Treehouse of Horror IV

"When Homer announces he will sell his soul for a donut, the Devil, disguised as Ned Flanders, shows up to take him up on the offer. Second Act, while riding to school, Bart believe he sees a malevolent gremlin on the side of the bus. And final act, Mr. Burns is Dracula, in a spoof of Francis Ford Coppola's vampire film."

Plot

Opening sequence

The camera zooms into a graveyard showing various tombstones and the Simpsons home. The Simpsons break the floor and sit on the couch as zombies.

Wraparound part 1

Bart's seen walking around a room with paintings in light of Rod Sterling's Night Gallery and tries to introduce the show but Marge and Maggie interrupt telling Bart to tell the viewers the show's scary, but Bart ignores, and we watch the first part.

The Devil and Homer Simpson

File:Homer Forcefed donuts - The Devil and Homer Simpson.png

Homer being force-fed donuts in Hell, much to his happiness

Homer falls asleep at work, dreaming of a donut fashion show. When he wakes up to get one to eat, he finds out from Lenny and Carl the remaining donuts were already eaten, with some being thrown at Grampa Simpson. Homer declares that he'll sell his soul for a donut, causing the Devil (in the form of Ned Flanders) to appear. After signing a contract, Homer's given his donut, with the provision that as soon as he finishes it, the Devil will own his soul. However, Homer finds a loophole: if he doesn't finish the donut, he's safe. Homer openly mocks this loophole, to which the Devil promises he'll go to Hell eventually. One evening, Homer goes down to the kitchen, and, without thinking, eats the last of the donut.

As expected, the Devil comes to take Homer's soul, but Lisa asks him to hold a trial. The Devil agrees. However, Homer must spend the day in Hell being severely tortured. Aside from being chopped into pieces, a demon in the Ironic Punishment Division tried to torture Homer by feeding Homer all of the donuts in the world (this plan backfires when Homer gleefully keeps eating, much to the confusion of the demon). Back on Earth, Marge already has the trial area set up and hires Lionel Hutz to defend Homer.

The Devil and Hutz barter on specific terms before the trial begins: The Devil agrees to Hutz's request for bathroom breaks, and Hutz agrees the Devil can choose the jury. The Devil's jury includes Benedict Arnold, Lizzie Borden, Richard Nixon (still alive at the time), John Wilkes Booth, Blackbeard the Pirate, John Dillinger, and the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers. The Devil gives the evidence of the contract Homer signed, pledging his soul for a donut. Lionel Hutz counters with the definition of a contract according to the dictionary, stating it as something unbreakable. Realizing he put his foot in his mouth, Hutz asks to be excused to the bathroom. When he doesn't return immediately, Marge finds the bathroom window open, and Hutz long gone.

As the judge prepares to sentence Homer, Marge shows the jury a photo album showing their wedding day, where Homer's having eaten the entire wedding cake sent him to the emergency room. On the back of a photograph, however, it is revealed in a statement of love to Marge that Homer had pledged his soul to her. This causes the jury to declare Homer's deal with the Devil void as Marge owns Homer's soul. However, the Devil is unwilling to let Homer best him. With a zap of his power, the Devil turns Homer's head into a donut. The next morning, Homer can't stop eating parts of his head. As he decides to go to work, Lisa cautions him to stay home ... because standing outside the house is the Springfield Police Department, waiting to enjoy his donut head with their morning coffee.

Terror at 5 1/2 Feet

Bart has a nightmare where the bus crashes and wakes up very paranoid. Bart and Lisa get on the bus one rainy morning with Principal Skinner on the bus. Lisa informs everyone Bart's feeling upset this morning, and asks they act nice to him, causing everyone to laugh at him instead. Shortly after the ride starts, Bart notices a Gremlin on the side of the bus, damaging it. He tells Milhouse about it but Milhouse refuses to look, in case he gets attacked by bullies. Bart then tells Otto about the Gremlin. Otto looks out the window to see Hans Moleman driving an AMC Gremlin and rams him off the road, killing him.

