Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Honourable Mentions: The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horor XXI

It has been quite some time, all the way back to Bart Simpson’s Dracula in Treehouse of Horror IV that the Simpsons have parodied vampires in their Halloween special. Of course, this episode was on the back of Twilight but it was done with the atypical Simpson’s style and skill. The episode aired in 2010 and was directed by Bob Anderson.

halting a Segway
All the girls are smitten by the new boy at Springfield elementary, Edmund (Daniel Radcliffe), but he seems to have eyes for Lisa (Yeardley Smith). The school bus careens towards her and he stops it by hand. This opens into a gag reel of vehicles being stopped by him until eventually Otto appears (again) on a Segway. Edmund runs off with Lisa.

Team Millhouse
He takes her up a tree in the Springfield forest and reveals his vampire nature… yes these vampires have fangs. In a moment of absolute genius they have Millhouse (Pamela Hayden) witness to the moment between Lisa and Edmund and becoming so angry that he turns… into a poodle, how wonderfully they nailed the source they were parodying.

using the cross
Edmond and his father go to tea at the Simpson’s home and dad is a typical Lugosian vampire, complete with faux-Hungarian accent. Edmund and Lisa sneaking off is cause for the elder vampire and Homer (Dan Castellaneta) to go after the pair, through the vampire district, which is complete with a Count von Count. It turns out that these vampires do fear the cross and that eternity as an eight year old vampire is not quite what Lisa was looking for.

cbs - Homer style
I do have to mention the wonderfully crap bat moment, of Homer turned into a vampire who in turn transforms into a podgy – too heavy to fly – bat. It also turns out that Cholesterol is deadly to vampires! It was a wonderful way to spend Halloween; parodying Twilight in the company of the Simpsons.

The episode’s imdb page is here.

No comments: