Treehouse of Horror XXVIII/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ Whistler's Father

Treehouse of Horror XXVIII

Grampy Can Ya Hear Me ►

Cultural References

Opening Sequence

• The title, understood as "The Sweets Hereafter," is a parody of the movie "The Sweet Hereafter."
• The concept of this sequence is similar to the R-rated CGI comedy, Sausage Party.
• Barterfinger is a parody of Butterfinger, and is also a reference to Bart's popular Butterfinger campaign.
• Oh Homer! is a parody of Nestle's Oh Henry!.
• Marge Bar is a parody of the Mars bar.
• Maggie is shaped like a Ring Pop, with the large hard candy "jewel" resembling her pacifier and the plastic ring resembling the rest of her face.
• Mint Peppermint Patty and Mint Peppermint Selma are both parodies of the York Peppermint Pattie.
• Senior Mints is a parody of Junior Mints.
• Kirkish Taffy is a parody of Turkish Taffy.
• Chalmond Joy is a parody of Almond Joy.
• Nelson's Crunch is a parody of Nestlé Crunch.
• Bazooka Moe is a parody of the Bazooka chewing gum and Bazooka Joe.
• Nerds Box is a parody of Nerds.
• Apple Lisa mentions that nobody wants her just because she is an apple, and she thinks they might be frightened if there was a razor blade in her. This is a reference to an urban legend where news reports say that children supposedly received candy apples with pins and razor blades in them during the 60s and 70s.

The Exor-Sis

• The title of this segment is a spoof and reference to "The Exorcist". The segment also parodies the film throughout.
• The demonic possessed Maggie breathing out fire is similar to what the demonic possessed Mr. Lansing did to Father Lansing in the 2003 film "Exorcism".
• The demonic possessed Maggie spinning her head 360 degrees is another reference to "The Exorcist", and is the second time to refer the 360 degree head scene; the first being Treehouse of Horror with Maggie as well. Bart's head spinning 360 degrees when Pazuzu possesses him is another reference to the scene.
• The song at the beginning of the segment is very similar to Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" from "The Exorcist".
• The first scene of the segment, in which people discover Pazuzu in Iraq, is based on the first scene from "The Exorcist".
• The demonic possessed Maggie interrupting Marge's cocktail party is based on Regan MacNeil interrupting Chris MacNeil's party in "The Exorcist".
• The demonic possessed Maggie dispatching Helen Lovejoy, Dr. Hibbert, and Ned Flanders in grotesque manners is very similar to Regan doing the same in "The Exorcist".
• The demonic possessed Maggie's voice is similar to the voice of the possessed Linda Blair in "The Exorcist", which was played by Mercedes McCambridge.
• When Irish Eyes Are Smiling - A red-eyed, possessed Homer sings this to Maggie as "When Pazuzu's Eyes Are Glaring".
• After Ned suggests to perform an exorcism on Maggie, Reverend Lovejoy replies that he's afraid they didn't teach him those at Pepperdine. While the THOH series is non-canon, this implies that Lovejoy got his divinity degree at Pepperdine University, but apparently didn't minor in demonology.
• After the Irish Priest asks Marge and Homer to cut the possessed Maggie loose, he tries to put them at ease by saying that if you can't trust a Catholic priest with a child, who can you trust. This is a reference to the Catholic Church's cover-up of priestly child abuse.
• After Pazuzu enters Bart's body, he claims that Bart has a darker soul than anyone it ever possessed, which is worse than working for David Schwimmer. This is a reference to former co-stars' allegations that Schwimmer was difficult to work with.

