As part of Season 25 of FOX’s “The Simpsons,” it was announced that their October 6 “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” would feature horror icon Guillermo del Toro directing the opener that features monsters and classic characters from horror films throughout history. That was an understatement. What you’re about to see, courtesy of EW, is the full opening that’s beyond mesmerizing. Besides the obvious self-references to his movies (like Blade 2, Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth), del Toro gives nods to all sorts of classics (my personal favorite is his Phantom of the Paradise reference), and features the likes of The Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein and many, many more…

Initially offered the opportunity to record a guest voice or whip up a simple couch gag, del Toro decided to go for gory glory and reimagine the entire opening credits, too. “The Simpsons titles are so iconic and yet they’ve never been riffed in this vein,” he tells the mag. “I really wanted to land the connections between the [show’s] set pieces and the titles and some of the most iconic horror movies, and intersperse them with some of my stuff in there for pure joy,” he says. “For example the idea that Ms. Krabappel could be outside the school with Alfred Hitchcock which is a reference to the sequence in The Birds that happens outside of the school in Bodega Bay. To use Chief Wiggum as the Cyclops from Harryhausen, dipping the [Lard Lad] donut in a water tank, to have the nuclear spill from Mr. Burns’ plant create zombies — all of this stuff seems to make sense to interconnect. If Homer really gets a radioactive isotope, he could turn into a reaper from Blade. Or the famous shot that is always in the titles — Maggie driving and then you pull back and there’s Marge driving, right? But in this case Maggie is driving, and she’s driving the car from the horror movie from the 70s called The Car, which is one of my favorite guilty pleasure B-movies. And what if Lisa is in the music class, but she’s in the music class with every Phantom of the Opera ever made? It was a unique opportunity.”

Read all about the opening over at EW.

Here’s the official release for “Treehouse of Horror XXIV”: The opener of the 24th annual “Treehouse of Horror” is from Guillermo del Toro and features monsters and classic characters from horror films throughout history. In “Oh The Places You’ll D’oh,” the first of three spine-tingling stories, Homer rides around Springfield wreaking havoc as “The Fat in The Hat” in a rhyming Dr. Seuss-ian tale. In “Dead and Shoulders,” Bart is beheaded during a kite accident, his head is attached to Lisa’s body and they must live together as one. The final terrifying tale, “Freaks no Geeks,” features Mr. Burns’ traveling circus, The Burnsum and Bailey Circus, which has stopped in Springfieldland in the 1930s. Trapeze artist Marge and Strong Man Homer are performers and things go awry when circus freak Moe starts to make advances towards Marge in the all-new “Treehouse of Horror XXIV” episode of The Simpsons” airing Sunday, Oct. 6 (8:00-8:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Voice Cast: Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson; Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson; Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson and Nelson; Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson; Harry Shearer as Skinner; Pamela Hayden as Milhouse and Jimbo; Tress MacNeille as Dolph.