Well, better late than never. I'm probably gonna repeat some things I've already said, but anyhow, here's my take on the episode...
I'd consider this special 'Treehouse of Horror' a neat effort. Dedicating a full episode's length to what is essentially a 'Treehouse' segment parody on Stephen King's 'It' was interesting and I think the build-up and hype it got paid off nicely. It did well styling the characters & Springfield to mirror the original King story (which pits a group of outsiders, here Homer & Co, against an evil clown with magical powers, here Krusto, who kidnaps and eats children), focused on story over jokes (sure, there were jokes, but I liked they didn't come at the expense of the plot) & was neatly visual with a lot of great animation work (Krusto might just be one of the most well-animated individual characters I've seen recently), plus combining both style and substance with a genuine creep factor. It is not an excellent episode as I felt it had some issues (such as the directing being a little flat and straightforward sans Krusto) & some of the dialogue and pacing felt a bit wonky (but not enough to bring it all down), but it still was quite the enjoyable & entertaining Halloween story.
First off, as this is a direct parody, there's not an original story to go through bit by bit, but I will say they already had it open with a really nicely directed hook of Barney (as a child) getting attacked by Krusto through the drain, combining the expressive animation with some light jokes & dark overtones. It got into the story pretty well afterwards, setting up young Homer as the lead, the multiple missing children, Krusto appearing before Homer & the bullies ("Super intense kid Chalmers" was a lame joke but made me laugh, as did the bit where they all bounce down the hill after Homer) that lead to Homer meeting the rest of the Loser's Club (Marge, Moe, Carl & Comic Book Guy). From a story perspective it made sense having Homer, Marge, etc. as leads, considering the story skip nearly 30 years into the future halfway into the plot (Adult Bart, Lisa & the rest of Springfield Elementary as adults would've been neat instead, but I still liked what we got. Felt like the other way around would've been a little easier) and i already felt the animation & music added to the atmosphere.
The story moved fairly briskly with its parody plot (but almost a little too briskly as it came off as a little surface-level and rhapsodic at times): The bit with group telling about their sightings of Krusto was enjoyable (the stories were amusing without losing that dark edge), I liked the library scene (that set up the love subplot) but a missed opportunity to have Krusto appear (not even a cameo like in the 2017 It movie) the garage scene with the discovery of Krusto's origin (a failed unfunn TV comedian) was a good one (combining the fun with the scary, with Krusto coming out of the TV). The showdown with Krusto at the abandoned TV studio was neat (due to the excellent animation of Krusto's pratfalls leading to his defeat). The love triangle with Homer & Marge & CBG I could take or leave (it's there in the original story, but I guess it's my general dislike of love triangles that gets in the way), but I still find it was done well (and I liked it established some sort of connection between Homer & Marge, but CBG being a jelaous douche causing drama was a little too much for me, lol).
The second half I was a little worried about (as I remembered that when I saw the original 1990 miniseries, I felt the adults' segment was inferior to the kids' segment) but I think they handled it well all things considered: More good jokes & references here and there, some neat horror moments (and it's been a while since we got anything as graphic as Jimbo's death, I'm sure) & I liked the role reversals such as Homer being the bartender of the Tavern & Bart and Lisa (still Marge's children but with CBG) were extreme opposites (Bart the well-behaved nerd who does great in school & Lisa a punk delinquent skater, but they were very flat & stereotypical parodies, to beh onest. I blame the 22 min runtime) & I liked Moe being a famous rocker-slash-ventriloquist (ironic as Krusto had appeared before him as a ventriloquist dummy, that has to be intentional I'm guessing); I expected some joke at how all of them sav one got extremely successful (always struck me as unconvincing in the source), but I still liked it (and I suspect Carl being an astronaut was a subtle jab at that aspect).
Their reunion was done well, I enjoyed their interactions & I liked the final showdown with the group and Krusto in his cave (and the rescue of Bart & Lisa), which more of that good horror atmosphere and expressive animation (and CBG sacrificed himself for his friends & admitted passing off Homer's love letter as his own to win Marge, so the love triangle paid off in spite of it making me roll my eyes. I did find the last part of it funny, with how he really had expected some 30 years of keeping her in the dark to be forgiven due to his sacrifice but nope, she would'nt have it; he got what he deserved). Nice ending too with the bicycling scene (with Homer finally being with Marge), plus the extended end with Kang & Kodos observing from their flying saucer (gotta have them) & planning which Stephen King adaption to do next was surprisingly amusing (them saying 'Tommyknockers' over and over an OK overly long gag). Still, I'm a little disappointed it felt rather straightforward, being a beat for beat parody with no real surprises other than Krusto and his animation: Felt like he was treated as the most important thing & the rest felt, well, kinda standard, straightforward 'It' parodying. I think they could've done more
Overall, despite issues I found it entertaining. The first half was stronger, but I also liked the second half. It told the story well, there were good jokes (even Homer commenting how he essentially lives on Reddit made me chuckle), it kept that dark tone & horror style throughout (even having some gruesome kills) and there wasn't anything I actively disliked. That said, it did have issues: Several missed opportunities, the humor felt a bit sparse and unimaginiative (even kinda samey and overexplained at times), the pacing felt wonky, the love triangle & angst drama was overdone & got too much attention (I honestly barely cared about that; shows how hard it is to do love triangles in media, especially keeping them from overtaking the main conflict) & that direction and script felt a little bit flat-ish aside from Krusto was involved (Dean Moore did well, but I feel he could've done more and been more creative: Why not add more effect & details like lighting, shadows, special angles, fog/mist effects, etc? And have more flexible animation besides Krusto? Lots of pretty static scenes, even in the action felt kinda flat (sans Krusto, again). It should've been more creatie, lively and vibrant, something I felt was missing.
4/5 (rounded up from 3.5/5), I give this. A reasonably well made episode with a good 'Treehouse of Horror' style, tone & atmosphere all the way through, a well told parody with great voiceacting and nice characterizations, good creepy stuff (also hthe cavalcade of creepy Krusty fan art during the credits) & a bunch of good jokes plus that amazing animation for Krusto, but yeah, it was a little underwhelming: The direction the writingcould've been a lot better better and smoothed out (I expected a leaner, more eyecatching and interesting episode aside from our villain, whom is among the better 'Treehouse' antagonists; the way they handled him and his animation was splendid) and bits & pieces felt a little stilted (and I'd have liked less metafictional mooments). It really felt they held back at times (and 'It' was probably a bit hefty for adapting into just a 22 minute episode). Despite the problems I had with it, it was still enjoyable & I wouldn't mind if they did another extended Stephen King parody story in the future. I just hope for someyhing more consistent.
)
. The biggest laugh I had over: a) Lenny and Moleman while Carl the astronaut, but "oath is overall"
and b) Kang and Kodos and more Steven King.
