Guillermo del Toro’s Simpsons’ Intro is a Spectacularly Spooky Homage to Horror

The director pays tribute to the history of horror in this must-see clip.

How many horror movie references can you spot in Mexican director Guillermo del Toro‘s extended intro to The Simpsons annual “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” episode? (You read that right, this is the 24th. That’s more sequels than Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street put together!) There’s Stephen King going Jack Torrance in Bart’s classroom, Edgar Allen Poe loitering with fellow genre icons, Lisa jamming on the sax with a quartet of Phantoms of the Opera, Alfred Hitchcock and the Birds. . . and so many more that we’re going to need your help to highlight them all. The director of Pan’s Labyrinth, the Hellboy franchise, and this summer’s Pacific Rim even tips his head to his own work, with Groundskeeper Willie as Hellboy and Mr. Burns as the Pale Man. According to an interview with EW, The Simpsons team invited del Toro to either appear as a guest voice, or concoct a couch gag, but instead he went all in, filling the nearly-three minute intro with what is essentially a history of classic horror. Tune in on Sunday for the full episode, though it’ll be pretty hard to beat del Toro’s tour de force.