Rate & Review: "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" (UABF18)

How would you rate this episode?

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Brad Lascelle

Brad Lascelle

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Season 34, Episode 6
Original Airdate: October 30, 2022

Segment Writers: Carolyn Omine (The Pookadook) / Ryan Koh (Death Tome) / Matt Selman (Simpsonsworld)
Showrunner: Carolyn Omine
Director: Rob Oliver
Supervising Showrunner: Matt Selman

Synopsis: In a book-themed trilogy, Marge's resentment takes monstrous form, Lisa tries to save the planet through murder and Homer learns he's not the man he thought he was.

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R&R Poll Average Score: 4.51 / 5 (as of September 23, 2023 / 72 votes)
IMDb User Rating: 8.3 / 10
 
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The pookadok has a great blend of scary and adorable with Marge and Maggie being the main characters. As for Death Throne. I really enjoy the anime style as it looks great but Lisa's activism brings it down for me. It's this type of Lisa characterization I (as well as many other fans of the show) don't like. The Simpsons World was the best one and probably one of my favorite segments ever. Despite it being full of references to past episodes. It manages to have a creative story that stands on its own 2 feet. There's not one segment that falls short.


This is a very great Treehouse of Horror and a massive improvement over the lackluster previous installment. The best Treehouse of Horror since Season 10 (5/5)
 
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Wow, OK, this was the best THOH I’ve seen since I don’t know how long.

The Pookadook was genuinely a creepy segment, especially at the start when Marge and Maggie were reading the book. I thought Julie Kavner delivered a terrific performance. Having Marge advance on Maggie with a knife was pretty courageous of the writing staff, and I loved it. The only thing I didn’t like was the happy ending, which THOHs nowadays really like to have. I miss the days when these had dark or unsure endings. Still a 5/5; one of the most unsettling segments in years.

Death Tome was the funniest of the three segments. The anime-style drawings were very good, but I’m glad they bothered to actually tell a story instead of just woo audiences with the designs. Steve Johnson was a very good character who made me laugh several times, and I got a kick out of all the ways Lisa killed people. I didn’t expect it to take the turn with Bart, but it was executed well, and I found the death character Lisa became to be delightfully creepy. 5/5 again.

The final segment was the weakest, but that’s not an insult, because I still enjoyed it. The segment was packed with references, and I thought they were used pretty well; most of them were background jokes, and nothing really felt forced. I especially liked the annoying fans who insisted Homer go into the hedge; it reminded me of the filthy casuals who only reference the popular, mainstream Simpsons jokes. I thought the conflict where the characters didn’t know who they were could have used a little fine-tuning, but I think this was the shortest segment, so they didn’t have too much time to do it. I’ll let it slide. Still a strong 4/5.

Overall, 5/5 without question. I was thoroughly entertained.
 
As usual, here are the Halloween credits for this year:

Created by RAT GROENING
Developed by JAMES L. "YOU'RE SUPPRESSING A SCREAM, ADMIT IT!" BROOKS / BAT GROENING / SAM SIMON

Co-Executive Producer CARONORMAL OMIVITY
Executive Producer MONSTERS, FRINC.
Co-Executive Producer TIM "HASN'T GOT" LONG
Co-Executive Producer HOB-ROBLIN
Co-Executive Producer JOEL ATE CONAN
Co-Executive Producer BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS! KELLEY
Co-Executive Producer J. STEWART BURNS (LIKE HE'S BURNING)
Co-Executive Producer ANNA RICE'S MICHAEL PRICE
Co-Executive Producer DAN CANDYAPPLEANETA
Co-Executive Producer DAN VEBBER IN A SHEET WITH EYEHOLES
Co-Executive Producer RYAN KOHMORBIDITY
Co-Executive Producer ELISABOO SCARIN' STAB-RICK
Co-Executive Producer THE SPRINGFIELD NANGLER
Consulting Producer KWAIDAN GREANEY
Producer CESAR MISERY-IEGOS
Producer BROT-EEEEK! GUPT-AAAAAH!
Producer DAVID MIRKINVISION
Producer REST IN REISS
Consulting Producer SHAVED HEAD SILVERMAN
Co-Producer THE CONRADJURING
Supervising Director MY BLOODY ANDERSON
Produced by レイニス
Produced by DEVILISHLY IN THE DETAILS SIRKOT
Produced by SCARY STOKLEY SAKAI
Written by THE CAROLYNVISIBLE WOMINE & RYAN KOHCUS POCUS & SPLAT! SELMAN
Directed by GRAVE ROB-BER OLIVER

