Treehouse of Horror XXVIII/References

==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, .
*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 .
*Marge Bar is a parody of the Mars bar.
*Maggie is shaped like a , 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 .
*Senior Mints is a parody of .
*Kirkish Taffy is a parody of .
*Chalmond Joy is a parody of .
*Skinners is a parody of .
*Nelson's Crunch is a parody of .
*Bazooka Moe is a parody of the chewing gum and .
*Nerds Box is a parody of .
*K Kang and K Kodos is a parody of K Bar.
*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 1960s and 1970s.
===The Exor-Sis===
*The title of this segment is a spoof and reference to . The segment also parodies the film throughout.
*The demonic possessed Maggie breathing out fire is similar to what the demonic possessed Mr. Jerry Lansing did to Father John 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 the Pazuzu Lullaby.
*After Ned suggests to perform an exorcism on Maggie, Reverend Lovejoy replies that he's afraid they didn't teach him those at Pepperdine University. 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.
*This segment is similar to the Gravity Falls episode, "The Inconveniencing" in which Maggie Simpson and Mabel Pines are both possessed by spirits.
===Coralisa===
*The title and plot of the segment is a parody of . 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 really 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===
*This segment could be a parody of Survivor Type, a short story of Stephen King.
*Homer King is a parody of Burger King.
*El Polo Homo is a parody of .
*Kentucky Fried Simpson is a parody of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
*Der Homerschnitzel is a parody of .
*Fatzo Bell is a parody of .
*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 he was 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 home-bound 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, Comic Book Guy, 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 understands what it is 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.
*The title is a parody of Homer's catchphrase: Mmm...
==Trivia==
*The opening sequence features Homer, in candy form, eat a depressed chocolate Easter Bunny. Ironically, Theo Langyel, who was with the Northern California-based Progressive rock band Mr. Bungle when they recorded their debut demo titled "The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny" in 1986,https://www.nme.com/news/music/former-mr-bungle-member-theo-brooks-lengyel-named-as-a-person-of-interest-in-missing-persons-case-3561184 would be charged with murder by January 2, 2024, before any opportunity could come from him to reunite with Mr. Bungle since his forced departure in 1996. https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/boyfriend-arrested-homicide-missing-capitola-woman-alyx-kamakaokalani-human-remains-tilden-park/ At the time of Langyel's arrest, a film about renowned fictional candy and chocolate maker Willy Wonka was number one at the U.S. box office.https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-chart/daily/2024/01/02 https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-chart/daily/2024/01/01 https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-chart/weekend/2023/12/29 As with Wonka films, Mr. Bungle also had their albums distributed by Warner Bros., in this case Warner Bros. owned Warner Records.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-02-03-ca-616-story.html
*This episode did not air in Australia on 7mate due to the graphic scenes of cannibalism in "Mmm...Homer".
*This is the fourth Treehouse of Horror special to have one of the segments directly reference another segment, after "Treehouse of Horror XIV", "Treehouse of Horror XXIV", 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 is behind her).
*This is the second Treehouse of Horror episode (and episode in general) where Homer enjoys eating himself, the first being "Treehouse of Horror XV".
*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).
*The third Treehouse of Horror episode to use CGI, after "Treehouse of Horror VI" and "Treehouse of Horror XXV".
*This is the second episode to guest star Neil Gaiman, the first being "The Book Job".
==Goofs==
*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.
*Maggie is not seen in MMM...Homer. She is not shown leaving with Marge, Bart, and Lisa. And yet, Homer is shown to be home alone.
Category:Treehouse of Horror references
Category:Cultural references
Category:Film references
Category:Trivia
Category:Goofs