The Simpsons' annual “Treehouse of Horror” episodes are a tradition as sacred as Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Maybe not. But still, these episodes that drop in and around Halloween every year since Season 2 in 1990 are often the highlight ofeach season, good or bad. The latest entry, “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” (35, for those whose knowledge of Roman numerals stops withStar Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), carries on the trend, a particularly goodTofHina seasonthat, so far, has been more hit than miss. While all three of the segments that make up the episode are excellent (shout out to “Denim”), it’s hard to deny that “The Fall of the House of Monty” is the standout.And if you’re paying attention, you’ll notice an Easter egg that hearkens back to the very first “Treehouse of Horror” in Season 2. “Egg” being the operative word.
“The Fall of the House of Monty” Bridges Two “Treehouse of Horrors”
As the segment begins, the camera pans across a Victorian-era Springfield to settle on the Burns & Co. Excellent Corn Syrup factory. Shortly after, any eagle-eyed — make that “raven-eyed” — fan will see a familiar figure fly across the screen to perch on the factory. It’s the “Bart Simpsonized” raven fromTreehouse of Horror I’s “The Raven” segment. It’s one of many callbacks to earlier episodes of the show itself that have occurred throughout the season (“The Yellow Lotus” ups the ante on the “Homer backs into a bush” meme and Sideshow Bob’s perpetual habit ofstepping on rakes). While those callbacks have been mainly played for laughs,the raven Easter egg is particularly significant as it subtly bridges the two Treehouse of Horrors.
In the first “Treehouse of Horror,” “The Raven” is a relatively faithful interpretation ofEdgar Allan Poe’s famed narrative poem, with Homer (Dan Castellaneta) playing the part of the poem’s narrator and Bart (Nancy Cartwright) playing the titular, ominous bird. Apart from one switch out of the raven’s incessant “nevermore” with “eat my shorts,” the segment is suitably eerie, with Homer grieving over his lost love, Lenore (Marge, voiced byJulie Kavner), tortured by the raven’s haunting cries of “nevermore.” Adding to the gravitas is the unmistakable narration by oneJames Earl Jones,the only guest voiceto feature in all three segments of a"Treehouse of Horror" episode. It’s one of the few “Treehouse of Horror” segments throughout 36 seasons that skews closer to horror over humor. The other would be “The Fall of the House of Monty,” so the raven is bridging the two Poe-based segments and they are connected as the two most horror-adjacent “Treehouse of Horror” episodes.
Unlike “The Raven,” “The Fall of the House of Monty” isn’t a straight-forward interpretation of one of Poe’s works, but ratherpays tribute to a number of different works. As the title suggests, the title and basic setup reference Poe’s"The Fall of the House of Usher", while there are also nods to works like “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Haunted Palace.” Interestingly, “The Fall of the House of Monty” parodies elements fromThe Fall of the House of Usher,Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series. The grotesque warehouse rave from the series is mirrored by the explosion in Burns' corn syrup factory that kills the workers. The fortune Burns amasses stems from his corn syrup empire, much like the Usher’s pharmaceutical dynasty fills their coffers to overflowing. Likewise, both Burns and the Usher’s are warned by spirits about the horrifying future that beholds them for the human cost of their works.
‘The Fall of the House of Usher’s Biggest Edgar Allan Poe References
From characters’ names to background elements, here are all the nods to Poe’s work scattered in the show.
“The Fall of the House of Monty” also pulls story elements from a source completely unrelated to Poe:Winchester. Based on thetrue story ofSarah Winchester, the film sees Winchester (Helen Mirren) haunted by ghosts who died at the hands of the family’s firearm fortune, and to keep the spirits from finding her, the mansion is under a constant state of construction, with strange stairways, doors that go nowhere, and rooms sealed by 13 nails. Similarly, in the “Treehouse of Horror” segment, Burns' mansion has been under construction for years (Lenny (Harry Shearer) points out that his father and grandfather both died while building the mansion), and he is haunted by the ghosts of those that died in the corn syrup factory explosion.
“The Raven” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” are not the only references to Poe over the course ofThe Simpsons36 seasons, by the way. The Season 6 episode “Lisa’s Rival” leaned onPoe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,“with Lisa (Yeardley Smith) being driven to confess her sabotage of Allison’s (Winona Ryder) diorama by the same beating heart that plagues the narrator of Poe’s original.
But no Bart Raven.
The Simpsonsis available to stream on Fox in the U.S.
The Simpsons
The satiric adventures of a working-class family in the misfit city of Springfield.
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