Dial "Z" For Zombies - The Simpson's Halloween Special 3

The Simpson's Halloween Special 3

Dial "Z" For Zombies:

For many, The Simpson's Halloween Special 3 is a show that evades them after having only seen it once or possibly twice many years ago. The other episodes are shown all the time, but the third and most notable Halloween Special, the third one is basically never shown.

But I was lucky to have caught it on Sky TV on, of all days, Christmas Day! Finally, I had found the episode I had been searching for over the past couple of years at least.

I remember the first time I saw it and experienced the final short horror yarn in the episode's trio of terrible tales, "Dial 'Z' For Zombies." I say bolt upright and watched it in all it's hilarity as well as nodding references to such classic zombie movies as "Night of the Living Dead", "Return of the Living Dead" and "Pet Cemetery."

The connecting segments of the whole episode itself involve a Halloween party at the Simpson's residence where Bart is dressed as Alex DeLarge from "A Clockwork Orange." Just before the zombie tale, the door is kicked open, much to their fright, but a nearly fully beheaded, groaning zombie, which it turns out to be is Flanders playing a rather un-Christian prank on the kids.

Filled with classic dialogue, killer scenes and hoards of flesh-eating, brain-searching zombies, "Dial 'Z' For Zombies" remains, for myself and many others, the finest Simpson's Halloween tale ever!

The Story:

As the tradition goes with the early Simpson's Halloween specials at least, the story is of course macabre and based around horror movies or horror fiction stories.

"Dial 'Z' For Zombies" (DZFZ) is not an exception to this initial rule of Simpson's Halloween specials.

The story begins at Springfield Elementary where Bart is giving a talk on a book he has mostly read, a pre-schoolers alphabet book. Due to Mrs K's obvious annoyance, Bart is made to read another book, so on his trip to the Springfield library he comes across the Occult Section where he finds a book of spells, which leads him to find one to raise the dead.

It is four years since the Simpson's first cat, Snowball 1 got killed by Mayor Quimby's brother Clovis and Bart has an idea that maybe they can bring their dearly departed cat back from the dead.

They therefore go the pet cemetery; situated right next to the people cemetery, where Bart stands high and proud at the foot of Snowball 1's grave complete with Michael Jackson top hat on. However, he recites the wrong spell and instead of raising their dead cat, they raise zombies from the people cemetery next door.

Bart and Lisa are forced to run back to their house where they hide out till the next day when they, for some stupid reason, go back to school, which is now ran by a zombi-fied Principle Skinner who seeks pleasure in eating his student's brains.

That evening back at the Simpson's residence the family are boarding up the windows and doors while Homer watches a zombi-fied Krusty the Klown ask for kids to send him their parent's brains. However, due to Homer's typically lazy nature he's left the back door insecure and the zombies break in, but as he has no brains that the zombies are after he is able to get his family to the master bedroom where they decide there has to be a spell in another book in the Occult section of the library that will reverse the spell.

On their journey to the library they meet many of Springfield's zombi-fied residences, which Homer is quick to dispatch in Arnie style with his rifle.

They proceed to the library and Bart finds a spell, which initially turns Lisa into a snail, but then sends out a beam, which turns the zombies back in their tracks and towards their graves.

All is once again safe and they can all go back to their traditional living, sat in front of the TV like a group of vegetating zombies.

Quotes:

"Nice try Mr Flanders, but I've got a story so scary you'll wet your pants!" Bart
"Too late." Grampa

"Bart, do you intend to tell me you read a book for pre-schoolers?" Mrs K
"Yes, most of it." Bart

"Evil, evil, madness, beware, beware!" Voices in Occult book.
"Cool!" Bart * slams book *
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Voices in Occult book.

"Chapter eight, let's talk zombies. If a zombie bites you, you become a zombie and you must walk the earth feeding on the brains of the living until the spell is broken." Bart
"Bart please, don't you know that Snowball 1 died 4 years ago tonight, run over by the Mayor's beer swilling brother, Clovis." Lisa
"Hey, maybe there's a spell in her that'll bring her back from the dead!" Bart * flips through several wrong chapters * "Ah, here we are - 'How to raise the dead.'" * evil laugh *

"It's not working * sigh * Bart! You cast the wrong spell! Zombies!" Lisa
"Please, Leese, they prefer to be called the living impaired." Bart

"There, pretty as a picture" * zombies burst from ground and walk away * "Ach! Zombies!" *pats soil down again with a spade * "There, pretty as a picture." Groundskeeper Willie

"Why howdy strangers, what can I do you for?" Flanders
"Brains!" Zombies
"Why Sue Dokes you rascal, I thought you were dead�ARGH!" Flanders

"Dad, we did something very bad!" Lisa
"Did you wreak the car?" Homer
"No." Lisa
"Did you raise the dead?" Homer
"Yes." Bart
"But the car's okay?" Homer
"Uh hu." Bart and Lisa
"Alright then." Homer

"Martin Prince, report to the Principle's office at once. And bring that juicy, chess club brain of yours along." * licks lips menacingly * Principle Skinner

"To enter, send me your parents brains!" Krusty

"Homer, did you barricade the door?" Marge
"Why? Oh, the zombies. No." Homer
"Argh!" All
"Spare my family! Take me, take me!" Homer
* Zombies tap on Homer's head and look in his ear hole *
"Brains!" Zombies

"I thought dabbling in the black arts would be good for a chuckle." Bart

* Loads shotgun * "To the book depository!" Homer

"Hey Simpson! I'm feeling a might peckish, mind if I chew on your ear?" Zombie Flanders
* Ka-blam *
"Dad! You killed the zombie Flanders!" Bart
"He was a zombie?" Homer

"KZMB - All Zombie Radio" * groans * Radio

"Barney! Not you too?" Homer
"I'm not a zombie. But hey, when in Rome. Hey look! George Washington!" Barney

"Take that Washington, eat lead Einstein, show's over Shakespeare!" Homer
"Is this the end of Zombie Shakespeare?" * groan * Zombie Shakespeare

"See you in hell."
"Still pushing that boulder?"
"Ah hu."
(Zombies going back to their graves.)

"Excuse me, I'm John Smith."
"John Smith 1882?"
"My mistake."
(Zombie John Smith's going back to their graves.)

"The er, zombies that plagued our town are now just corpses rotting in our streets." Mayor Quimby

"Well I'm sure glad we didn't turn into mindless zombies." Marge
"Shh! TV." Bart
* Thud and laugh from TV *
"Man. Fall down. Funny." Homer
* Groan * All

References to zombie movies in "The Simpson's"