If you’re a Japanese school prepare to be scared. The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror #19 includes three terrifying tales featuring all types of tentacles: alien tentacles, human-alien hybrid tentacles and even demon tentacles!
In “Cthulhu,” Bart and Milhouse are forced to clean the old abandoned school library. They put the books to good use and build a step ladder to escape out a window. Bart takes home an abridged version of the Necronomicon and summons the ancient demon Cthulhu. Soon Bart loses control of it and the people of Springfield are transformed into tentacle monsters except for stupid Flanders, which Cthulhu spits out.
The creepiest thing about this story are the realistically drawn Simpsons characters by artist Dan Brereton. The more accurate body proportions lead to some awkward scenes like an especially feminine looking Milhouse, who gets weak in the knees and appears ready to faint from sensing his impending fate.
In “Alienated,” the school lunches turn the children of Springfield into aliens. The lunch ladies reveal that they’re really Kang and Kodos.
“And Willie is really the Chupacabra,” the school groundskeeper confesses to the onlookers. “But… that might be a story for another time.”
The alien invasion is foiled by a “hackneyed Twilight Zone-ish twist” notes Comic Book Guy. The aliens are transformed into humans after eating too much food from Krusty Burger. They’re sentenced to a fate worse than death: working at Krusty Burger.
In a double twist, Krusty the clown also turns out to be an alien from the planet Kustoon. He signals his people to invade now that his fast food has made all the humans fat and stupid.
In “Monster Mash-up,” Homer is lured into a haunted house by the promise of free beer & donuts. He’s accosted by monster versions of all the people he knows, including Patty and Selma who are witches (that’s witches with a “W”).
What really scares Homer is seeing Marge’s ghost. She wants him to join her in the afterlife and he reluctantly agrees.
“Marge, I don’t care if you’re a twisted ghoul!” he professes to her. “You’re still my ghoul.”
He kisses her, which makes the robot imposter exploded. It was all an experiment by Kang and Kodos, who didn’t count on “the power of love.” They’re forced to return to using anal probes, which is fine by them.