SHOCK takes a peek at six sick Halloween episodes of your favorite non-genre shows…
While every day is Halloween for us horror fans, the rest of the mainstream world waits until the month of October to catch up with our awesome creepiness. One of the ways in which they do this by bringing , gore and goblins into otherwise innocuous sitcoms and TV shows. Here are some of our favorites from recent years.
ROSEANNE – Boo!
Roseanne has always done Halloween right, and every Halloween episode of this series was special. Their first Halloween episode, Boo! is the stand-out, ushering in the modern standard of Halloween episodes. Dan and Roseanne spend the episode trying to out-prank one another, all while turning their house into the Tunnel of Terror, a haunted house for trick-or-treaters.
Stand-Out Costume: Frankly, the Roseanne costume that always stands out to me isnt from this episode; it is from Halloween IV: Dan and Jackie go as Marie Antoinette – after the beheading.
COMMUNITY – Epidemiology
Community has had lots of great themed episodes, and has even had a lot of great themed Halloween episodes. None compare to Epidemiology, one of my favorite Halloween-themed episodes of any series. During the Halloween dance, the dean serves expired canned meat from the army surplus store, and it ends up turning those who eat it into zombies. What makes the evening even more horrifying is that the students are locked in the school with the deans ABBA playlist playing on repeat.
Stand-Out Costume: Troy realizes that his Alien-inspired costume is dorky, so he strips off his shirt, puts a toilet seat protector over his head, and writes Sexy Dracula on it.
THE SIMPSONS – Treehouse of Horror
With twenty-six Treehouse of Horrors episodes in the can (and a twenty-seventh set to air next week) it is nearly impossible to choose just one episode as the top. The ones that stick out to me include: Clown Without Pity from #3, with the evil frogurt; The Shining spoof from #5; the Dracula spoof and Homer and the deadly donut from #4; School is Hell from #26; and the Freaks spoof from #25.
Stand-Out Costume: Bart dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange in Treehouse III.
MODERN FAMILY – Halloween
Unoriginal title aside, Halloween is a love letter to the holiday, and reminiscent of the Roseanne Halloween specials. It is Claires favorite holiday, so she is planning a haunted house for trick-or-treaters, and requires her entire family take part. Not everyone loves Halloween. No one takes it as seriously, which drives Claire crazy. Cam deals with a childhood trauma that stems from Halloween; Mitchell attempts to bring the Halloween spirit to work, and it backfires; after Manny and Jay tease her about her accent, Gloria starts talking weird. All of this leads to a failed haunted house that drives Claire crazy, but naturally, it all comes together in the end.
Stand-Out Costume: Hayleys Sexy Mother Teresa costume – a skintight white dress with a tablecloth over her head.
AMERICAN DAD! – Best Little Horror House in Langley Falls
Stan has long been known for having the scariest haunted house on the block. When his new neighbors, Buckle and Shari, come up with something so scary Francine cant keep away, Stan feels ashamed – he should be the one scaring the piss out of his wife! In order to do that, he uses his CIA contacts to bring in real – caged – serial killers. Behind glass, they arent very scary, so Roger releases them into the house and the real terror begins.
Stand-Out Costume: Stans slutty Cowardly Lion.
SOUTH PARK – Pinkeye
It was tough to pick just one Halloween South Park, but I had to go with their first one, Pinkeye. Kenny is killed (as per usual) but Worcestershire sauce mixes with embalming fluid, turning him into a zombie. The town just thinks this is a case of pinkeye, and idiocy ensues.
Stand-Out Costume: Cartman dresses as Hitler for Halloween, which offends many. The school principal gives him a ghost costume, but it looks more like a KKK costume than a ghost.
Any awesome spook-centric Halloween TV shows to add? Blast them in the comments section below!
