treehouse of horror xxii

It’s another long-form ‘short intro’ for 2011’s Treehouse Of Horror XXII beginning with the kids coming back from trick or treating to be met by Marge’s latest wheeze: the Switch Witch who takes candy and swaps it for healthy items. Lying to Marge that he will donate the confiscated candy, Homer drives to a remote spot only to find himself in a bit of a “127 Hours“-style trouble. It’s a decent idea and one which could easily have been a segment of its own.

The Diving Bell And The Butterball

“Perhaps someday there will be a sure although if it requires months of difficult physical therapy, I’ll pass.”

treehouse of horror xxii the diving bell and the butterball review

A tale of paralysis based on the memoir “The Diving Bell And The Butterfly”, despite the sombre subject matter, it manages to mine a decent amount of humour and even pathos in Homer being paralysed by a spider bite, even as it takes a “Family Guy”-esque turn to the flatulent. It’s bafflingly jarring, though, when it ups the ante by having Homer suffer a second spider bite. This time it’s a radioactive one and Homer becomes a still-paralysed superhero apparently all in service of a tepid and largely irrelevant swipe at abandoned “Spider-Man” musical “Turn Off The Dark“.


Dial D For Diddily

“Spend less time on your back and more time on your knees!”

treehouse of horror xxii dial d for diddily review

The writers of the Simpsons Halloween Special XXII return to the same Hitchcockian well for its title pun as 2009’s middle chapter. This time, though, it’s a tale of ‘justifiable homicide’ as Flanders homages “Dexter”. The truth behind the instructions from God is funnier still and the kills are nicely varied. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite know how to end so it tries three of four times to land a final joke.


In The Na’vi

“In Rigellian, there is no word for ‘yours’ or ‘mine’. That’s the reason we didn’t enjoy the movie ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’.”

treehouse of horror xxii in the na'vi review

The relative blandness of the source material doesn’t lend itself to parody, although it still manages to get a few good gags in. It takes the lazy approach of simply slotting the characters into the pre-existing narrative, an approach to ‘comedy’ which has brought us far too many ‘celebrity’ reality shows. It also means the segment ends up weirdly focussed on the sex life of a ten-year-old boy and never really recovers.

It’s probably why the segment runs short and the show ends with a satirical plea to the audience to remember the true meaning of Christmas: shopping.

treehouse of horror xxii


Hi there! If you enjoyed this post, why not sign up to get new posts sent straight to your inbox?

Sign up to receive a weekly digest of The Craggus' latest posts.

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

logo

Related posts

Shark Exorcist (2016) Review

Shark Exorcist (2016) Review

The power of Christ compels you to avoid this This weird, excruciatingly badly made movie opens on a nun walking through a graveyard while a newscast voiceover reports a local nun accused of murdering and torturing thirteen local boys and girls. It’s one of a number of things...

Treehouse Of Horror XI

Treehouse Of Horror XI

Opening up the twelfth season of The Simpsons, the opening credits of Treehouse Of Horror XI are a well-observed black and white parody of "The Munsters". So well-observed, in fact, that it perhaps illustrates how derivative and orthodox the Simpson family set-up is in TV...

Mr Turner (2014) Review

Mr Turner (2014) Review

I'm captivated by the eccentricity and the genius of Mike Leigh's Mr Turner. Beyond being vaguely aware he was a painter, I knew nothing of the work or life of J M W Turner. I came out of Mike Leigh’s “Mr Turner” determined to learn more about this exceptional man and keen to find out...

Dinoshark (2010) Review

Dinoshark (2010) Review

What a croc of shark The film opens with a baby Dinoshark swimming away from a broken chunk of Arctic glacier that calved due to global warming. Three apparently uneventful years later, the Dinoshark is a ferocious predatory adult and starts killing tourists and locals off the...

Hawkeye Review

Hawkeye Review

Disney+'s latest Marvel series finds itself bang on target Marvel’s Hawkeye soars onto Disney+ with the grace of a perfectly shot arrow, landing squarely in the bullseye of New York at Christmastime. Jeremy Renner, as the weary yet unerringly dutiful Clint Barton, yearns for a...

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017) Review

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017) Review

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer presents the gods of the audience with a twisted modern morality play. Colin Farrell faces Rosemary’s Sophie’s Choice in “The Killing Of A Sacred Deer”, the latest movie from cinematic provoc-auteur Yorgos Lanthimos. Blending classic Greek tragedy...

Fatman (2020) Review

Fatman (2020) Review

Fatman isn't the Christmas bomb its name might suggest… While it may seem questionable to name a Christmas movie after the codename for the nuclear bomb detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945, it doesn’t explain how fashionable it seems to be to dismiss “Fatman” as a bit of...

Jurassic World: Battle At Big Rock (2019) Review

Jurassic World: Battle At Big Rock (2019) Review

Battle At Big Rock will make you hunger for the third Jurassic World movie… Exploring the ramifications of the fateful decision made by Maisie at the end of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, the new short film “Battle At Big Rock” from director Colin Trevorrow looks to whet the appetite...