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Don't panic, there will be a Halloween show. But the format has been altered this year:
"This Sunday night's episode is remarkable, in that it finds a way to do something "The Simpsons" has never done before:
A real Halloween episode.
The "Treehouse of Horror" trilogies have been a "Simpsons" tradition going all the way back to season 2, but they explicitly take place outside of continuity, allowing for Homer's head to be turned into a donut, or Lisa and Bart to gain super powers to fight evil alongside Lucy Lawless, or alien invader Kang to be elected president because Americans won't vote for a third party candidate.
"Halloween of Horror," on the other hand, is a regular episode of the show that just happens to take place on Halloween. Written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Mike B. Anderson, it's primarily a Lisa and Homer story, where Lisa's so traumatized by her first visit to Krustyland's annual Halloween Horror Night that the family has to take down its traditional "Everscream Terrors" lawn display of spooky holiday decor. Bart is dismayed, and Homer is just plain worried, since his attempt to give his little Lisa a quiet and reassuring October 31 is disrupted by a trio of vengeful "pop-up scum," whom Homer accidentally got fired from Apu's pop-up Halloween store.
There are elements of "Straw Dogs," slasher movies, and even "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" — with a musical number where Bart unfortunately learns how adults celebrate the holiday — and all of it actually feels creepier than a typical "Treehouse of Horror" story because it's "real." No, nothing bad is actually going to happen to Lisa or Homer, but the creative team and Yeardley Smith make you feel her terror much more acutely than in the Grand Guignol style of the "Treehouse" tales. And like in an actual horror movie, the laughs become a more welcome tonic because the peril seems genuine.
There are, as you might expect, various winks to the show's usual Halloween tradition, including a meta exchange between Homer and Flanders about how "Treehouse of Horror XXVI" will be airing next week, but for the most part, "Halloween of Horror" plays things straight. Even with the enduring popularity of the "Treehouse" episodes, it's amazing the show's never tried a more traditional Halloween episode before. There have been many episodes set on Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Independence Day, not to mention "Simpsons"-only holidays like Whacking Day and Love Day. October 31st certainly didn't lack for coverage on the show, but this approach is one they for some reason never tried before.
And it works very well."
Alan Sepinwall, HitFix
BOO! (And I'm not trying to be scary.)