History Recap / TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV

-->'''Homer''': Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that... building... thingie... where our beds and TV... is.

!! "Bart Simpson's Dracula"

-->'''Homer''': Oh, Lisa, you and your stories: Bart's a vampire, beer kills brain cells. Now let's go back to that... building...thingie...where our beds and TV...is.

!! The Devil and Homer Simpson

!! Terror at 5½ Feet

!! Bart Simpson's ''Dracula''

* SpecialGuest: Creator/PhilHartman as Lionel Hutz; Frank Welker as The Gremlin.

!! The Devil and Homer Simpson

--> '''Nixon''': ''(Meekly)'' Yes master.

!! Terror at 5½ Feet

!! Bart Simpson's Dracula

* ArtImitatesArt: In the FramingDevice, several famous paintings by Creator/ReneMagritte, Creator/MCEscher, Creator/SalvadorDali, Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/EdvardMunch, Creator/{{Giorgione}}, Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, and Creator/PabloPicasso are parodied. [[CaninesGamblingInACardGame Even "Art/DogsPlayingPoker" by Cassius Marsellus Coolidge is featured]] (and drives Homer to screaming madness).

* ElvisLives: Averted. Several tombstones are seen at the intro. The first one has "Music/{{Elvis|Presley}} - accept it" on it.

** The scenes where Bart walks around in a hallway full of paintings is a homage to ''Series/NightGallery''. The paintings themselves are shout-outs to Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/EdvardMunch, Creator/ReneMagritte, Creator/PabloPicasso, Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, Creator/MCEscher, Creator/{{Giorgione+}}and the "Art/DogsPlayingPoker" painting.

That night, a half-asleep Homer goes to grab a midnight snack and thoughtlessly eats the last piece of the donut; the Devil appears and starts to suck him into Hell. The family awakes in the commotion and Lisa begs the Devil for a fair trial; he grudgingly agrees to this but demands that Homer spend a day in Hell. Down below, Homer finds himself chopped into pieces and given an ironic punishment by being force-fed all the donuts in the world (he manages to eat the whole supply, to the torture technician demon's confusion).

Meanwhile the family hires Lionel Hutz to represent him in the trial. Midnight comes and the Devil, along with TheGrimReaper as a judge, appears along with Homer (bound in a fire cage). The Devil and Hutz barter on specific terms before the trial begins: Hutz for bathroom breaks, the Devil on his pick of the jury, which turns out to include some of the worst people from history: UsefulNotes/BenedictArnold, UsefulNotes/LizzieBorden, UsefulNotes/RichardNixon (who, at the time of the episode was still alive and only on the jury because of a DealWithTheDevil), UsefulNotes/JohnWilkesBooth, UsefulNotes/{{Blackbeard}} the Pirate, John Dillinger, and the starting line-up of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers ("The Broad Street Bullies"). The trial doesn't go well -- the Devil offers proof of his deal and Hutz ultimately excuses himself to go to the bathroom and flees out the window.

* FramingDevice: Bart hosting in-betweens in an art gallery, explaining the story behind each painting. Each in-between segment also features a member of the family: 1) Marge, asking Bart to watch over Maggie 2) Lisa 3) Homer. This is the last "Treehouse of Horror" episode to use any kind of framing device; all other episodes just go right into the stories.

* TheScreamParody: A Simpsonised version of the ''Art/{{The Scream|Munch}}'' painting is included amongst the pictures during the Series/NightGallery-inspired wraparound segment of the episode.

** Homer being strapped into a chair with a device holding his mouth open as he's force-fed until he's obese is a direct homage to the infamous feeding sequence in "WesternAnimation/{{Pigs Is Pigs|1937}}". The scene is Matt Groening's favorite sequence in animated history.

* IncrediblyLamePun: "There's a gremlin on the side of the bus!". Otto then says he'll take care of it and rams an AMC Gremlin off the road.

* ArtImitatesArt: In the FramingDevice, several famous paintings by Creator/ReneMagritte, Creator/MCEscher, Creator/SalvadorDali, Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/EdvardMunch, Creator/{{Giorgione}}, Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, and Creator/PabloPicasso are parodied. [[CaninesGamblingInACardGame Even "Dogs Playing Poker" by Cassius Marsellus Coolidge is featured]] (and drives Homer to screaming madness).

* FauxHorrific: "Dogs Playing Poker" is considered so scary that it drives people into madness, which happens to Homer.

* ArtImitatesArt: In the FramingDevice, several famous paintings by Creator/ReneMagritte, Creator/MCEscher, Creator/SalvadorDali, Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/EdvardMunch, Creator/GiorgioDeChirico, Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, and Creator/PabloPicasso are parodied. [[CaninesGamblingInACardGame Even "Dogs Playing Poker" by Cassius Marsellus Coolidge is featured]] (and drives Homer to screaming madness).

