Every The Simpsons' Treehouse Of Horror Episode, Ranked From Worst To Best

To make everyone reading this feel old, The Simpsons debuted as a standalone animated comedy in December, 1989 and as of this writing, has 35 seasons under its belt, with Season 36 just kicking off. One of the annual traditions from the series is none other than The Treehouse of Horror. The Halloween-inspired episodes feature numerous short-stories placing the Simpsons character in various situations that are simply "too spooky."

Of course, none of these episodes are part of the Simpsons canon because they simply can't be. Many members of America's beloved animated family end up dying or Homer even ends up in the real world at one point. But so many of these stories are highly-regarded by fans of the show, just like the previously mentioned Homer appearing in the real world. They're simply a ton of fun and a nice break from a typical episode. You're getting numerous, scary stories contained within a 30-minute episode where the writers can do almost anything they want.

Considering there are 35 of these Treehouse of Horror episodes, why not take the time to rank them? This time around, we're including Season 35's episode, which includes a comedic take on NFTs, a "What if…?" visitation to a classic The Simpsons episode, and a story about an infectious disease that turns everyone into Homer.

So we went through the back catalog of every Halloween episode and ranked them from worst to best. It's as simple as that. Let's get into some scary hijinks.

Season: 19

Segments: "E.T., Go Home," "Mr. & Mrs. Simpson," "Heck House"

Every segment feels belabored and bland, like the writers were pulling this together out of annual obligation. One thing always remains true: Kang and Kodos work better as distant observers than as the main characters in the plot. And even when XVIII debuted in 2007, the Mr. and Mrs. Smith parody was already dated.

Season: 23

Segments: "The Diving Bell and Butterball," "Dial D for Diddly," "In the Na'Vi"

Considered by many fans to be the worst Treehouse episode, XXII has some slightly redemptive Dexter jokes in its middle segment, but that segment undermines itself with its twist. The Avatar parody was tiresome. And the first segment had fart humor. Up until this episode, that had always been beneath The Simpsons.

Season: 30

Segments: "Intrusion of the Pod-Y Switchers," "Multiplisa-ty," "Geriatric Park"

This was two forgettable segments followed by a bizarre Jurassic Park homage, in which Springfield mixed the DNA of its senior citizens with that of dinosaurs. Given that premise, it's actually more heartfelt than you might think.

Season: 31

Segments: "Danger Things, "Heaven Swipes Right," "When Hairy Met Slimy"

XXX is noteworthy for its Stranger Things send-up, which was sort of funny, but came out a little too late to make an impact. The other two skits--a Heaven Can Wait parody starring Homer, and a take on The Shape of Water (starring Selma and Kang), were strictly middle-of-the-road, heavier on style and visuals than laughs.

Season: 17

Segments: "B.I. Bartificial Intelligence," "Survival of the Fattest," "I've Grown a Costume on Your Face"

The first segment was a fun, dark-hearted parody of the Spielberg/Kubrick sci-fi epic A.I. Instead of Homer preferring his "real" son over the robot replacement, he prefers the robot, and he abandons Bart in the woods instead.The other two segments were largely a showcase for sight gags, and felt like filler in place of actual plots.

Season: 22

Segments: "War and Pieces," "Master and Cadaver," "Tweenlight"

Two solid segments bookend a forgettable one. "War and Pieces" is a send-up of every popular American board game, and it triggers waves of nostalgia--it's true that the only cool thing about the game Mouse Trap is the trap itself, if it actually works. "Tweenlight" is a decent parody of Twilight and stars Daniel Radliffe as the voice of vampire heartthrob Edmund.

Season: 18

Segments: "Dry Hard," "BFF R.I.P," "Moefinger"

The keeper of XXVI is the middle segment. Lisa's imaginary friend Rachel keeps killing her classmates in varied, gruesome ways. The other two segments are amusing in fits and starts, but neither can be classified as horror--the first is a parody of Mad Max and The Hunger Games, the third is a tribute to British spy films.

