{"id":227331,"date":"2025-10-20T11:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227331\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T11:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:29:11","slug":"every-treehouse-of-horror-from-seasons-21-30-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227331\/","title":{"rendered":"Every Treehouse of Horror From Seasons 21-30 Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Simpsons<\/a>\u2018 annual Treehouse of Horror specials admittedly went through a rough time during its 20s. While there are many classic episodes that really stand the test of tough even after all these years, there are many from this particular era of the animated series that are remembered for all the wrong reasons. Out of all the eras of The Simpsons, this one is undoubtedly going to be the toughest in figuring out which Treehouse of Horror specials<\/a> actually were better than the others. But it\u2019s not like it\u2019s all lost hope either as there are some true gems in this generation as well. <\/p>\n

When ranking the best Treehouse of Horror specials<\/a> from The Simpsons Seasons 21 through 30, there are a lot of things you have to forgive and potentially grade on a curve compared to the others. Based on scare factor, strength of the core story idea, whether or not it actually involves Horror, and whether or not all three segments in a year are great, here our our picks of every Treehouse of Horror from The Simpsons Seasons 21 through 30 ranked from weakest to strongest. <\/p>\n

10). Treehouse of Horror XXI <\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

One of the unfortunate trends of this era of The Simpsons\u2019 Treehouse of Horror is the fact that many of the stories no longer have a Horror focus. Treehouse of Horror XXI does start out with the promising \u201cWar and Pieces\u201d that uses satanic magic to turn board games into a deadly reality (and kills off a lot of Springfielders in quick and bloody succession), but then it\u2019s followed with \u201cMaster and Cadaver.\u201d While it does take on an erotic thriller for the first real time, it\u2019s just not as compelling as you would hope. Then any good will is completely buried with its dry and unfunny Twilight parody, \u201cTweenlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year has some great guest stars in it like Hugh Laurie and David Radcliffe, but it\u2019s just not a great year for Horror. It\u2019s just not fun to watch for the majority of its run time, but it\u2019s not exactly bad enough to leave a lasting impression either. \u00a0<\/p>\n

9). Treehouse of Horror XXII<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXII is probably the most notorious of this era, and it\u2019s hard not to see why with \u201cThe Diving Bell and the Butterball.\u201d When Homer is paralyzed by a spider bite, it\u2019s revealed he can only communicate through farts. It\u2019s an idea that ultimately doesn\u2019t go anywhere, and even sees him become a farting version of Spider-Man by its end. It\u2019s painful to watch due to the lack of laughs and horror, but it does deserve to be at least higher than the previous entry because it\u2019s eliciting an emotion in the first place rather just being tired. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s saved a bit by \u201cDial D for Diddly\u201d as Homer tricks Ned into being a serial killer cause there are some good jokes towards the end, but then it all wraps up with a parody of Avatar in \u201cIn the Na\u2019vi.\u201d It\u2019s unfunny, not scary in the slightest. But being outright bad, once again, does better slot in in fans\u2019 memory.<\/p>\n

8). Treehouse of Horror XXIV<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXIV does have a lot of promise in that it kicks off with a cool opening directed by Guillermo Del Toro. It then follows it up with a fun art mix up with its Dr. Seuss parody, \u201cOh, the Places You\u2019ll D\u2019oh!\u201d It has some surprisingly brutal moments it can get away with in this art style too, so it makes the most of the idea. \u201cDead and Shoulders\u201d does a serviceable job of keeping up the momentum with a Futurama like idea of Bart\u2019s head getting sewn onto Lisa\u2019s shoulders. The finale itself is properly bleak, violent and fun. <\/p>\n

The third segment then goes full black and white with its take on the legendary 1930 film Freaks, \u201cFreaks, No Geeks.\u201d It keeps up the violence with some wild takes on Springfield\u2019s most memorable characters, and does have a satisfying conclusion to it all. There\u2019s a sense that all of these segments are tied into one another (especially with the callback joke in the third segment), and that always helps out to increase the strength of the overall experience. <\/p>\n

