That’s right, that’s the reference to “Jaws” in the latest “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror” episode, which closely mimics John Williams’ iconic score.
Composer Kara Talve credits “Jaws” as a major reference. Tarbe is no stranger to composing music for “Treehouse of Horror,” the annual horror-themed episode of “The Simpsons,” currently in its 37th season. She is a member of Bleeding Fingers Music, a collective founded by Hans Zimmer over a decade ago. Tarbe is in his sixth round with score producer Russell Emanuel.
In this episode, Springfield is “under threat from a mysterious murderous monster coming out of the sewers, Krusty has a demonic special guest on his live Halloween special, and we are transported into the town’s poseable plastic post-apocalyptic future a thousand years in the future.”
This episode is divided into three segments, the first of which is titled “The Last Days of Crisco.” The Fatberg is a monster that sucks the fat out of its victims, parodying “Jaws.” Emanuel explains, “The music for Fatberg had to be fun, unpleasant, and unpleasant. So we had to score it unpleasant.”
Talve added, “‘Jaws’ was the biggest reference for Fatberg, so we went very John Williams, with heavy orchestral music and loud, flashy brass.” The two moved the notes around to create a cacophony, amplifying the jarring effect.
In “Night of the Devil and Clowns,” the Devil (voiced by Idris Elba) appears and causes chaos, throwing Krusty the Clown’s show into chaos. Unlike the previous segment, the music veered away from orchestral sounds and leaned towards a synth-heavy tone. Tarbe points out that the film “references ‘A Night with the Devil,'” reimagining the 2023 horror film from Cameron Cairns and Colin Cairns. “We saw this because Mike Price, the showrunner, kept mentioning the demonic snorts that he wanted to get out of the characters who were possessed by demons,” Tarve says. After watching the film, she finally understood the meaning of the roar Price was referring to. “He really wanted the music to feel like it was coming from within the characters, rather than being scored.”
“Plastic World” moves away from horror and leans into a dystopian depiction of Springfield, imagining a world covered in Buzz Cola bottles. In this section, the famous woodwind player Pedro Eustache appeared with a large selection of woodwind instruments. “He used a wilding horn,” Talve said, and in addition, Eustache, who is known for making many of his own instruments, brought in pipes.
“He built this huge thing out of PVC pipe,” Emanuel says. “He was a big part of the sound of ‘Plastic World’.”