Executive Producer PADDED CELLMAN
Executive Producer SPECIAL MASTER JEAN
Executive Producers JAMES L. "YOU'RE SUPPRESSING A SCREAM, ADMIT IT!" BROOKS / BAT GROENING / SAM SIMON
Starring All work and no play makes Dan a dull boy.
OUT OF POCKET KAVNER
NOT-ANOTHER-NEFARIOUS NANCY. BOO-YA!
YARDIZZLE SMIZZLE
SHANK/SPANK/YANK AND TEAR AT YA
and HARRY "MJ WHO?"SHEARER
Special Guest Voice JOHN "CHECK OUT MY MUSIC" ROBERTS
Special Guest Voice THUNDERHEAD HAWKINS
Also Starring HAUNTING YOU HAYDEN
Also Starring TRESS MacTERROR
Also Starring ALEX - THIS PLACE IS UNDEAD ANYWAY - DESERT / CHRIS HEAD TWIRLY / MAGGIE "MACABRE" ROSWELL
Producer BACTERIAL CHUNGUS
Producer THE POOKADUKE
Co-Producer DOMI THE WOMAN KING BRAUD
Animation Producer EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK
Animation Producer JUST-BREATHE KATRIB
Animation Producer KEN DUER
Executive Story Editor LONI SQUEAL SODAMNED
Associate Producers FE-FI-FO-LICIA NALIVA-BANSHEE KNEECAPPING / BRIAN J. KAUFMAN
Animation Co-Producers PETE SEMATARY / NIKROMANCY GHOULSORDIA / MY-KILL GORY MAYHEM
Animation Associate Producer CRYPT LEWIS
Theme by DANNY TURNTO DUST MAN
Score by BLEEDING FINGERS MUSIC
Score Producers FRANKEN ZIMMER & RUSSELL CANDYMANUEL
Score Exec-Produced by PENNYWISE KOFSKY
Casting by GODRICK'S FODDER
Casting Associate NICKTURNAL CONTINUUM
Original Casting by BONY PIECES OF A CORPSE
Editors NINA OCH DANIEL / HEEBIE JEEBIE BARROZO
Production Coordinator JESSE THE MILLER
Dialogue Sound Editor NORMAN "BATES" MACLEOD
Music Editing CHRIS "ONE LAST TIME" LEDESMA / JAKE SLAYER
Sound Effects Editor TRAVIS "THE DECAPITATOR" POWERS
Re-Recording Mixers "MARK OF THE WOLF" LINDEN / TARA-DACTYL
Production Mixer DEADLY DAVID BETANCORPSE
Sound Recordist CHRISTINE "EVIL SORCERESS" SIROIS
Principal Composer SCARY TALVE
Music Scoring Mixer JOHN "IS THIS MIC ON"CHAPMAN
Crypt Supervisor EEK JAFFE
Production Accountant BUDGET? WHAT BUDGET?
Assistant to Mr. Brooks CRUELLISA WALDER
Assistant to Mr. Groening MACABRE DISCO
Assistant to Mr. Jean JOE STABBY
Assistant to Mr. Selman TRUELIET CRIMEMAN
Assistant to the Producers NICK DAHANNIBAL / NIK DANYELLS FOR HELP / IYANNA "SHRIEKING" SHEREE / DILLON DIDN'T KILL KENNEDY / 'HEX'N YA PATTERSON / DANI-YELL WEISB-AARGHHH / CAMERON WENT MISSING / DEMON YORKIE
Creative Consultant RAT GROENING
Executive Creative Consultant JAMES L. "YOU'RE SUPPRESSING A SCREAM, ADMIT IT!" BROOKS
 
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Sorry for the double post, but I also enjoyed THOH XXXIII as well.

The Pookadook was all right, I'll give that 4/5

About Death Tome...? I kinda liked the Anime animation in this part, so I'm gonna have to give it 5/5

And Simpsons World, it was very epic. I'm also giving it 5/5

So yeah, I'm also gonna give this year's THOH 5/5 as well
 
So for Matt Selman's first THOH as showrunner, he doesn't open it the traditional way: we get a classic-style storybook-opening intro (to go with the book theme this year) and it goes right into the first segment; "The Pookadook" I found to be pretty suspenseful! And I thought the old-aged Julie Kavner Marge voice worked at times when she was possessed and talking strangely. The book parodies on Maggie's shelf gave me a good laugh, too.

