South Park has created a lot of parodies and made a lot of references... especially to
horror movies. And although the shows Halloween specials aren’t as iconic as the ones from The
Simpsons: Treehouse of Horrors… There are some truly memorable ones that really stick with us.
And we decided that we’re going to countdown our 5 favorites.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and this Top 5 South Park Halloween Moments.
For this list we’ll be discussing some of the most quoted and well-received
episodes that are dedicated to being focused on Halloween and all the fun antics that come
along with it. Some moments are creepy, some ridiculous and some were a cluster of both…
#5 Satan’s Sweet 16
A parody of the show My Sweet Sixteen, this became one of the most well remembered South
Park Halloween moments and absolutely earns its place on the list. And it’s
also another reminder that Satan is one of the most underrated South park characters.
Not to say that Satan himself isn’t a popular character,
being a focus of the first movie and slowly gaining more attention as the series continued,
but this episode expanded on him in a hilarious way. He’s shown to have a good understanding
for human behavior and has a high standard of what counts as sin and temptation. While he had
struggled with his own worth and identity in the past, he has become more stable in recent seasons.
But in this episode, Satan took on the role of a spoiled brat. It was easy to have the
image of Satan throwing a fit about his party being perfect… All while dressed as a young
Britney Spears. Luckily he managed to get his act together and not act like the young
teens Matt and Trey were making fun of, but seeing Satan spend the majority of the episode
wanting to make sure he was the hottest and doing things Diddy didn’t was amusing. And
having three killers doing their own version of the stooges in their subplot…
And seeing Butters struggle with an angry Biggie Smalls made it a chaotic holiday episode.
Like the other spots on this list, it had all the fun charm of the holiday while still
making reference to other episodes in the season and staying true to the characters
presented. There are a lot of shows out there that make Halloween specials or collections
where they play it as a sort of separate universe to the one we normally deal with,
but South Park stands apart. They keep the overall story arcs the same,
but throw some Halloween fun into the mix to help progress the show.
#4 Facetime or (Block)bust
We have to include this mess of an episode. Many of those that have enjoyed South Park over the
years have a good memory of Blockbuster still being popular before streaming services such
as Netflix. That made this episode not only a nostalgic one for its references to things such
as the Shining, but also made it something the older audience members cringed at.
Seeing the residents of South Park at their worst over the holiday, it was a memorable episode.
Randy’s reaction to being in denial about no one using Blockbuster anymore was a pretty
relatable one. To start with anyway. But we all know by now that any situation with Randy
is going to become an exaggerated nightmare. And this time was no different, with the older
Marsh soon spiraling into insanity. He began to hallucinate and see people in the store.
And started talking to employees who weren’t there, keeping his family
within the Blockbuster and insisting they couldn’t leave because they were needed.
On the other side of the spectrum, we also had the children acting a bit irrational
about their own situation. Stan, being stuck in the video store with his family,
was left with the option to facetime trick or treating with his friends,
only to be held hostage and acting as if he was being tortured when the screen was cut. He even
acted like he was knocked out when the tablet was ditched and the screen was nursed back to health.
Stan no doubt gets his overdramatic nature from his dad, because it was way over the top.
#3 Tegrady Farms Special
Shown in one of the newer seasons, this was a hit or miss with a lot of people.
A mummy with an unhealthy obsession with Butters,
Shelly creating a spell to take out her anger on everyone else and a town overrun with zombies.
We’ve already mentioned Randy and his overreactions, but this special made him
come off as not only ridiculous but inconsiderate. Throughout the episode he talks about how Shelly’s
intolerance for marajuana is damaging the family. When his daughter stands her ground, lashing out
and trying to destroy the crop, his response is to have the police lock her in a holding cell.
It was already weird seeing pot based zombies, the plant taking over the people it infected.
But a decomposing Winnie the Pooh made it even more messed up. The whole thing was followed
with cattle raised from the dead and Winnie the Pooh openly threatening Randy and Towlie.
But the final nail in the coffin? The fact that none of those horrible zombies were
there and it was just an effect of the Halloween Special Randy was handing out.
While this episode had been a weird mix of liked and hated, it did have a bunch of creepy elements
while still holding true to the canon nature of the show. Butters gets wrapped up in crazy
situations where he’s seen as the bad guy even when he isn't. Randy goes overboard trying to
express himself and his views, only for much of it to end up being just in his head. Shelly
shows her distaste and anger about the predicament she’s in and steps up to do something about it to
expose that she was the one in the right. The mix of sensational and grounded is what makes
South Park such a great show and this episode, though chaotic, held true to that dynamic.
#2 Witches
South Park has given a lot of commentary on social issues. But in one of the more
recent seasons they decided to express themselves with men in witches attire
and the whole town left to deal with the madness of a single man driven by power.
This quickly turned into a quoted moment among the fanbase, with the avoidance of the term
witch-hunt, a maddened Eric Cartman trying to get his girlfriend kidnapped and a President
Garrison saving the day. We’re placing it second since not only the main plot but
the subplot quickly became memorable for the fanbase and that’s pretty tricky to achieve.
What once was just a time of drinking Jack Daniels in Halloween outfits became a group
being terrorized for the actions of one person. Not only is this a good point to make in general,
but it especially works for a Halloween episode since a lot of groups of people are called out for
being heathens and sinister for the actions of a small percentage of misguided people.
On the other hand, we have an Eric and Heidi story, which is only a small part of their
relationship arc. It’s in this episode that Heidi realizes how Eric actually sees her, and
the relationship between them turns into a more toxic one. But if we were left by a significant
other to be kidnapped and possibly killed by a crazy witch, we would probably snap too.
This special was a crazy one, but had a fun ending with Garrison being called
on by the boys to use his connections and destroy the threat. We weren’t expecting
a laser to shoot down and disintegrate the crazed man, but it got the job done.
#1 Killer Fish
This was an episode from one of the earliest seasons of South Park. While the parallel
universe mixup was weird on it’s one, we want to mention this episode because of the fish
Stan received from his aunt. Now, for those that may not recall this episode, it was a creepy one.
The pet fish Stan had wound up being from an evil pet store that also led to the alternate
universe that the good Cartman came through. The innocent looking goldfish taunted Stan constantly,
writing ‘kill’ inside of his bowl, leaving victims in Stan’s room and
even drowning Kenny while Stan and Kyle tried to figure out what to do with it.
But the creepiest part of this was Sharon’s misunderstanding
of what was happening. When she saw bodies in her son’s room,
she didn’t listen to Stan’s worries about the fish. Instead she believed her son was
the one doing the murders and was just blaming the deaths on the pet as a sort of defense mechanism.
Her response to all this? She started hiding the bodies and smothering Stan with affection,
trying to protect him from what she thought was his own evil actions. Now Sharron is a good mom,
especially when compared to many of the other parents in South Park. It makes sense that she
would want to protect her son. But her method of doing so was almost as frightening as the
pet itself. For that reason, we are placing this as the top South Park Halloween moment.
But what do you think? What were the most memorable South Park Halloween moments?
Let us know in the comment section. Don't forget to hit that notification bell
and binge our Good-to-Evil playlist. Where we break down the morality of
the characters in your favorite cartoons, shows and movies. But most importantly, stay wicked!