Season: 27

Segments: "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive," "Homerzilla," "Telepaths of Glory"

The most-hyped segment of Treehouse XXVI was the first one, in which Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart. But the writers went a weird direction with it by having Bob hang on to Bart's putrid, rotting corpse--a little too dark, with not enough humor. And the other two segments weren't funny enough to redeem the first.

Season: 26

Segments: "School is Hell," "A Clockwork Yellow," "The Others"

The last segment is the best-known one--a meta-celebration of the show that sees the modern Simpsons family meeting the Tracey Ullmann versions of themselves. It's a great premise, but nothing quite clicks in Treehouse XXV, not even the Kubrick parody that squeezes in references to A Clockwork Orange, Eyes Wide Shut, and even Barry Lyndon.

Season: 35

Segments: "Wild Barts Can't Be Token," "Ei8ht," and "Lout Break"

The joke of NFTs being silly in "Wild Barts Can't Be Token" was good for the time, but it doesn't make a lot of sense outside of that period of time when NFTs were a thing. "Ei8ht" is really cool in that it takes the "What If…?" approach, changing the events of the episode where Sideshow Bob tried to kill Bart--and this time around, he does. As for "Lout Break," it's another episode focused on multiple Homers, which we've seen in previous Treehouse of Horrors episodes. It doesn't feel like it does anything new. Overall, this is a pretty middling installment.

Season: 11

Segments: "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did," "Desperately Xeeking Xena"

"Life's a Glitch, Then You Die"

The best segment is the middle one, which sees Bart and Lisa becoming superheroes. Comic Book Guy got a perfect role as a super villain, and Lucy Lawless got a cameo appearance that aged well. But ironically, the middle segment also started an unfortunate trend moving forward, in which one or more of the Treehouse segments were inspired by a non-horror genre.

Season: 16

Segments: "The Ned Zone," "Four Beheadings and a Funeral," "In the Belly of the Boss"

The fifteenth Treehouse is sort of bland and inoffensive--nothing brilliantly good, nothing overtly bad. Of the three, the standout is the final parody of Asimov's Fantastic Voyage. In it, the Simpsons family takes a shrinking shuttle into Mr. Burns' decrepit body.

Season: 20

Segments: "Untitled Robot Parody," "How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising," "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse"

The first two segments of XIX were average, but the third was exceptional. It took The Simpsons 20 years to parody "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," but it was worth the wait. Lisa plays Sally, Milhouse plays Linus, Lisa even delivering the classic line: "You owe me restitution!"

Season: 33

Segments: "Bartbi" "Bong Joon Ho’s 'This Side of Parasite," "Nightmare on Elm Tree," "Poetic Interlude," "Dead Ringer"

XXXII opens with a Bambi parody. From there, the segments start weak, but get stronger. "Poetic Interlude" has a lovely visual look. And the closing segment "Dead Ringer" is the best segment by far, with a Ring parody where Lisa makes friends with the creepy girl rather than killing her.

Season: 13

Segments: "Hex and the City," "House of Whacks," "Wiz Kids"

The final Harry Potter sketch was pretty bad. But the first two segments were great. The first has the Simpsons family attempting to break a curse by finding a leprechaun (seriously), and the second one is a clever 2001:

Season: 29

Segments: "The Sweets Hereafter," "The Exor-Sis," "Coralisa," "Mmm... Homer"

Four solid segments, no bad ones. Coralisa was a creative take on Coraline, and it even adopted the 3D printed visual style to portray the alternate Other World family. The final segment was gross and off-putting, even by Treehouse standards; Homer discovers he's delicious, and he begins to consume and serve himself to others.

Season: 18

Segments: "Married to the Blob," "You Gotta Know When to Golem," "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid"

The thing that stands out about XVII is how morbid and cynical it got. Blob Homer used his massive appetite to eat and get rid of the homeless. And the episode ended with Springfield destroyed by an alien invasion. It was bleak, effective satire, with the sort of edge that the writers could only indulge in once per year.

