Guillermo Del Toro Directs ‘The Simpsons’ Opening For Treehouse Of Horror XXIV [Video]
From the archive: published Oct 3, 2013, 13 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Guillermo Del Toro directed the opening for The Simpsons “Treehouse Of Horror” episode this year and it’s pretty amazing.
The intro is a non-stop salute to horror films. Everyone from Alfred Hitchcock, to Stephen King, to Frankenstein can be seen in the epic three minute long opening.
Del Toro said that he tried to find a monster that fit each of the character’s personalities. For Mr. Burns and Smithers, for instance, he used the pale man and his fairy’s from Pan’s Labrynth.
Del Toro said: “It defined the relationship between Burns and Smithers perfectly. That was the thing that I enjoyed the most — to take what we feel when we’re watching the title sequence or the characters and make it organic.”
The director reference a few of his own projects, like Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, but he also referenced classics like The Shining, The Birds, and Frankenstein.
Del Toro said: “There’s a lot of stuff in the title sequence that’s pretty graphic but it would be great to make a Treehouse of Horror that is really scary — that actually makes you shiver.”
Here’s a look at the opening sequence from this year’s “Treehouse of Horror” episode.