Remember the Treehouse of Horror 14 title sequence?

Out of an interesting and tight opening for the 2002 show, we now look to a little different approach as the 14th Halloween Special opens.

This time around we see Charlie Brown and Lucy sitting down with a haul of Halloween candy.

Rather these are costumes, and Bart pulls his mask, annoyed at his haul, the candy not being particularly good. (I remember that. Those dreadful candies that looked and tasted like Styrofoam peanuts...)

Lisa pulls off her mask and is pleased with her haul, but decides to greedily grab and eat some of Bart's candy,

And Bart retaliates.

And Lisa strikes back.

And Bart responds.

But he misses the mark.

And Homer decides that the kids need to learn a lesson.

And he misses his mark.

And Grandpa ignites. And with that, Marge has had enough.

But Homer thinks the kids need to learn a lesson, a severe one.

And he starts thumping away, the kids dodging as they can.

And with that, Marge has had enough.

And she shoots Homer. His blood splatters.

And that forms the title.

Meanwhile...to lighten things up...Kodos and Kang are watching Earth.

And they are pissed. Halloween Specials in November!

It's time for Christmas!

...Well.

That was quite and opening. It was dark. It was macabre. And it was not short. It was a grisly little tale.

But what the 12th gave us felt like a natural outgrowth of a horrible accident. But this one gives us the Simpsons turning homicidal on each other. Not a first in a Halloween Special. But by the end, with Homer and Marge, it's turned into a horrible domestic violence call to the police. So it looses something with me.

Any who, this season's show gives us...

and

and

...which gave us...

and

and

and

Better ending than start.


Now on to Year XV!