"Death Throne" was REALLY cool; I loved seeing all the Simpsons characters in an anime style. I already mentioned I love it when THOH specials experiment with different art/animation styles. (Years ago, I wrote a Pokémon-themed parody of "Itchy and Scratchy Land" with an animesque version of the Simpsons family going to "PokéWorld", and I pictured them looking similar to in this segment, or in the THOH comic that also parodied "Death Note" in a manga style, and that "Domer," "Bort" and "Lena" would be Pokémon trainers, with "Bort" having a rebellious trouble-causing Pikachu.)

The way the start of "Simpsonsworld" replicates the older animation style comes off as looking more like a Season 14 or 15 episode than Season 4. The female technician feels like a "Futurama" character, given the Matt Groening art style with a normal flesh color and a Tress MacNeille voice... except for the five-fingered hands, of course.
LOL at the Lisa bot saying the show has been on for over 45 seasons! I also found Bart doing the megaphone bit from "The Secret World of Lisa Simpson" on the Ralph bots really funny (especially since they even reused the "TESTING!" recording).
But while this was lots of fun, I still think "Itchy and Scratchy Land" was a better "WestWorld" parody.

And of course, they give Kang and Kodos a cameo at the end again, just like THOHs XI and XXVI and "Not It," but the stop-motion of their tentacles (courtesy of Chiodo Bros., of course) looked pretty cool. It was also nice to see them use green end credits again instead of red, and of course the Gracie Films logo with the standard female scream and the Bleeding Fingers Music arrangement of the organ theme.

Not surprisingly, with Matt Selman at the helm, this was one of the best Treehouse of Horror specials they've done in years! A 4 out of 5 for the poll!
 
HomerFan1998 said:
Special Guest Voice THUNDERHEAD HAWKINS
Also Starring ALEX - THIS PLACE IS UNDEAD ANYWAY - DESERT / CHRIS HEAD TWIRLY / MAGGIE "MACABRE" ROSWELL
Click to expand...
Quick question does anyone know who "Thunderhead Hawkins" is?
Also did Alex Desert and Maggie Roswell speak at all in this episode?? It's usually the procedure to credit Chris Edgerly and Pamela Hayden even if they don't speak, most likely due to contractual reasons, since they are credited for every episode, but to credit Roswell and Desert for them not to be in it at all seems weird to seem.
 
4/5 The first segment was meh but the other two were pretty good. Not it was great too. Decent duo of halloween episodes from Simpsons this year much better than the last few THOHs.
 
Amazing THOH tonight.

I really enjoyed the first segment, this is probably the closest to horror. There's a "Bad Dream House" quality to it, it's rare to see Marge being the aggressor, they did a fantastic job of making it feel tense with the music. A true horror segment.

The 2nd segment was interesting, I know of the source material by name but I'm not an expert on it, It was nice to see the simpsons cast as anime characters, Disco Stu, Ned Flanders. I still liked the first segment better but this was a good one and I was happy they committed to the anime style.

The 3rd segment may be the weakest but I enjoyed it a lot, I liked the transition between the original art and the new art, it wasn't completely seamless but it was smooth enough. , I worried that they were going to do a by-the-numbers westworld parody. I liked when Homer made Lisa less self aware. I enjoyed all the fan service in the episode. There was so much of it I will have to re-watch it. The ending was a little meh but It was a fun ride.

5/5 overall
 
All of the Lisas from the Simpsonworld segment (from left to right, at least for the initial shot)...

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  • I Love Lisa (purple dress)
  • Last Tap Dance in Springfield (light purple tutu w/ pearls)
  • Lisa's Substitute (giant cowboy hat)
  • $pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) (Floreda)
  • Selma's Choice (obscured Lizard Queen)
  • Last Exit to Springfield (obscured school photo w/ braces)
  • Lisa's Pony (riding outfit)
  • All About Lisa (Krusty show assistant)
  • Lisa on Ice (hockey goalie)
  • Summer of 4 Ft. 2 (hipster / looks like Blossom)
  • The President Wore Pearls (school president)
  • Halloween of Horror (Frida Kahlo costume)
  • Panic on the Streets of Springfield (emo Quilloughby fan Lisa)
  • Lisa's Wedding (older Lisa from 2010 in wedding dress)
  • Lisa the Beauty Queen (w/ Amber Dempsey's charred crown)
  • Lisa's Rival (the one Homer activates)
  • Smart & Smarter (obscured Ravencrow Neversmiles)
  • 22 Short Films About Springfield (unsuccessful hair gum removal)
qLV4O9x.png


Lisa I'm most bummed about not making the cut? Nancy Spungeon from Love, Springfieldian Style...