* TheScreamParody: A Simpsonised version of the painting is included amongst the pictures during the Series/NightGallery inspired wraparound segment of the episode.

** The scenes where Bart walks around in a hallway full of paintings is a homage to ''Series/NightGallery''. The paintings themselves are shout-outs to Creator/VincentVanGogh, Creator/EdvardMunch, Creator/ReneMagritte, Creator/PabloPicasso, Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, Creator/MCEscher, Creator/GiorgioDeChirico and the "Dogs Playing Poker" painting.

** Another one that's present throughout the episode. Lisa is the only one who believes a vampire is responsible for the recent killings and everyone, including Marge, acts oblivious to it all and only start taking her seriously when they catch Bart in the act of nearly indoctrinating Lisa into Mr. Burns' undead army. If the family ''weren't'' vampires all along, they would've at least took Lisa's warnings into consideration and try to rat him out to the cops, or better yet, kill him themselves at the first chance they got instead of waiting until after Bart nearly attacks Lisa to take the threat seriously.

--> '''Lisa''': ''(Upon seeing Wiggum having the police destroy an Egyptian museum wing)'' No! No! They're wrong! The creature they seek is the walking undead! Nosferatu! Das Wampyr!

Just as it looks that Homer will be condemned to Hell, Marge comes in with a photo album and shows everyone their wedding photo (which was in an emergency room as Homer ate the wedding cake...before the wedding). On the back of the photo is a declaration Homer made pledging his soul to ''Marge''. The jury agrees that Homer's soul belongs to her, and he's freed -- but the Devil, sore at being cheated, turns his head into a donut. Now Homer can't resist munching on himself, and most of the town's cops are waiting outside with coffee cups...

That night, a half-asleep Homer goes to grab a midnight snack and thoughtlessly eats the last piece of the donut; the Devil appears and starts to suck him into Hell. The family awakes in the commotion and Lisa begs the Devil for a fair trial; he grudgingly agrees to this but demands that Homer spend a day in Hell. Down below, Homer finds himself chopped into pieces and given an ironic punishment by being force-fed donuts (he manages to eat the whole supply, to the torture technician demon's confusion).

* BalefulPolymorph: Homer at the end when the Devil turns his head into a donut. Not that he seems to mind, but it's still a hazard as every police officer in town is waiting outside the Simpson house to get a piece of Homer.

* ElvisLives: Averted. Several tombstones are seen at the intro. The first one has "Music/{{Elvis|Presley}} - deal with it" on it.

* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Parodied. Homer mentions with emphasis (and spooky music) that Mister Burma's castle is.located in ''Pennsylvania!''

* FinalGirl: UpToEleven with Lisa. At the end of the segment, she is the only one of the family who is not a vampire. The episode ends before all the Simpson vampires gang up on her.

Episode - 1F04\\
First Aired - 10/28/1993

** Likewise, Homer and Marge fail to notice something wrong when Burns arrives with Bart, despite it being obvious that Burns has blood on his mouth, Bart having two bite marks on his throat and Bart acting rather zombie-like and not speaking as he normally would.

* EpicFail: Lionel Hutz tries to plead Homer's case by citing the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word "contract," [[OpenMouthInsertFoot only realizing after he's said it that he effectively clinched his client's defeat since the entry defined a contract by the quality of being unbreakable]]. He then [[BrickJoke cashes in one of his agreed-to bathroom breaks]] and [[BathroomBreakout bunks]].

-->'''Homer:''' Mmm, forbidden donut...

** Ned Flanders is the Devil. He comments that it's always the one you least expect.

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: Homer [[TropeNamers names the trope]] this episode by selling his soul for a donut from [[StealthPun Hell's kitchen]].

* EpicFail: Lionel Hutz tries to plead Homer's case by citing the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word "contract," [[OpenMouthInsertFoot only realizing after he's said it that he effectively clinched his client's defeat since the entry defined a contract by the quality of being unbreakable]]. He then [[BrickJoke cashes in on one of his agreed-to bathroom breaks]] and [[BathroomBreakout bunks]].

* EpicFail: Lionel Hutz tries to plead Homer's case by citing the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word "contract," only realizing after he's said it that he effectively clinched his client's defeat since the entry defined a contract by the quality of being unbreakable. He then [[BrickJoke cashes in on one of his agreed-to bathroom breaks]] and [[BathroomBreakout bunks]].

* EpicFail: Lionel Hutz tries to plead Homer's case by citing the Webster's Dictionary definition of the word "contract," only realizing after he's said it that he effectively clinched Homer's defeat since the definition actually defined a contract by the quality of being unbreakable. He then [[BrickJoke cashes in on one of his agreed-to bathroom breaks]] and [[BathroomBreakout bunks]].