Bart sees the Gremlin again and tells everyone. Everyone looks out the window but the Gremlin was hiding again. Meanwhile, in a UFO, Kang and Kodos laugh at the Earthlings getting panicked over a creature that doesn't exist, only to find a Gremlin ripping apart their ship. Back on the bus, Bart is told by Skinner to stop using his imagination and Skinner closes the window blind. Bart then opens the blind again to see Groundskeeper Willie, who needed to get the bus after his mule refused to carry him. Milhouse gets weirded out by Bart's behavior and goes to sit next to Üter Zörker instead. When Bart starts shouting about the Gremlin again, he is tied to his seat by Willie and forced to sit next to Üter, who Bart befriends and asks to untie him.

Bart sees the Gremlin again and grabs an emergency flare to throw out the window at the Gremlin, getting half sucked out the window in the process. Bart throws the flare as he is pulled in by Willie and Skinner, hitting the Gremlin and sending it into the path of Ned's car. Ned decides to care for the Gremlin as the bus finally reaches the school broken. Everyone realizes that Bart was telling the truth but due to his behavior, Bart was shipped off to the New Bedlam Rest Home for the Emotionally Interesting. On the way, the Gremlin attacked the ambulance, holding Ned's severed head.

Wraparound part 2

The Simpsons attack Lisa, as vampires.

They originally had a story to go with the famous Dogs playing Poker picture (Homer's frightened at this painting), but Bart said it was too twisted and scary to show on TV. So they had to put a random story about vampires together.

Bart Simpson's Dracula

The Simpsons are watching a news report on TV about a local peasant who was found dead with their blood sucked out through fang holes on them. The news then goes on to report that Mr. Burns had bought out the Springfield Blood Bank. Burns then invites the Simpsons for a midnight dinner in Pennsylvania. There, it is obvious Burns is a vampire, but no one seems to believe Lisa. She and Bart find Burns's secret vampire lair where they find the book Yes, I Am a Vampire, proving that Burns is a vampire. Lisa escapes up the stairs again whilst Bart sees the lever that turns the staircase into a "Super Fun Happy Slide", pulling it against his better judgement and sliding down to the bottom again, only to be captured by Count Burns. Lisa tells the rest of the family that Bart was captured and Burns is a vampire, but Burns and Bart show up, with Bart being turned into a vampire. The family refuses to believe Lisa and they go home.

At home, Lisa is tormented by nightmares and, hearing something, opens her bedroom curtain and sees Bart, Milhouse, Martin, Ralph, and Janey, all vampires who are hovering in the air. Bart flies through her window violently, only to be stopped by Homer and Grampa. Finally believing Lisa, Lisa tells the family that the only way to cure Bart is to kill the head vampire, Count Burns. The family drives back to Burns' lair in Pennsylvania and Homer hammers a stake in Burns' heart and kills him but gets fired in the process. They then go back home thinking that everything is fine now. The next morning at breakfast, Lisa finds the rest of the family are vampires. It turns out that Marge is the real head vampire ("I do have a life outside of this house, you know"); the vampire family surrounds and corners a terrified Lisa ... but then stop suddenly. The whole family then happily wish the audience a Happy Halloween in a Charlie Brown-style ending, singing and with Milhouse playing a tiny piano like Schroeder.

Title Cards

Production

"Treehouse of Horror IV" was directed by David Silverman and co-written by Conan O'Brien, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Greg Daniels, Dan McGrath, and Bill Canterbury.

Reception

The episode finished 17th in the ratings for the week of It originally aired, with a Nielsen rating of 14.5. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week.

Since airing, the episode has received positive reviews from TV critics and fans alike. The authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide said it was "probably the best" Treehouse of Horror episode in the show. It has since been given an A grade by many online DVD critics and Kim Nowacki named it his favourite Treehouse of Horror episode.

Gallery

Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Treehouse of Horror IV".

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Halloween themed episodes
Halloween of Horror • Thanksgiving of Horror
Self-contained stories:
Not It • Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes

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Homer's Barbershop Quartet • Cape Feare • Homer Goes to College • Rosebud • Treehouse of Horror IV • Marge on the Lam • Bart's Inner Child • Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood • The Last Temptation of Homer • $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling) • Homer the Vigilante • Bart Gets Famous • Homer and Apu • Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy • Deep Space Homer • Homer Loves Flanders • Bart Gets an Elephant • Burns' Heir • Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song • The Boy Who Knew Too Much • Lady Bouvier's Lover • Secrets of a Successful Marriage