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I know that the other two segments are going to get all the attention and for good reason, but I want to give "The Pookadook" credit for being one of the few segments from the HD era and I would even dare say from the classic era that he understood horror concept. It feels so good to see Maggie have real agency in a story without giving her fancy features and treating her like a real baby, also the music was spot on and really helped sell the tension (that moment of Marge moving forward with the knife to kill Maggie was genuinely one of the most disturbing moments I had seen in years). Probably one of my favorite segments since the classic era.
 
@Sandboy I echoed your sentiments in my comments about this segment immediately after it aired. We're treated to so few instances of Maggie with actual agency in the series outside of when they have her shoot someone or give her ridiculous strength (i.e. Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder) or some ludicrous ability (i.e. Midnight Towboy). Outside of the theatrical shorts, the Puffless subplot and her classic jailbreak sequence from A Streetcar Named Marge these instances have been few and far between and she has so much to offer in this capacity that often goes overlooked. I thought both her and Marge were utilized brilliantly here.
 
Surprisingly, the site I watch the newest episodes of Simpsons already had it up, wasn't expecting it till around 12pm my time (its currently 2:28am in the morning as I'm starting to type my thoughts)

The 1st segment was meh, I did find it hard to hear what possessed Marge was saying thou, but that could be me as I am hard of hearing, even with a hearing aid on.

I loved the 2nd segment, I do like the idea of an evil Lisa, which this segment does well. I do love how it ended aswell. Its a 9/10 segment for me, while I do love it for the most part, and aesthetically it looks amazing, I do have one complaint, and its that this segment hints that Lisa hates Janey due to Janey been mean to her. I have stated before that I see Janey & Lisa as friends if anything, and I would rather the writers would have stayed with this, same with Allison been friends with Lisa. Also, it would of been interesting to see other characters in an anime aesthetic like Chief Wiggum, other Elementary School kids, Maggie, Grandpa & various others. Not much else to say about it, other than I loved it.

The 3rd segment is probably the best of this TOH, mainly due to the references (I'm a sucker for references). I found it rather funny, also, not sure why but when the Homer, Lisa & Bart were surrounded by Ralph clones, that freaked me out. Also love how it ended aswell, and that ending with the other worlds has me very curious, ESPECIALLY the Futurama world. I do wish we saw all the Marge & Bart alternate costumes, as we did see a lot of Lisa & Homer alternate costumes. Also do wish there were references to past friends of Marge, Homer & Lisa, such as Allison, Ruth, Laura, Alex, Karl, Jessica, Mindy, Lurleen, Cecil, Sideshow Bob & Mr. Bergstrom among others showing up. Regardless, I loved this segment.

In general, this is a 9/10 episode for me, a 4/5 on the poll above.

As for overall rankings, well, when it comes to the segments:

The Pookadook: #83rd Place between "Wiz Kids" at 84th Place & "Dead Ringer" at 82nd Place
Death Thome: #14th Place Between "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did" at 15th Place & "Dial M for Murder" at 13th Place
Simpsons World: #10th Place Between "Dial Z for Zombies" at 11th Place & "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" at 9th Place

Overall Ranking:
Out of 734 Aired Simpsons Episodes, its ranked at #163rd Place between "Treehouse of Horror VIII" at 164th place & "Treehouse of Horror V" at 162nd Place

Also, just realized its taken me more than a half hour to type this review, that is mainly due to me renaming my files in my ranking folder so I can rank the episode, lol.
 
Well it was worth staying up late to watch it live... And it was worth such a hype from the crew. By HD Treehouse of Horror standards, this is pretty impressive. Still no Thanksgiving of Horror but pretty damn close, because most of what made this special work so well was here : mainly, the good balance between sheer horror, humor and characterization, knowing when it's the right time for one thing or another, in order to never undermine what could've easily been undermined. I enjoyed every second of it and my concerns regarding each and every segment progressively faded away.

