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This episode is considered non-canon, and the events featured are not part of the timeline of the series' continuity. Reason: This episode belongs to the Treehouse of Horror series. If you disagree with this, please discuss it on the talk page to dispute.

For the continuation series of Halloween specials, see Treehouse of Horror series.

"Treehouse of Horror XXVIII" is the fourth episode of Season 29 and the 28th annual Halloween special from the Treehouse of Horror series.

Synopsis[]

The Sweets Hereafter: The Simpsons are Halloween candies living in fear of being eaten.

The Exor-Sis: A spoof of The Exorcist where Maggie is possessed by a demon Homer accidentally ordered off Amazon.

Coralisa: A spoof of Coraline where Lisa and Snowball V discover an alternate dimension where Marge, Homer, Bart, and Maggie are a functional, loving family that want to make Lisa one of them.

MMM... Homer: Homer's appetite reaches new highs (or lows) when he finds the perfect food to eat when there is none in the house: himself.

Full Story[]

Opening Sequence[]

In a CGI short known as "The Sweets Hereafter", it is Halloween night in Springfield as trick or treating is going on, and a bowl of candy is in front of a house. Suddenly, the candy comes to life, where Barterfinger is afraid that someone might take him, but Marge Bar comforts him and tells him not to worry, because he is always the last one to be taken. Oh Homer! tells Barterfinger that even the boxes of stale raisins get taken before him, but mistakes Barterfinger's name for "Butterfinger".

As Nelson's Crunch and Kirkish Taffy get taken, Apple Lisa discovers that no trick or treating kid would ever want the apple, because they must be frightened that there is a razor blade in it. Barterfinger understands (ironically) that is the reason, and Marge Bar tells Apple Lisa that maybe she will be dipped in caramel, which makes Apple Lisa bored at the fact. Suddenly, Shauna reaches for the candy, but Oh Homer! avoids getting taken by letting Senior Mints get taken instead, and asks Oh Homer! where is he going. Oh Homer! tells Senior Mints that he is going to heaven.

As Senior Mints gets taken by Shauna, Oh Homer! tells Senior Mints that change is always hard. Shauna then opens up the box of Senior Mints and starts to eat them down her throat, to which Senior Mints freaks out due to her cigarette breath.

The next day, as the owners of the house are taking down their Halloween decorations, the bowl of candy is now almost empty and now the Simpson family are the only ones left in the bowl. One of the tenants grabs the bowl, and while walking with it to a high shelf, Marge Bar tells the rest of her family that they pulled through the night, much to their surprise.

After the bowl is placed onto a higher shelf, a chocolate Easter bunny tells the family that they are on a high shelf where people will forget about them forever, just like himself. As the bunny sadly asks himself why no one wants him, Oh Homer! comforts him, takes a piece of the bunny's ears, and eats it. Marge Bar tells him not to do that but he tells her to not be silly because chocolate doesn't feel anything and takes another piece of the bunny, much to the bunny's horror. Apple Lisa declares that she can't listen to the bunny's agony, so Oh Homer! eats the bunny's mouth off to silence it.

Eventually, the Simpsons choose to eat the rest of the chocolate Easter bunny themselves. The camera then pans to the wall, where it has the words "The Simpsons Easter Special" (written with Peeps, jelly beans and other treats). Due to the Simpsons' eating the bunny, the chocolate splatters onto the wall, thus covering up the words, followed by some dark chocolate to spell out "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII" over the milk chocolate.

The Exor-Sis[]

In a pre-Christian temple site in northern Iraq (a parody of the opening scene of The Exorcist), a Pazuzu statue is dug up and sent through Amazon to the Simpson home after Homer ordered it, thinking it was pizza. After Homer, who is possessed, sings the Pazuzu Lullaby to Maggie, the statue is placed across from Maggie on her crib, and right after Homer leaves, Pazuzu promptly possesses Maggie.

Meanwhile, Marge and Homer are having their cocktail party downstairs, but Marge notices the possessed Maggie making her presence known. She proceeds to kill a complaining Helen Lovejoy before locking everyone indoors, and then killing Dr. Hibbert after revealing that he is cheating on his wife with his nurse. Later, Ned Flanders tells the Simpsons that Maggie needs an exorcism, but he is killed while trying to hold her down.