Season: 25

Segments: "Oh the Places You'll D'oh," "Dead and Shoulders," "Freaks No Geeks"

The opening, Dr. Seuss-inspired segment was funny--crude and in uncommonly poor taste, but funny nonetheless, with a sort of manic energy that matched the early Simpsons episodes. The other two segments never reached that level of energy, but the opening couch gag, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is beautiful, and distinguishes XXIV from the middle of the pack.

Season: 14

Segments: "Send in the Clones," "The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms," "The Island of Dr. Hibbert"

The first segment of XIII is dumb, but very, very funny: Homer clones himself with his hammock, and those clones make more clones, and so forth. It's so good, in fact, that it nearly makes up for the final segment, a Dr. Moreau homage which, visual jokes aside, was one of the weakest Treehouse segments up to that point.

Season: 15

Segments: "Reaper Madness," "Frinkenstein," "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off"

The first segment is the strongest; Death shows up at the Simpsons' front door, and shenanigans ensue when Homer accidentally kills it, and then takes its place as the Grim Reaper. The other two segments are also a lot of fun; "Frinkenstein" gives Springfield's favorite egghead a backstory, and the final segment has Bart and Milhouse discover a Twilight-Zone-esque watch that freezes time.

Season: 7

Segments: "Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores," "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace," "Homer Cubed"

The weakest Treehouse episode from the "classic" era, VI is largely remembered by Homer Cubed, which featured cutting-edge-for-the-time 3D animation. It's good, but more for its novelty than its humor. VI features one classic segment: a genuinely frightening take on Nightmare on Elm Street, starring Groundskeeper Willie as Freddy Krueger.

Season: 21

Segments: "Dial 'M' for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu," "Don't Have a Cow, Mankind," "There's No Business Like Moe Business"

From here on out, every single Treehouse episode on this list is gold. XX begins with a Hitchcock tribute, proceeds with a 28 Days Later parody, and concludes with a perfect send-up of Sweeney Todd. It was horror (no other genres!) and hilarity, all the way through.

Season: 24

Segments: "The Greatest Story Ever Holed," "Un-normal Activity," "Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure"

In XXIII's first segment, a black hole opens up, and everyone uses it as a dumping ground until it threatens to swallow the entire town. It's a simple, stupid premise with excellent delivery and follow-through. The second segment parodies the found footage genre, with lots of wonderful sight gags. And the third segment is a Back to the Future parody that features Artie Ziff, Marge's senior prom date, in an alternate future.

Season: 2

Segments: "Bad Dream House," "Hungry are the Damned," "To Serve Man," "The Raven"

The very first Treehouse set a standard of excellence. The highlight is the concluding segment, in which Homer and Bart act out a lush, detailed rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." As a teacher, I use this segment in my classroom during my poetry unit, and it still gets reliable, consistent laughs.

Season: 10

Segments: "Hell Toupée," "The Terror of Tiny Toon," "Starship Poopers"

Two outstanding segments. No weak ones. In IX's best segment, Snake is executed for his numerous crimes, but his spirit inhabits his hair, which becomes Homer's evil toupee. The second segment pits Bart and Lisa against Itchy and Scratchy. And the third segment, in which we discover that Maggie is Kang's daughter, is kind of weird, but it somehow works thanks to a left-field Jerry Springer cameo.

Season: 32

Segments: "Toy Gory," "Into the Homerverse," "Be Nine, Rewind"

It sounds odd, but the opening parody of Toy Story is better than you might think. It has a creepy, unsettling conclusion, in which Bart's toys take sadistic revenge on their owner. "Into the Homerverse" is a multiverse adventure, with multiple variant Homers taking on multiple variant Burnses. And then the final segment is a send-up of Russian Doll, with Lisa and Nelson dying in multiple scenarios until they can figure out how to break the death cycle.