I'm glad @Sandboy brought well-deserved attention to The Pookadook because I loved this one so much. I loved the atmosphere, the animation, Kavner's voice acting, it's both disturbing and actually well done emotionally. They treated the damn thing seriously, and as a result, the characters and what they go through are compelling. Even Not It has got slight troubles with that. They just nailed this segment for the most part and it easily ranks among my favorite HD segments. But the other two are solid as well, although a bit more clunky as far as pacing goes. Death Tome I found to be the weakest but still a fairly competent parody that stands on its own, its pacing issues were a little expected with such a big material crammed into 7 minutes. And SimpsonsWorld took my fears of a massive circle jerk and crushed them : the fanservice is used as a playground (and a bit of satire) just like I hoped. I wonder why this one is the shortest segment of the three as the material is big enough for way more (especially in terms of existential crisis - I love the ending in that regard), but hey, at least it makes good use of it, not by rubbing the past in our faces but by having fun with it.

Maybe I'll go more in-depth later because I already want to see it again but I'm glad the slight disappointment of Not It didn't strike twice for the Halloween session of the show. Omine and Selman definitely look like a winning team. 4/5
 
I actually think that the Pookadook was my favourite segment out of the 3. All 3 were great in different ways but in terms of telling a suspensful story that actually has a beginning, middle and end as well as something to say about the characters I felt like that one was the strongest. Once the one I knew got the least focus won me over completely I knew this was going to be a great episode. Also the cut from sleep with the fishes to the cut of the family going on a midnight sleepover at the aquarium was the funniest moment of the episode. A small note on that too, I thought the Pookadook was about to break its own rules and have Marge pick off the older family members first, but the bait and switch joke was also a bit of internal consistency with the lore of the monster which is good in horros stories because that helps keep the stakes. Also good animation moment, Marge just jumping up and kicking down the door was great. As well as Maggie both entering and escaping the basement. 5/5

And that's just me talking about the first segment, so you know this episode was a banger.
 
This was the best THOH in years. I love all three segment. The animation in all three are amazing.

My favorite was Death Thome. I hope we get to some more of the Anime Simpsons in the future.

Pookadook was scariest THOH I seen in years but I love it. I like the cute ending

I love all the meta reference in Simpsons World and it has a great story with it.

5/5
 
I wonder if there's some commentary in the shows chosen to also have their own worlds in the segment about TV shows that have turned into franchises that have either gone on a really long time with arguable continued quality, or that have spinoffs and are filled with references and catchphrases for fans to say at each other over and over. Which is to say, it's surprising how fast Rick and Morty (and I guess Big Mouth) basically found itself in a position to be comparible to the other shows there.

Also I feel like with how easy it is for charcters to gain sentience the Rick and Morty Land is probably not a safe place to work, especially as a show that has had many episodes about sentience and agency in the first place. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
 
I think it would have been funnier if Bart had read "how to read death tome" a parody on the extra volume/guidebook of the original death note instead of Lisa's diary (which felt out of character for her to be mad at Janey.) They made more changes to the source material (L/Bart and Light/Lisa both live in the segment, though Lisa being transformed after ryuk/Steve dies is an interesting twist.)


Pookadook I absolutely loved. Sleep with the fishes was the funniest joke of the evening, genuinely suspenseful, and I love Maggie as the capable but still childlike baby. Great direction here, I imagine it must have been fun to board.

Not a big fan of Simpsons world, a bit too meta for my taste. But it's a 3.5/5 (rounded down) for the whole thing.
 
This one sucks. Only the third part was cool. The second had pleasant scenes, but the first just was lame, hated it.
 
Smear-Gel said:
Also I feel like with how easy it is for charcters to gain sentience the Rick and Morty Land is probably not a safe place to work, especially as a show that has had many episodes about sentience and agency in the first place. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
Click to expand...
That's immediately what I thought when I saw Rick and Morty among the other parks. Now I kinda want an episode exploring this Idea, ahaha.
 
Matt Selman and Carolyn Omine have cemented themselves as a force to be reckoned with. From Halloween of Horror to Pixelated and Afraid to My Octopus and a Teacher and now this, easily the best Halloween special since XX and probably as far back as XIV. 5/5
 
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