History YMMV / TreehouseOfHorror

*** Lisa ''screams'' once she realizes what has happened, and Marge in particular has a moment where her "new" 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 just sounds so defeated and heartbroken when she learns that she can never speak to her son again.

*** Lisa ''screams'' once she realizes what has happened, and Marge in particular crying over Bart's slack-jawed, dead-eyed body at Dr. Hibbert's office sounds very much like real, desolate weeps of a mother who's just learned she will never be able to speak to her son again.

** 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. Lisa ''screams'' once she realizes what has happened, and Marge in particular crying over Bart's slack-jawed, dead-eyed body at Dr. Hibbert's office sounds very much like real, desolate weeps of a mother who's just learned she will never be able to speak to her son again. A more subtle example appears during the epilogue, where Bart's toys mess with his corpse as revenge for his treatment of them... which is now in the family's house. As if Homer and Marge were just that grief-stricken and, unable to get over Bart, just keep his body around the house as if everything's normal.

** 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. Lisa ''screams'' once she realizes what has happened, and Homer and Marge's crying over Bart's slack-jawed, dead-eyed body at Dr. Hibbert's office sounds very much like a real pair of emotionally destroyed parents. A more subtle example appears during the epilogue, where Bart's toys mess with his corpse as revenge for his treatment of them... which is now in the family's house. As if Homer and Marge were so grief-stricken and, unable to get over Bart, they just cart his body around the house as if it's still alive.

--->'''Bart:''' Tell...my father...''(gasps)'' he's...fat. ''(collapses)''

** 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 weakens and breaks over the following dialogue as the realization that he's dying sinks in.

** 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.

** In "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive," Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart by [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shooting him straight through the chest with a spear gun]]. Bart's voice weakens and breaks over the following dialogue as the realization that he's dying sinks in.

** ''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 has an IdiotPlot that 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.

** ''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 has an IdiotPlot that ends with a CaptainObviousReveal, as well as Homer's cruelty towards Ned Flanders being uncomfortable to watch, and the third segment is another ([[WereStillRelevantDammit out of touch]]) ShallowParody of a non-horror movie, complete with more gross-out humor.

%%** 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'').
* WereStillRelevantDammit: The post-SeasonalRot episodes ''stopped'' being scary and are instead just parodies of 'relatively new' movies and TV shows with BlackComedy.

-->'''Homer:''' No! No! No! I can't just wallow in sadness! It's time to laugh again! ''(laughs)''

* AngstWhatAngst: Frequent due to the short runtime and generally silly nature of the segments. For instance, "The Homega Man" has Homer assuming 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.

* ShallowParody: Has become increasingly common over time.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The aforementioned ScareChord heard in the ''Treehouse of Horror'' promos sounds quite similar to Music/MichaelJackson's "Thriller".

* UglyCute:
** The blue Gremlin at first... until the [[NightmareFuel ending.]]
** 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'').
* WereStillRelevantDammit: The post-SeasonalRot episodes ''stopped'' being scary and are instead just parodies of 'relatively new' movies and TV shows with BlackComedy (See WSRD on the main show's YMMV page).

** All of Groundskeeper Willie's deaths in "Treehouse of Horror V". Also, 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.

** Several episodes involve murder-suicides.

* BreakoutCharacter: Despite appearing in just one segment of the first special, which was given no more prominence than the other two, Kang and Kodos have gone on to appear in every single special since then, even when they have nothing to do with the plot. Later on they even managed to appear in non Treehouse of Horror episodes as well, though they’re almost entirely restricted to appearing here.

* CreatorsPet: Lisa. Granted, she doesn't get off the hook ALL the time, but you may have noticed that throughout all of the murders, mutations, and what have you that happens in ''Treehouse of Horror'', [[ImmuneToSlapstick Lisa tends to comes out unscathed]], or at the very least isn't affected as bad as the other characters (a prime example being the ''Treehouse of Horror XI'' intro where the family portrays ''Series/TheMunsters'' and whereas the rest of her family, including Bart, are all brutally slain, she walked away completely unharmed. Or "Bart Simpson's Dracula," where she is the only family member not turned into a vampire.) Of course, the creators admitted that they like Lisa, so that figures.
** And then "TOH XXXI" comes along, with a segment thats literally about Lisa dying over and over again, sometimes alone sometimes not.
** There's also "Easy Bake Coven," which ends with the townspeople about to burn Lisa as a witch.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In spades. The episodes {{invoke|dTrope}} this in order to trigger the murders in each segment.