Coralisa

• The title and plot of the segment is a parody of "Coraline". The segment also parodies the film throughout.
• Maggie's "throw up" while still having a touch of Pazuzu is another reference to "The Exorcist", in which Regan explosively vomits a green-gray liquid upon the priests.
• The other Simpson family's world is entirely in CGI, which looks very similar to the 3D stop-motion animation in Coraline.
• Lisa's real family becomes enamored with the Other Simpson family's world rather than the Other Marge Simpson kidnapping Homer and Marge (like in the film).
• Homer decapitating the Other Bart Simpson and the Other Marge Simpson morphing into an arachnid version of herself are both similar to what happens in the film.
• Nelson with his mouth zipped is a parody of the Other Wybie (who had his mouth sewn shut).
• According to Homer, the reason the house doesn't have a smoke alarm is because smoke is its own alarm, a reference to the phrase, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

MMM...Homer

• Homer King is a parody of Burger King.
• El Polo Homo is a parody of El Polo Loco.
• Kentucky Fried Simpson is a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
• Der Homerschnitzel is a parody of Weinerschnitzel.
• Fatzo Bell is a parody of Taco Bell.
• The last time Homer got his finger cut off was in Trilogy of Error (however, in that episode, Marge accidentally cut off Homer's thumb, while in this episode, Homer got his finger cut off by himself while trying to cut his forgotten hot dog (which was still frozen), and later cuts the rest of his fingers off when cannibalizing himself).
• Game of Thrones - Mentioned during the disclaimer at the beginning when Lisa says that the segment is so disgusting that you will watch Game of Thrones to calm down.
• Home Alone - Ned calls Homer "Homer Aloner" while greeting him.
• Breakfast at Tiffany's - Mentioned by Homer when he answers Bart's question about the oven mitts on his hands after Bart and the rest of his family come back from Ohio. Homer replies that he was watching the movie and thought he could be more elegant. Homer's oven mitts also allude to Holly Golightly's iconic look from the film and poster (where she wears a pair of long black gloves).
• On the Road Again - Homer sings this as "Left Alone Again" while in his homebound gluttony-fest.
• Hallelujah! - This is sung as "Hey, You Ate You", which was played twice in the segment.
• After Lenny wonders how the food industry managed to stretch Homer out (despite his status as a sizable gent), Carl tells him that they stretched him out with bits of Barney, Jeffery Alberson, and horse meat, much to Lenny's horror about horse meat being mentioned. This is a reference and spoof to the 2013 horse meat scandal, where it was discovered in Europe that several suppliers to major brands contained up to one-third horse meat. Aside from the age-old taboo against eating equine flesh, beef suppliers have a long history of fluffing up their so-called 100% beef products with less-expensive horse meat.
• At the end of the segment, Homer asks Jesus if he knows what it's like to have everyone eat of your body, but Jesus rolls his eyes while saying, "Yeah, like every Sunday, pal." This is a reference to the metaphoric weekly ritual where Christians and Catholics drink wine (or grape juice) and eat a communion wafer, which symbolizes ingesting the body and blood of Christ and absolving the consumer of their earthly sins.

Trivia

• This is the third Treehouse of Horror special to have one of the segments directly reference another segment, after Treehouse of Horror XIV and Treehouse of Horror XXVI. In this case, the beginning of Coralisa has Marge mentioning that Maggie cannot go with Lisa as she "still has a touch of Pazuzu", referring to her possession from "The Exor-Sis".
• This is the first THOH special since Treehouse of Horror V to have an opening scene in which a Simpson character comes out of the curtain and speaks to the audience. In this case, it is used at the beginning of "MMM...Homer" as a disclaimer that the segment is disgusting, which also features Lisa speaking to the audience (but doesn't come out of the curtain that's behind her).
• Despite the title card saying "The Simpsons Easter Special" at first before getting covered with chocolate and the dark chocolate words "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII", the show never had a proper Easter special (although there have been several episodes centered around the spring holiday).

Goofs

• Despite Maggie's first word being "Daddy" in Lisa's First Word, Marge is amazed that the demonic possessed Maggie's sentence, "No one leaves alive", are her first words. This is inconsistent with Lisa's First Word, as in that episode, her first word was "Daddy". Since this episode is non-canon and Lisa's First Word is canon, either Marge could have mistaken the demonic possessed Maggie's sentence as her first words, or she might have forgot about Maggie's first real word. It should also be noted that technically, Homer already left the room and Maggie was alone, so she may have simply not even known that Daddy was Maggie's first word.
• In MMM...Homer, Homer's index fingers are suddenly back on his hands, after being eaten by him in previous scenes, when he is pulling out his tooth to top a cupcake with.