tell...my father...''(gasps)'' he's...fat. ''(collapses)''
37	** The ending of "Treehouse of Horror XXXI"'s "Toy Gory" is not only horrifying, what with Bart's toys killing him, removing his innards and replacing them with toys before dumping him outside for his family to find, but it's also a heartbreaker of a segment.
38	*** Lisa's scream when toy-Bart suggests watching what she wants to watch may come across as comedic, but think about it. Bart is sitting dead-eyed and unresponsive at the bottom of the treehouse and inexplicably has a pull-string in his back that obviously manipulates him into speaking in [[NonSequitur Non Sequiturs]]. Her scream wasn't directed at his offer, but at the realization there was obviously something horribly wrong with him.
39	*** Marge in particular has a moment where her more worn-down, aged voice works to the show's benefit, as can be heard when she is crying over Bart's slack-jawed, dead-eyed body at Dr. Hibbert's office. She already sounds like she's been crying for hours when she asks Hibbert how Bart ended up like this, but she just sounds a new level of defeated and heartbroken when it sinks in that she can never speak to her son again.
40	*** Homer's crying in the original sounds pretty much like how it always does. In fact, it feels like a bit of an under-reaction to the news that his son randomly died out of nowhere. However, [[https://youtu.be/nVG6mw4X3FM?t=199 take a listen to the Spanish dub]]. Here, he's loudly hollering and wailing in proper ''anguish''.
41	*** During the epilogue, Bart's toys mess with his corpse as revenge for his treatment of them... But this takes place in the family's house. As if Homer and Marge were just that grief-stricken and, unable to get over Bart, [[MummiesAtTheDinnerTable just kept his body around the house as if everything was normal]]. The fact that [[NothingIsScarier not one member of the supposedly grieving family is seen in the epilogue]] also adds quite a chilling effect.
42	*** Judging by Bart's interactions with Marge and Homer throughout the segment, it's implied that he actually had a better relationship that he does in canon, helped by them not knowing what he does to his old toys. That makes it all the more horrible that he suddenly died in an inexplicable way while they were sleeping.
43	*** The implications about Homer and Marge realizing that Bart is gone after hearing him say he loves them are quite upsetting, to say the least.
44	** "Treehouse of Horror XVI"'s "B.I.: Bartifical Intelligence", when Bart jumps out the window and ends up in a coma. Marge's reaction is incredibly realistic when in the hospital, as she [[PleaseWakeUp tries desperately to wake him up]] and tells him that she got him the bike he wanted, only to break down in tears as it all fails. Of course, [[AngstWhatAngst this all disappears]] after getting a robotic replacement son.
45	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Some prefer the original format of the episodes opening with a warning from Marge, the amusing tombstones in the credits and wraparound segments for the stories. All of these were dropped by ''VI''.
46	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Even though the specials run on BlackComedy and NegativeContinuity, some of the segments (if not the whole episode itself) are considered ''too'' dark or depressing overall. "Citizen Kang", "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad", "The Night of The Dolphin", "Married To The Blob", "The Day The Earth Looked Stupid", "War & Pieces", "Freaks No Geeks", and "Toy Gory" are among some of the darkest segments with {{Downer Ending}}s that wear out the viewer instead of entertain. Not helping matters is how it's usually the final segment of the episode that relies on this trope.
47	* ToughActToFollow: Some of the earlier specials are considered the best of the lot, and it has become increasingly tougher over the years to replicate that.
48	%%* UglyCute: Both examples lack context
49	%%** The blue Gremlin at first... until the [[NightmareFuel ending.]]
50	%%** Some of the vampires in Burns' lair in ''IV'', notable the one who pulls Bart off the slide (likely a homage to the brides from ''Film/BramStokersDracula'').

Context YMMV / TreehouseOfHorror