Chuck Dixon unleashes Tahn-Enn-Bahm The Christmas Tree from Another World.

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Just three days before Christmas Lisa convinces Homer and family to use a live tree. Camouflaged by the other firs, Than-Enn-Bahm is able to fool the family and escape to their living room.

Lisa discovers the deception, but is saved by Homer’s clumsiness and the combination of water and electricity. The Earth is saved…or is it?

The Illustrative Man, by Batton Lash, offers vignettes of ink that come to life.

Based on The Illustrated Man, a 1951 book authored by Ray Bradbury, the second feature of 1998 ties up the book for another year.

The Illustrated Man was later translated to film starring Rod Steiger. While the source material featured 18-short stories, the movie only featured three, The Veldt, The Long Rain and The Last Night of the World.

A remake was rumored in 2007, but has yet to be green lit.

Immigration of the Body Snatchers! is 1997’s main offering in the “third throat-throttling issue.”

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Evan Dorkin spends the bulk of book burying Invasion of the Body Snatchers, plus taking a slew of similar films with it.

Homer plays the unlikely hero in the 1997 parody of the original 1956-black and white, Superscope indie Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That, in turn, was based upon the 1954 book The Body Snatchers.

This is another film made on the cheap – about $350,000 – with huge returns. Initial receipts tallied over $1 million, finally eclipsing $2.5 million in the United States alone.

Invasion was remade in 1978, earning over $25 million.

Warner Brothers returned to the well with another version in 1993, this time under the name Body Snatchers. It was met with mixed reviews and minimal box office returns.

A fourth adaptation was released in 2007 entitled The Invasion. As with the previous incarnation, the film failed to make back costs; having a $65 to $80 million budget and grossing $40.2 million.

Finishing the book is the short, Fatal Reception. Bart and Lisa turn the tables on Homer. The Simpson patriarch has ransomed room and board for half the Halloween candy take. The siblings relent, but also plot revenge.

Paul Dini chose The Blob as the movie to parody in the second installment of Bart’s Tree House of Horror and Sideshow Blob! is the star of the book.

Bob volunteers to play guinea pig for Doctor Nick. The quack with the sheepskin unleashes a gelatinous giant on Springfield. His obsession with killing Bart creates mass destruction as he oozes in pursuit. Bob meets an icy reception and demise at the Kwik-E-Mart.

Originally The Blob was a low-budget, independent film released in 1958. It claims Steve McQueen made his Hollywood debut in the this otherwise second feature to I Married a Monster from Outter Space.

A sequel, Beware! the Blob, was released in 1972 starring Larry Hagman.

Tri-Star pictures remade the movie in 1988, but only saw a return of $8.2 million for its $19 million budget.

Peter Bagge authors The Exosister in the second installment.

Lisa finds herself possessed by the spirit of Madonna. An abbreviated version of The Exorcist follows as the mass media darling of daring is expelled from Lisa’s soul.

Anyone familiar with comic books knows Dini’s name. Bagge’s name is not as synonymous with comic books, but his black humor alternatives, Hate and Neat Stuff, were another cornerstone of the grunge experience of the 1990s.

The Exorcist was a more popular media darling. Released in 1973, the film grossed $1.9 million in its opening weekend. It went on to make $441 million worldwide.

The film was nominated for a Best Picture by the Academy. Patton took Oscar home that year. In retrospect, the film has been honored by being chosen by the National Film Registry for preservation.

Hard to believe, but Halloween season is upon us. Welcome to October with the first of a series of haunted treats.

Opening the book is a story of Lisa’s science experiment that runs amok in Little Shop of Homers.

What appears to be a cash cow becomes a deadly liability. Until Homer comes to the rescue – of donuts.

Of course, this is a lampoon of The Little Shop of Horrors, Roger Corman’s 1960 horror/comedy based on the 1932 John Colliier short story Green Thoughts.

It was repurposed as a “horror comedy rock musical” with music by Alan Menken in 1982. It began as an off-Broadway production, but moved into the limelight.

The play was then adapted to film in 1986 by Frank Oz.

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Next is the Bart Simpson, master of disguise, presents the “quick ‘n’ easy, low budget do-it-yourself guide to cool costumes” offering some less than desirable choices for trick or treat in a one-page special.

Call Me Homer is a different take on the Moby Dick legend. Wishing to seem important, Grandpa tells a tale of an ancestor who was a whaling man. His lust for blubber brought Herman Melville’s story to a different conclusion, and started the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.

Bart People is a parody of the 1942 RKO Pictures classic Cat People.

Lisa is away for a week. When she returns, she notices some differences, but not enough to condone Bart’s revelation they are cat people.

Music soothes the savage beast and Bart is given a new home in the Springfield Zoo. Watch the final panels for the foreshadowing.

The original Cat People was redone in 1982 with David Bowie providing the title track to the film.

Treehouse of Horrors first aired Oct. 25, 1990, and became an annual tradition. Each consist of three-separate segments. Themes are either horror, sci-fi or supernatural.

This year we’re doing something a little different. We’ll be focusing on the Tree House of Horror series by featuring all 23 issues during October. Please join us as we celebrate the haunting season with a skewed vision of the season.