Season: 12

Segments: "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad," "Scary Tales Can Come True," "Night of the Dolphin"

The first segment starring Homer, who dies and must perform a good deed to get into heaven, is very good. The second segment is even better, with Bart and Lisa braving the perils of fairy-tale-themed woods. But the third segment, in which dolphins take over the world after Lisa frees their leader, is one of the best Treehouse segments in the show's history. The rebellious dolphins manage to be very cute and very intimidating at the same time.

Season: 9

Segments: "The HΩmega Man," "Fly vs. Fly," "Easy-Bake Coven"

VIII opens with the Fox censor getting stabbed multiple times before collapsing in a pool of blood. Then we get three terrific segments. In the first, Homer is the last non-mutated survivor of a neutron bomb that hits Springfield. In the second, Bart and a housefly combine bodies. The third segment takes place in 1649, when Marge, Patty, and Selma are revealed as child-eating witches. Great stuff, all-around.

Season: 8

Segments: "The Thing and I," "The Genesis Tub," "Citizen Kang"

VII gets off to a roaring start with the story of Bart and his evil, disturbed twin Hugo, and it ends with the perfect twist. From there, we get another great Twilight Zone parody of "The Little People," followed by a topical political satire featuring Bob Dole and Bill Clinton. The final segment also gave us one of The Simpsons' most quoted lines: "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"

Season: 4

Segments: "Clown Without Pity," "King Homer," "Dial 'Z' for Zombies"

In Season 4, The Simpsons was cresting to its creative prime. Treehouse III featured three banger segments, with Krusty as a killer doll, Homer as King Kong, and the entire town of Springfield as a hoard of the undead, respectively. There was wit, horror, and hilarity, along with a palpable sense of confidence. This show was here to stay.

Season: 34

Segments: "The Pookadook," "Death Tome," "Simpsons World"

It may seem odd to old-school Simpsons fans that a Season 34 episode cracks the Top 5 on our list, but it is deserved. XXXIII is just that good. The first segment contains a real sense of urgency and scariness, as Maggie defends herself from a homicidal Marge. The second segment reimagines The Simpsons as anime horror. And the final segment, a parody of Westworld, is a nostalgic-laden celebration of the show's history.

Season: 3

Segments: "The Monkey's Paw," "The Bart Zone," "If I Only Had a Brain"

The uptick in quality, between Treehouse I and Treehouse II, is unbelievable. Season 2 was when the show found its voice, but Season 3 is when the show learned to sing. Every segment is a classic, and the standout is "The Bart Zone," a spot-on parody of the Twilight Zone episode "It's A Good Life," about an omnipotent boy who terrorizes the town he lives in. I'm also partial to the sequence in the final segment, when Mr. Burns beats Homer with a shovel. "Bad corpse! Bad corpse!"

Season: 5

Segments: "The Devil and Homer Simpson," "Terror at 5½ Feet," "Bart Simpson's Dracula"

IV packed so many incredible moments into one show. The Ironic Punishment Room in Hell. The pitch-perfect, anxiety-ridden moment when Bart saves the school bus from crashing. And one of the greatest overblown death scenes in TV history, when Homer stakes a vampire Mr. Burns through the heart. The best Simpsons Treehouse episodes are a bit off putting and a bit disturbing, and IV was both.

Season: 6

Segments: "The Shinning," "Time and Punishment," "Nightmare Cafeteria"

This is perfect television. First we get a parody of The Shining, which comes with a great tagline: "No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy." Then comes my personal favorite Treehouse segment of all time, when Homer accidentally turns a toaster into a time machine. And lastly, we get a third, genuinely unsettling segment, when the faculty at Springfield Elementary kill and eat their students. Lunchlady Doris is a fright to look at, especially when she's coming at the kids with an egg beater. And that's not even the end of it. The credits sequence, when the Simpsons family dances to "One" with inside out bodies, gave me nightmares as a kid.