7). Treehouse of Horror XXVI<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXVI has one of the strongest opening segments of this era of The Simpsons, but isn\u2019t able to keep up the pace. \u201cWanted: Dead, Then Alive\u201d imagines a world where Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart, only to then be so bored after killing his longtime rival that he continues to revive and kill Bart in increasingly brutal or hilarious ways. It\u2019s then followed by \u201cHomerzilla,\u201d which apes 1954\u2019s classic Godzilla film in some ways that have aged rather terribly in our current climate as everyone speaks with faux Japanese dialogue styles. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also made much worse because it in no way compares to the classic \u201cKing Homer.\u201d But it\u2019s mostly saved by \u201cTelepaths of Glory.\u201d Chronicle is far from a Horror film, but Lisa and Milhouse getting those same kinds of power leads to a lot of fun visuals you don\u2019t normally get to see in The Simpsons thanks to its found footage gimmick. It feels inventive compared to a lot of other stuff seen this era. <\/p>\n

6). Treehouse of Horror XXIX<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

As the final Treehouse of Horror released in this era, Treehouse of Horror XXXIX is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some great ideas like with \u201cIntrusion of the Pod-y Switchers\u201d that sees the Earth taken over by plants only to reveal that these aliens just wanted to save them from being addicted to their phones on Earth. The takeover sequence has a lot of fun jokes from who gets killed off, and even makes some fun callbacks to the past. \u201cMultiplisa-ty\u201d then puts Lisa in the place of James McAvoy in M. Night Shyamalan\u2019s Split. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fun segment that lets Yeardley Smith play around with different personalities as she tortures Bart, Milhouse and Nelson. Much like the film, there\u2019s not a lot of violence (outside of one short burst) but there\u2019s a lot of fun to be mined from how pathetic Milhouse can be during all of this. But then \u201cGeriatric Park\u201d ends it it all in such an uninspired take on Jurassic Park. Yes it can be funny seeing the old folks turn into dinosaurs, but it\u2019s just the one joke. It all just seems so tepid, and lacking in teeth (especially with the lack of follow through in their endings) compared to the strongest Halloween specials of this same era.<\/p>\n

5). Treehouse of Horror XXV<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXV is also in an interesting place. The segments this year aren\u2019t really as scary as some others, but it really stands out from the bottom half of this era because its visuals and core ideas are a lot of fun (at least for two of them). \u201cSchool Is Hell\u201d literally goes to Hell and gets away with a lot of horrific and gruesome imagery because Bart is doing well at school. There are some fun jokes here too that get the most out of a single line reading like \u201cTorture?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA Clockwork Yellow\u201d then places Moe in the world of A Clockwork Orange, but mileage will definitely vary here. There are a lot of jokes here based on Kubrick\u2019s works, and if you don\u2019t care about them then the climax here just won\u2019t work. Thankfully, it\u2019s all saved by the very creative, \u201cThe Others.\u201d It\u2019s not the scariest idea either, but having The Simpsons family being haunted by The Tracy Ullman Show versions of them is just such a neat pull. It\u2019s a bit fan-servicey for sure, but it does find a lot to do with this idea than you would expect. <\/p>\n

4). Treehouse of Horror XXVII<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

As the 600th episode of The Simpsons overall, Treehouse of Horror XXVII does have quite a lot of fun. It has a cool opening where couches take over the world, and does have a lot of character death despite the fact that it doesn\u2019t have a lot of direct horror. \u201cDry Hard\u201d is inspired by The Hunter Games (and later Mad Max), and while it doesn\u2019t have scares it has quite a lot of kills (especially with one very funny kill for Ralph). The second entry takes this further as \u201cBFF R.I.P.\u201d has Lisa\u2019s imaginary friend brutally killing her real friends (with Milhouse\u2019s death being particularly gruesome). <\/p>\n