* HarsherInHindsight: Several of the Halloween names used by writers Don Payne, Kevin Curran and Marc Wilmore have become this after all three passed away at tragically early ages.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** In one episode, Snowball 2 is brought back to life with occult. In a later ComicBook/ArchieComics miniseries, Afterlife With Archie, an attempt to bring back Hot Dog starts up the zombie apocalypse.
** In the ''Treehouse of Horror X'' short, 'Life's a Glitch; Then You Die', a virus (in this case, the fabled Y2K Bug) causes chaos around all around the world upon computers, and computer-controlled devices starting from Homer's computer, [[spoiler: leading into the apocalypse.]] Around 10 years later, ''Anime/SummerWars'' would also have its plot kick off by some guy's computer device accidentally triggering a virus, and causing havoc to devices around the world. [[spoiler: But the big difference here is that Kenji never unleashed it (he just got one letter off, and by being the first to respond, he was framed), it was Wabisuke's doing, and it doesn't end on the apocalypse.]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Several of the Halloween names used by writers Don Payne, Kevin Curran and Marc Wilmore have become this after all three passed away at tragically early ages.

** All of Groundskeeper Willie's deaths in "Treehouse of Horror V". Also, 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. As they sing a demented version of "One" from ''Theatre/AChorusLine", Santa’s Little Helper then eats Bart’s intestines.

** All of Groundskeeper Willie's deaths in "Treehouse of Horror V", plus Bart being sent to the asylum even though he was right about the gremlin attacking the bus. Ned’s decapitated head then scares Bart. Also, in the third segment, 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. Santa’s Little Helper then eats Bart’s intestines.

** In "Hell Toupee" from "Treehouse of Horror IX", [[FaceHugger Snake's hair smothers Bart's face]], and Homer immediately begins punching Bart's head.

** In the ''Treehouse of Horror X'' short, 'Life's a Glitch; Then You Die', a virus (in this case, the fabled Y2K Bug) causes chaos around all around the world upon computers, and computer-controlled devices starting from Homer's computer, [[spoiler: leading into the apocalypse.]] Around 10 years later, ''Anime/SummerWars'' would also have it's plot kick off by some guy's computer device accidentally triggering a virus, and causing havoc to devices around the world. [[spoiler: But the big difference here is that Kenji never unleashed it (he just got one letter off, and by being the first to respond, he was framed), it was Wabisuke's doing, and it doesn't end on the apocalypse.]]

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In spades. The episodes {{invoke|dTrope}} this in order to trigger the murders in each segment. See IdiotBall in the main page.
* {{Anvilicious}}: 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]].

** The [=THOH=]s themselves might also serve as this. Even people who don't watch the proper episodes of ''The Simpsons'' anymore may tune in [[JustHereForGodzilla just for the specials every year.]]

* NightmareFuel:''Treehouse of Horror III'' to ''Treehouse of Horror X'' featured several ''disturbing'' CouchGag sequences, including: the Simpsons family appearing as skeletons[[note]]Treehouse Of Horror III, also used as official promotional artwork for Treehouse Of Horror II[[/note]]; erupting from the ground as zombies[[note]]Treehouse Of Horror IV[[/note]]; mismatched Frankenstein-esque monsters [[note]]Treehouse Of Horror V; this one serves as a SelfParody to another CouchGag where normal Simpson family members have mismatched body parts, but while in that one they correct the mistakes, in this one they screw it up even more[[/note]]; open-eyed hanging victims ([[RefugeInAudacity with Maggie still sucking her pacifier]])[[note]]Treehouse Of Horror VI; this one comes ''right after'' a HeadlessHorseman Krusty throws his own head at the screen, with the resulting blood splatter spelling out the title card[[/note]]; TheGrimReaper sitting on the couch, and the family members dropping dead one after another (and on each other) as they rush to the couch[[note]] Treehouse Of Horror VII; here, after this happens, the reaper [[RefugeInAudacity leans his feet on Homer's corpse]][[/note]]; the family getting electrocuted to death by an [[RefugeInAudacity "electric couch"]][[note]]Treehouse Of Horror VIII[[/note]]; the family ''actually never making it to the living room'' due to [[{{Deconstruction}} screwing up the timing of the opening]][[note]]Treehouse Of Horror IX; it could be argued that Marge and Maggie don't actually die, but even then, they would find [[BolivianArmyEnding Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees waiting for them.]][[/note]]; and a GrandFinale of sorts for the couch gags with a ContinuityCavalcade[[note]]Treehouse Of Horror X; said cavalcade consisting of Homer-in-the-box (THOH II), Alien-Maggie (THOH IX), Half-[[Film/TheFly1958 The Fly]] Bart and Witch-Marge (both from THOH VIII) where the Alien Maggie incinerates the OddOneOut, Lisa "as an axe victim", as soon as the latter [[FridgeLogic questions what aliens have to do with Halloween]][[/note]].

* SeasonalRot: 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.