The Simpsons: Every Treehouse Of Horror Ranked Worst To Best
3. I. Bad Dream House; Hungry Are The Damned; The Raven
Let's be perfectly honest here; every Simpsons fan reading this knows how iconic The Raven episode is. It was as brave as it is inventive, taking long-form poetry and not messing with it in any way. For something as mainstream as The Simpsons to do that was (and still is) a major creative statement.
It is beautifully atmospheric, the relationship between Bart the Raven and Homer feels like a progression from the main show (which is insane given the source), and it has reappropriated Poe's play for the mainstream in a very meaningful way. This basically proved that The Simpsons didn't need to fear mashing up with lofty cultural reference points.
The other two segments in the episode aren't quite as strong or as memorable on their own, but they come bundled with The Raven, and they obviously deserve their place close to the top thanks to being the first ever Treehouse. Sure, the episode saw the debut of Kang and Kodos, but they hadn't grown tiresome yet, and the Amityville horror riff is as good as most segments that followed it in the next 27 years.