Homer and Marge succeed in tying the possessed Maggie down with bible ribbons and she starts to turn her head 360 degrees. Eventually, an Irish Catholic priest arrives, and, after testing how powerful Pazuzu truly is, performs the exorcism that purges the demon from Maggie's head, but Pazuzu ends up possessing Bart, which he fearfully regrets, declaring that Bart has the evilest soul he has ever seen.

Bart tells Pazuzu to grow him some horns, which Pazuzu does. Homer notices the horns are nubs. Pazuzu then grows the horns so long that they impale through Homer's nose. Uncomfortable, Homer says that at least the horns will get him out of jury duty, but later, Homer is later seen sitting on a jury with a dismembered horn still through his nose, to which he shouts, "D'oh!"

Coralisa[]

In a parody of the film Coraline, Maggie has still got a touch of Pazuzu while starting to violently vomit all over the dinner table. In Lisa's room, Snowball V takes her through a secret tunnel that brings her to another version of the family, with buttons instead of eyes on their faces. While the alternate family are like a dream, Lisa runs back to her world in terror when she learns they want to sew buttons on her eyes so she can remain with them forever. Lisa reconsiders the alternate family's offer after Homer had killed a snake using Lisa's saxophone.

A few days later, the family finally realizes that Lisa is missing, with Homer accepting it and saying that Maggie gets Lisa's room and clothes, while Bart gets her homework. Upon hearing this, Bart escapes through the door and is accepted into the alternate reality. Marge follows the kids and Homer follows suit. A meeting with the alternate family results in his killing alternate Bart while alternate Homer injures himself on a pair of scissors trying to avenge him. This irritates alternate Marge who transforms into a spider-like creature to attack Homer, who chooses to take advantage of the situation to benefit himself: bringing the surviving members of the alternate family home with his alternate counterpart attending parent-teacher meetings while alternate Marge does the chores and guards the house. Lisa accepts this outcome, noting that it could have been much worse.

MMM... Homer[]

An opening scene features Lisa warning viewers about the following segment’s disgusting content. The episode then begins when Homer remains home alone while the rest of the family goes on a vacation with Patty and Selma. Homer gets comfortable, but ends up eating all of his food supplies, ending up with only vegetables before finding a frozen hot dog. Losing the hot dog to Santa's Little Helper in the process, Homer accidentally cuts his finger off while grilling with his severed digit cooked as he eats it. He discovers how tasty it is, losing interest in other food when invited by Ned for lunch, and starts to cannibalize himself in creative ways before his family come back by cooking parts of his body because he is too lazy to go to a grocery store. When Marge discovered Homer's self-cannibalism, she takes him to a addiction counselor for help, but Mario Batali, in search for new ingredients, convinces a despondent Homer to cook his remaining body parts as ingredients sold at Chez Homer and several restaurants across Springfield. In Heaven, Homer comments to Jesus that they share the phenomenon of people eating parts of their bodies. (The residents of Springfield, meanwhile, have become cannibals.)

Reception[]

Treehouse of Horror XXVIII received positive to mixed reviews.

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- stating, "The 28th ‘Treehouse Of Horror’ carries on the venerable Simpsons institution by, as ever, tossing a whole lot of stuff at the screen and seeing what sticks. To that end, this year’s outing gives us: An 'Exorcist' parody, a 'Coraline’ parody, Homer eating human flesh (just his own, but still), stop-motion segments, horror and fantasy-specific guest stars, a little light Fox standards-pushing (Homer does, as stated, eat human flesh), and the usual string of hit-or-miss gags. That last part isn’t really a criticism in itself. Freed up from the need to calibrate the heart-yucks equation, a ‘Treehouse Of Horror’ rises or falls on the strength of its jokes, although the annual Halloween anthology provides its own unique degree of difficulty."

Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the episode an 8.6 out of 10 stating, "The ‘Treehouse of Horror’ specials are rarely among the more memorable episodes in any given season of The Simpsons. However, Season 29 is likely to be a major exception. All three segments in this year's special were strong. The series finally plugged two major holes in its huge collection of horror movie parodies while also reminding us that it can offend and disturb with the best of them. Perhaps there's still more mileage to be found in this long-running Simpsons trope."

"Treehouse of Horror XXVIII" scored a 1.6 rating with a 6 share and was watched by 3.66 million people, making it Fox's highest rated show of the evening.

Despite a positive reception from critics, this episode received backlash from some, disturbed by the MMM... Homer segment.

Citations[]