\u201cMoeFinger\u201d then takes on Kingsman and has Bart killing a ton of others. This is a tough one to rank so highly because it\u2019s not based in Horror like some of the other stories that would be considered weaker, but it makes up for it with just how much violence there is on display this time around. Much of it might be joke kills (like usual), but there are a ton of deaths to be found here. Maybe the most of this era of specials. <\/p>\n

3). Treehouse of Horror XX\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XX was an interesting kick off to this era overall. This Treehouse of Horror special aired ahead of Halloween for the first time in a decade, and played with its Horror ideas. \u201cDial \u201cM\u201d for Murder or Press \u201c#\u201d to Return to Main Menu\u201d was a black and white, Alfred Hitchcock inspired short saw Bart murdering Miss Hoover (with some hilarious lingo for \u201cding dong ditch\u201d), \u201cDon\u2019t Have a Cow, Mankind,\u201d was a legitimately creepy take on 28 Days Later as Springfield turned into a mass of mad cow disease laden \u201cmunchers,\u201d and \u201cThere\u2019s No Business Like Moe Business\u201d went full broadway musical as Moe used parts of Homer\u2019s blood to make his drinks better. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of variety in the three shorts depicted here, and it really kicked off a promising era for The Simpsons at this time. It\u2019s one of the few Treehouse of Horror specials that has something fun with each of its segments (rather than one outweighing the others), and it still holds up. <\/p>\n

2). Treehouse of Horror XXIII <\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXIII thankfully does have a fair share of Horror, but the first segment is more science fiction horror based with \u201cThe Greatest Story Ever Holed.\u201d This one has a lot of fun with a black hole that opens up in town as the family can\u2019t help but throw trash into it. There are some fantastic gags that come from how brutally people are swallowed into it (with Sideshow Mel having his bones ripped out of his body), and a particularly fun death for Ralph. \u201cUn-normal Activity\u201d uses found footage for some good laughs (like Homer\u2019s \u201cWe have stairs?\u201d), and has an ending that once again paints Homer as worse than actual demons. <\/p>\n

\u201cBart and Homer\u2019s Excellent Adventure\u201d unfortunately doesn\u2019t end the year with Horror, but does have a lot of fun with Bart meeting a younger version of Homer. It\u2019s an idea that goes really far with longtime fans, and does have a hilarious gag with tons of Homers throughout history sparking their romance with Marge once more. The fan service really goes a long way with this one, and thankfully the strength of those first two segments helps the experience overall. <\/p>\n

1). Treehouse of Horror XXVIII<\/p>\n

\"TheCourtesy of 20th Television Animation<\/p>\n

Treehouse of Horror XXVIII is the strongest of this era of The Simpsons, hands down. It\u2019s likely the one you have heard about the most because of the final segment. \u201cMMM\u2026Homer\u201d has one of the wildest premises in Treehouse of Horror history as Homer gets addicted to eating himself, and it\u2019s unsettling with the way it visualizes it. Homer takes a great pleasure in enjoying himself to the fullest, and it\u2019s incredibly creepy. Thankfully, the first two segments also set fans up for this creepy finale with some kooky stories too. <\/p>\n

The middle segment, \u201cCoralisa,\u201d unfortunately doesn\u2019t age too well because of its Neil Gaiman cameo but it looks fantastic with its CG take on the Coraline art style. Then there\u2019s the opener, \u201cThe Exor-Sis,\u201d which is the first take on The Exorcist in the series\u2019 run. There\u2019s an awesome song that a possessed Homer sings that demonizes everything around him when he\u2019s doing it, and that\u2019s the best Treehouse of Horror scene we\u2019ve seen in years at this point. This is definitely the best one to revisit from this era. <\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the\u00a0ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Simpsons\u2018 annual Treehouse of Horror specials admittedly went through a rough time during its 20s. While there…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[137595,64,63,134,133608,137596,137597,427],"class_list":{"0":"post-227331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-animation-genre","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-list-feature","13":"tag-the-simpsons","14":"tag-the-simpsons-franchise","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}