Guillermo del Toro Directs The Ultimate “Simpsons” Opening

Even if you haven’t watched a new episode of The Simpsons in years, make time for Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of the show’s opening credits for “Treehouse of Horror XXIV.” It’s a visually-dense, reference-heavy love letter to both horror and The Simpsons, and it’s executed expertly by the show’s regular team of animation artists. The 2-minute-45-second piece was posted online ahead of its TV debut this Sunday:

Del Toro explained the opening concept to Entertainment Weekly:

“I really wanted to land the connections between the [show’s] set pieces and the titles and some of the most iconic horror movies, and intersperse them with some of my stuff in there for pure joy. For example the idea that Ms. Krabappel could be outside the school with Alfred Hitchcock which is a reference to the sequence in The Birds that happens outside of the school in Bodega Bay. To use Chief Wiggum as the Cyclops from Harryhausen, dipping the [Lard Lad] donut in a water tank, to have the nuclear spill from Mr. Burns’ plant create zombies — all of this stuff seems to make sense to interconnect. If Homer really gets a radioactive isotope, he could turn into a reaper from Blade. Or the famous shot that is always in the titles — Maggie driving and then you pull back and there’s Marge driving, right? But in this case Maggie is driving, and she’s driving the car from the horror movie from the 70s called The Car, which is one of my favorite guilty pleasure B-movies. And what if Lisa is in the music class, but she’s in the music class with every Phantom of the Opera ever made? It was a unique opportunity.”