TV Recap / Review: "The Simpsons" Parodies "Jaws," "Late Night with the Devil," and "Waterworld" In "Treehouse of Horror XXXVI"

Tonight the 36th annual installment of The Simpsons Halloween Special– entitled “Treehouse of Horror XXXVI"-- aired on the FOX Network, and below are my recap and thoughts on this episode.

The opening couch gag for this episode should appeal to a fairly niche audience, though it’s an audience of which I would consider myself a proud member. The guest animator is Stan Kelly (a pseudonym for illustrator and writer Ward Sutton), who since 2006 has contributed a satirical political cartoon for the parody newspaper entitled The Onion. Kelly’s cartoons almost always feature clearly labeled metaphors along with a crying (either with tears of sadness or joy) Statue of Liberty, and frequently include a creep looking in through a window labeled “Sicko." In this case, the Sicko happens to be The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. No notes.

The first full segment of “Treehouse of Horror XXXVI" is entitled “The Last Days of Crisco," is set in the 1970s, and serves as a sort of mash-up parody of both Steven Spielberg’s original 1975 Jaws film (which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year) and The Blob. Chief Wiggum (voiced, as always, by Hank Azaria) is killed by a mysterious creature while investigating the theft of grease from Lard Lad Donuts. Then at a town meeting, Mayor Quimby (Dan Castellaneta)-- here standing in for Mayor Vaughn in Jaws, complete with anchor jacket– replaces the “irreplaceable" Wiggum with Officer Lou (Alex Désert), and Lou begins his investigation of the crime, assisted by Moe-as-Quint (also Azaria), who is apparently an expert in all things sewer.

It turns out that all the grease, lard, and fat that has been dumped down Springfield’s many drains has coagulated into a sentient Blob-like monster, but when Lou suggested shutting down the State Fair, Homer Simpson (also Castellaneta) and his son Bart (Nancy Cartwright), now dressed and behaving a lot like the Rich Texan– there isn’t really an analogous character in Jaws, so I’ll just guess that they’re supposed to represent the townspeople of Amity– refuse to let it happen: “It’ll ruin our fat-forward economy!" So Quimby replaces Lou with Officer Eddie (Harry Shearer) and lights the ceremonial First Fryer. Unfortunately, this only summons the fat monster to the fair, and it’s up to Lou and Moe to help as many people as possible survive. There are some great gags here, including more direct references to Jaws like the famous dolly-zoom shot, and a really funny bit where Moe is torn apart by the monster and then somehow pulls himself back together without really blinking an eye. That’s the kind of joke that I suspect was added in the storyboarding stage, and it serves as a reminder that the animation on The Simpsons has been incredibly impressive– even moreso than usual– over the past few seasons.

This year’s second segment parodies the 2023 found-footage cult-horror film Late Night with the Devil (the title “Clown Night with the Devil" might have been my first tip-off) starring Krusty the Clown (Castellaneta again). Krusty is hosting his first-ever live Halloween special, and an overambitious producer (guest star Michael Keaton from Beetlejuice) encourages the clown to go further and further with the spooky shenanigans. But when the actual Devil (Thor’s Idris Elba) shows up and possesses the show’s resident chimpanzee Mr. Teeny, all hell starts to break loose– quite literally. Along the way we get a parody of The Exorcist, a deflated Ralph Wiggum (also Cartwright) and some very 90s-specific Halloween costumes in Krusty’s peanut gallery… oh, and it just so happens to turn out that Bart Simpson (dressed as Steve “Did I do that?" Urkel from Family Matters) is the one who made a deal with Satan to keep Krusty successful and on the air for as long as he has been. In retribution for Krusty not living up to his end of the bargain, the devil resurrects the stars of educational kids’ shows from days gone by, including Captain Kangaroo, to claim the clown’s eternal soul. At the last second, Bart offers his own soul up in exchange, and then we cut to Krusty pitching the found footage to Netflix executives, who want to know the “Why now?" of this project. Hellish, indeed.

The third and final segment of this year’s “Treehouse of Horror" is a parody of the 1995 would-be blockbuster Waterworld and other Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic adventures. Narrator Viola Davis (The Help) introduces us to “Plastic World," where Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) lives a sort of WALL-E style existence on a planet covered by non-biodegradable trash. But Lisa believes that under all the garbage lies actual dirt, in which the surviving humans could theoretically plant actual organic food. But when Milhouse (Kelly Macleod, taking over the role from Pamela Hayden this season) and Seymour Skinner (Shearer again) dig deep into the layers of plastic, they only uncover the abandoned Kwik-E-Mart– hey, an all-so-rare Apu cameo… as a skeleton– and its processed “forever foods" like a Twinkie from which Otto (also Shearer) snorts filling up his nose. After being attacked by a warring Bart (standing in for villains like Waterworld’s Deacon or Lord Humungus from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior), Lisa is reunited with her parents, who she believed had died in an avalanche of old diapers.

So evidently Homer and Marge (Julie Kavner) fell into a vat of nuclear waste and their DNA melded with the surrounding plastic, turning them into 3D models of themselves. They want Lisa and Bart to undergo the same transformation, but the kids fight back in the Kwik-E-Mart with the help of the remaining townsfolk, although there are others on the opposing side as well. Eventually Marge and Homer come to a grisly end in the Squishee machine, but their combined goo produces a plastic version of Maggie, who repopulates the Earth on her own. This is another fun installment, with one of the most memorable things about it being the visual style, which superimposes The Simpsons’ usual 2D animation over photoreal 3D backgrounds. Overall I would say this is another very strong “Treehouse of Horror" episode, with quality writing, voice acting, and animation… and let’s all thank the powers that be at FOX that it's actually airing before Halloween this year.

New episodes of The Simpsons air Sunday evenings on FOX.