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| Homer, enjoying his ironic punishment. |
Its time for another yearly Halloween installment as Halloween 2012 is just a day away. Like the previous episodes, the fourth installment has its stories connected, this time in Night Gallery style, with Bart providing the narration before each episode begins.
The Devil and Homer Simpson
With no donuts left at work, a desperate Homer declares that he'd sell his soul for a donut. Conveniently, the Devil appears - having the appearance of Ned Flanders - to offer such a donut for Homer. They agree on a contract where the Devil acquires Homer's soul once Homer finishes the entire donut, a fact Homer realizes just before eating the last bite. Believing he has outsmarted the Devil, Homer puts the last morsel away for safe keeping.
Unfortunately, a tired, hungry Homer late at night mistakenly eats that last morsel, sealing his fate. Before the Devil can finish squeezing Homer's big ass into Hell, Lisa demands a fair trial, due process and all of that. Despite Hell being outside the jurisdiction of America, I'm fairly sure, the Devil agrees, but holds Homer in Hell for the day.
Soon, the trial begins, and not only does the Devil get to use his own jury of murderers, Richard Nixon and the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, his case is pretty solid. With the Simpson lawyer Lionel Hutz having bailed, Marge tries one last desperate gambit: an old wedding photo where Homer wrote on the back that he had pledged his soul to Marge. The jury agrees that Homer's soul belongs to Marge, and the Simpsons win the case. Angered and knowing full well that Homer has just conned a donut from the Devil, the Dark One decides to curse Homer by turning his head into a donut, much to the delight of Springfield's police force.
Individual Score: +1.5
Terror at 5 1/2 Feet
After having a nightmare where he dies in a bus crash, Bart begins the school day in a nervous sort of panic. On a rainy day with Principal Skinner tagging along, Bart gets on the bus, only to see a gremlin of sorts tearing the bus apart from the side. With the gremlin hiding before anyone else could see him, Bart's sanity falls into question. Despite getting Otto to try and knock it away (Otto mistaking "gremlin" for a Gremlin car driving next to him), the gremlin persists and begins taking apart the wheel axle. Skinner ties him up and has the German exchange student Üter sit next to him. Bart is able to convince Üter to let him go, and in a final attempt to stop the gremlin, throws an emergency flare at it, knocking it off the bus and into Ned Flanders' car driving behind it. Though the bus makes it to school, its condition was such that the final screw in the wheel was about to come off, which would've sent the bus into trouble. Despite this, Skinner has Bart sent to a mental institution for life, and though Bart thinks he can relax now, the gremlin appears outside the ambulance with Flanders' still-talking head. Good times.
Individual Score: +1.6
Bart Simpson's Dracula
Watching on TV, the Simpson family sees a report on odd, vampire-like killings, and then a report where Mr. Burns has purchased a blood bank and video of him rather enjoying some blood. While Lisa is the only one willing to make a connection, Homer is invited by Burns to his mansion way out in Pennsylvania. Lisa is fully convinced Burns is a vampire, and Burns continuously fumbles attempts to hide as much, but the rest of the family doesn't care. Lisa forces Bart to come along and investigate. Quickly, they find a cellar full of vampire coffins. As Lisa reads an autobiography about Vampire Burns, the vampires in the cellar wake up. The two try to escape up the stairs, but a trailing Bart sees a switch to convert the stairs into a super fun slide, and can't resist. Bart falls back into the vampires' hands, and Burns himself converts Bart. He returns to the family clearly different, but Homer doesn't care.
Later, Bart has since embraced his transformation and has converted several other kids around Springfield. He attempts to get Lisa, but Homer is able to intervene in time. Lisa suggests that to save Bart, they must kill the head vampire: Burns. They return to Burns' mansion and find him sleeping in his coffin. Homer is able to stab his heart (after mistakenly stabbing his crotch first), supposedly ending the vampire threat, losing his job in the process. Lisa is relieved the next morning, but suddenly the entire family are vampires, and advance on Lisa, but they all stop to wish everyone a Happy Halloween, and hum a tune as the episode ends.
Individual Score: +1.5
Quick Review
In terms of violence and violence-related fear, the fourth installment has the other three beat by quite a lot. In terms of comedy, its not quite on the level of the third ToH, but its still a very excellent collection of Halloween-themed stories and is still one of the best Treehouse of Horrors in the series.
Final Score: 9.8
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