The Simpsons Takes on Venom, Pacific Rim and More in Treehouse of Horror XXXV

The Simpsons has returned for its latest Horror entry in the long running “Treehouse of Horror” tradition, and “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” has stories sharing a new take on Pacific Rim, Venom and more. The Simpsons continues an annual tradition of airing its Halloween specials after the holiday itself with an episode airing in November, but there’s still plenty of horror to enjoy. With the strength of some of the most recent “Treehouse of Horror” episodes in mind, there was a lot of anticipation leading into the newest as it had teased earlier this Summer there would be a segment that incorporated stop-motion animation into a Venom parody.

“Treehouse of Horror XXXV” like the others offered three different stories (with a special opening from The Book of Life and Maya and the Three creator Jorge Gutierrez). The first was “The Information Rage,” which took political views and turned them into giant attacking monsters. The second was “The Fall of the House of Monty” that saw Mr. Burns being haunted by the ghosts of his mistreated workes, and the final segment was “Denim,” that saw Homer getting possessed by a pair of flashy denim jeans that had come to stop-motion life. Here’s the breakdown of everything that went down in the new special.

The Information Rage

The opening segment of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXV was titled “The Information Rage.” When Lisa successfully gets Springfield to switch over to LED lightbulbs, it inevitably begins a chain reaction of those against the idea protesting the loss of their old light bulbs. It soon turns into a political argument that divides the entire town, and the rage for their respective sides soon births giant monsters from deep beneath the sea. The conservative arguments turn into a giant red monster, and the more liberal arguments turn into a giant blue monster.

With these giant monsters wrecking the town, Professor Frink builds a machine that unites the two sides together with a brother and sister team needed for it. When the original choices die, Bart and Lisa are thrown into the Pacific Rim like Jaeger and eventually work together to defeat the monsters. Uniting their various beliefs, the two decide to take care of the larger issues at hand. Bart and Lisa try and get everyone to think outside of the echo chambers, but it’s not long before the monsters wreck the town again and doom society forever. It’s not a very scary entry, so it’s unfortunately a bad start for the year. Usually this kind of basic, pop culture based story is passed by in between the others.

The Fall of the House of Monty

The second segment of the episode fares much better, however. “The Fall of the House of Monty” isn’t at all like its namesake, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher poem (though it does have a cameo from the Bart Raven seen in the very first “Treehouse of Horror”). This is a period piece entry that imagines a Springfield where everyone works tireless hours for Mr. Burns. They work in his corn syrup factory during the day, and build his mansion at night. On Thanksgiving, Mr. Burns offers a feast to his workers only if they’re able to beat him in breaking a wishbone.

Naturally, this doesn’t work but Mr. Burns keeps the dinner away from them either way. Burns is then told he’ll be cursed by the wishbone after not fulfilling his promise when he lost, and soon he finds out what that means. When his workers all die horrific deaths in the factory, their ghosts then haunt Mr. Burns at night. He goes mad when they won’t stop, and then decides to take his own life by throwing himself into a fire (only to then go to Hell immediately afterwards). This second segment goes by fairly quickly, but is much better than the first.

“The Fall of the House of Monty” has some brutal looking character designs for Homer and the rest of the dead worker ghosts, and the idea of Burns burning himself alive and then being dragged to Hell is appropriately horrific. It’s the kind of segment that Treehouse of Horror really excels in as it’s the only time characters can be killed off in such a big fashion. The hope then after the first two segments that it would all end on a strong note. And it kind of did? But mileage will vary.

Denim

The final of the three segments was the one that The Simpsons had been hyping up over the Summer. Working together with Stoopid Buddy Studios, the studio behind Robot Chicken and more, this short imagines a world where Homer is a bachelor and needs help to impress Marge, the cute waitress at the nearby (hilariously named as a “Non-Canonical”) Diner. When out shopping for pants, a pair of stop motion jeans appears out of a mysterious portal and Homer finds them very comfortable. Heading to the diner, the jeans then move of their own accord to save Marge from being robbed by Snake.

The jeans reveal their name is “Denim,” and they are actually a symbiote from another planet (Wranglor, in the 501 Galaxy) that was overcome by acid in their rain…making them all acid-washed jeans (which means they are “weak, unsightly…dated”). They need human hosts to survive, and Homer’s wide behind and gas make him a perfect fit. The two eventually get along to the point where Homer has a full relationship with Marge. But it goes south when Marge tries to wash the jeans. After keeping the jeans from killing Marge, Homer then decides to stay with the jeans and it soon leads to the other symbiotes taking over the Earth next.

The final segment was indeed saved for last because of the stop-motion incorporated action, and it’s indeed great to see in the episode itself. But for being a Venom parody, it’s kind of lackluster in that impact. Homer never has a full transformation as teased by the image of him in the promotional materials as these jeans just remain jeans the entire time. There is a great chase sequence with the jeans that moves them around in fun ways, and Homer flailing about when that happens is a fun visual. But it just never quite goes as far as you would hope.

Is Treehouse of Horror XXXV Any Good?

The material means that it’s not exactly a horror focused story, but it doesn’t really make up for it with a ton of laughs either. That’s unfortunately the case for “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” overall as while the three shorts are all interesting in their own ways, none of the segments are likely going to be remembered as standouts when stacked against some of the best ones in the catalog. “Denim” has the best chance of this due to its central gimmick, but it just doesn’t go as far as you would hope for a final Treehouse of Horror segment.

What is apparent this year, however, is that The Simpsons is still willing to experiment with all sorts of ideas for their Treehouse of Horror specials. Some of them have been very lackluster in the past, and while this is far from the best, XXXV is also far from the blandest offering in the catalog either. There are fun ideas throughout this year, so fans should check it out when the new episode is available for streaming with Hulu the next day if you missed the original broadcast on Sunday, November 3rd.