Reviews
[Review] “Treehouse of Horror XXXI” Brings Killer Toys, Interdimensional Travelers, and Deadly Time Loops to “The Simpsons”
Whether you like it or not, The Simpsons continues to parade on over 30 years after its original premiere. With each season comes the iconic Halloween special entitled “Treehouse of Horror,” featuring a collection of short tales involving the oddballs of Springfield. The newest addition, “Treehouse of Horror XXXI,” finally aired last night after being pushed from its original October release date (darn sports!).
Like the other entries in the Halloween-themed installments, “XXXI” features three absolutely strange and somewhat terrifying tales involving the famous animated family. As opposed to parodying horror films, this installment decides to riff off of Toy Story, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, and Groundhog Day. What used to be a chance for The Simpsons to recreate iconic horror film content with its cast has now seemingly turned into a non-canon playground for the writers to conjure the weirdest storylines possible.
To kick off the Halloween festivities, the episodes’ cold open featured Homer heading over to the polls for Election Day. Characters sport face masks which, I guess, confirms that COVID-19 exists in the world of The Simpsons? Anyway, once at the polls Homer struggles to pick a candidate only for Lisa to help him remember everything that has happened over the past four years in America. Visual gags include Kang, Kodos, and even Amazon Alexa being listed on the ballot.
What follows is a “what-if” scenario where Homer imagines what the world may look like months after election day. Giant robots roam an obliterated Springfield as Homer, dressed in makeshift armor, watches from his rooftop. Up in the sky, the four skeletal Horsemen of the Apocalypse fly by, revealing a banner with the episode’s title.
The opening sequence doesn’t hold back when it comes to expressing a political opinion, yet it still remains funny and entertaining. Seeing the characters of The Simpsons scrambling to vote while wearing face masks feels eerily immersive and reflective. Although, compared to seasons past which featured such horror goodness as Guillermo del Toro’s opening sequence, the beginning moments of this installment definitely lacked that Halloween spirit.
Toy Gory
The first anthology style storyline of the episode takes a jab at Pixar’s Toy Story. The segment is beautifully animated in their signature 3D animation style. A morbid remix of “You’ve Gotta Friend In Me” plays over the first few scenes as Bart prepares to depart with his childhood toys. The jingle serenades Bart as he dismantles, saws, and melts his toys in various fashion.
When a new Radioactive Man action figure joins the fray, the toys spring to life and are quick to inform him of Bart’s mistreatment. Scrambling around with missing limbs and eyes, the animated toys are wonderfully twisted. What follows next is definitely one of the most macabre things the show has done.
In a vengeful effort, Bart’s nightmarish toys kidnap him and take him to the treehouse. Once there, they, somehow, exchange all of his internal organs for toy parts, leaving him essentially lobotomized. Lisa finds Bart’s corpse at the bottom of the treehouse steps, and is shocked to find a pull string attached to his back. Pulling it results in a tiny speaker reciting Bart Simpson quotes from deep within his throat. It’s unsettling to say the least.
This segment is a lot of fun, especially because of how unforgiving it is. There is no happy ending here; Bart is left as a living toy with his grieving family. The special Pixar animation is absolutely beautiful and really adds an extra level of creepiness to this storyline.
“Bart Simpson, I’m gonna do what clowns do best…kill!” -Krusty Doll
Into the Homerverse
Obviously a riff on Into the Spiderverse, this segment finds Homer desperately searching for more Halloween candy at his job. He mistakes a powerful contraption for a vending machine and accidentally sets off a reality-bending explosion. This results in Homers from other dimensions entering his reality.
The segment shines in its unique comedy associated with each of the different Homers. A “Disney Princess Homer” constantly breaks out into song. A noir Homer fires a gun on instinct, decapitating a giddy Ned Flanders. An anime style Homer has an intensive battle with a piece of bacon.
Unfortunately, the storyline moves quite fast, given the restricting time limit of the episode’s run. The narrative wraps up with a battle between not only the Homerverse, but the Burnsiverse as well. Activating another explosion, Mr. Burns is able to unite his own army of other dimensional counterparts. The battle is filled with great visual gags, and a pleasant amount of gore. Anime Homer’s eyes explode, Noir Homer’s heart is stabbed out of his chest, and Princess Homer is poisoned.
The whole encounter ends when Burns’ assistant Smithers reveals that in the other dimension Burns is actually his sidekick. Mr. Burns then promptly closes the dimensional rift in quick comedic resolution to the inter-dimensional issue.
This segment offers a lot of goofy gags and on-screen gore, although it feels as if the Halloween elements at the start are only there to justify this segment’s inclusion in the “Treehouse of Horror” episode. If it weren’t for the gore, this bonkers storyline could have definitely found a home later in the season.
“Burnsiverse vs. Homerverse, and the Smitherverse to nod and take copious notes!” – Mr. Burns
Be Nine, Rewind
In what, at least to me, seems like a pretty huge reference to Happy Death Day, Lisa is shockingly killed by an off-road car during her ninth birthday (lots of child murder in this episode) only to then reawaken alive at the beginning of the day. Quickly realizing that she is stuck in a time loop, Lisa struggles to avoid impending death in every cycle.
This is probably the most times “The Simpsons” has ever shown a child dying in one episode. As Lisa repeats her birthday cycle, she is crushed by an air conditioner unit, a mirror, and even dismembered in a woodchipper. Along her journey she realizes Nelson is also stuck in the same loop. Together they try and figure out how to escape the cycle with their lives intact. Nelson and Lisa die quite a few times during this journey. One instance finds Lisa’s birthday cake knife impaling Nelson in the head, only for him to throw it back at her own head before they both drop dead. It’s certainly interesting to see resident bully Nelson sharing a storyline with goodie-two shoes Lisa. A strange pairing, but it somehow works.
In the end, the duo finds out they simply just need to kill Gil (the driver of the car that originally killed Lisa) to end their loop. They do this swiftly and almost frighteningly so. It certainly seems out of character for Lisa to be content with murdering someone just to save her own life. Oh well, I guess that’s just what “Treehouse of Horror” does to you.
“Now let me look at my black mirror. And that’s not a reference, it’s just filthy.” – Comic Book Guy
“Treehouse of Horror XXXI” is another standard, yet fun, addition to The Simpsons‘ Halloween library. It’s filled with enough blood, guts, and dismemberment to make fans of the genre smile with delight. While each of the segments offer something new and exciting, the short episode runtime definitely prevents them from expanding as much as they should. This is a recurring issue with most of the recent “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. The best segment is definitely “Toy Gory” with its exceptional animation and grisly narrative.
As much as I enjoy each and every “Treehouse of Horror” installment, I can’t help but long for the days when most of the segments were horror movie parodies. Segments such as “The Shinning” and “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace” are iconic staples of the show’s run. I would assume the episodes would draw much larger ratings if familiar horror films were being spoofed. There’s endless possibilities for Simpsonized horror adaptations. What about Psycho with Principal Skinner and his crazy mother? Or It with Krusty the Clown? Why not Maniac Cop with Chief Wiggum?
I could go on forever. Anyways, definitely check out “Treehouse of Horror XXXI” for some post-Halloween ghoulish delight.
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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