The Re-Deadening

A scene from The Re-Deadening.

The Re-Deadening is a horror film which was shown at Springfield Googolplex Theatres.

Background

Homer was babysitting Rod and Todd Flanders, and he decided to take them and Bart and Lisa to the movies. However, when they arrived at the Googolplex, Homer was unable to decide what to see because every kid-friendly movie was sold out. He considered taking them to Teenage Sex Wager, but Rod and Todd stopped him from making that decision due to the movie being banned by their church's movie guide: What Would Jesus View? They met up with Lenny Leonard at the ticket booth, and Lenny said he was going to see The Re-Deadening because he had a small speaking part in it. That clinched the decision for Homer, and he took the children to The Re-Deadening.

Plot

File:Buttoneyesattacks.jpg

Baby Button Eyes attacks Lenny.

The movie was about a possessed killer doll called Baby Button Eyes, who was not only homicidal herself, but also encouraged others to commit murder. In a scene early in the movie, a little girl was sitting in a rocking chair holding the doll and looking intently into her eyes. The girl then said, "What's that, Baby Button Eyes? You want me to kill Mummy?" The implication was that Baby Button Eyes often threatened the children into committing the murder by revealing her origins: The girl was reluctant to kill her Mummy because she had been nice to her, and only went through with it because Baby Button Eyes revealed to her that her Button Eyes came from the trousers of a psychotic killer.

The remainder of the movie followed Baby Button Eyes going on a murderous rampage where she killed everyone she encountered. In Lenny's scene, he was working as a gardner when the doll jumped on him, killed him, ripped his eyes out, and replaced them with buttons sewn onto his face. There was also apparently a prophecy concerning the doll, as Lenny screamed about it being fulfilled when the doll attacked him.

Reactions

Homer took a very blasé view of the on-screen horror, setting his soda on Lisa's head and his popcorn on Bart's (when they were hunched over to avoid looking at the screen) and nonchalantly making comments like "Well, what do you know? It's unkillable!" when it seemed that nothing could stop the doll. He also refused to leave the movie, in spite of the fact that all four kids (even Bart) were scared to the point where they were unwilling to even look at the screen, and Rod and Todd were hiding under their seats.

Bart and Lisa were so scared that they were still shaking uncontrollably when it was time for dinner. Homer, obliviously adding insult to injury, bought the movie's soundtrack album and then played it during dinner, traumatizing Bart and Lisa even further.

Trivia

• The little girl who was coerced by Baby Button Eyes to kill her mother is implied to be of British origin, due to the fact that she was speaking in a British accent and using British experssions such as referring to her mother as "Mummy."

Behind the laughter

• The movie is most likely a parody of Dolly Dearest, which is a horror movie about a possessed doll.
• Village of the Damned, Child's Play, and The Others are also parodied in the plot.
• The music of The Re-Deadening is very reminiscent of the music from the horror film Rosemary's Baby.

Appearances

• Episode – "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner"