"The first of the annual Halloween spook-fest. In "Bad Dream House", the family move into an old haunted house, are possessed by an evil spirit, and attempt to kill each other. In "Hungry are the Damned", the family's abducted by aliens Kang and Kodos and are fattened up to the extent Lisa questions their motives. In "The Raven", a poem by Edgar Allan Poe is recited with the family as characters."

This is the first episode of The Simpsons to be composed by Alf Clausen, who went on to be the main composer until season 29. The idea behind the episode was to parody EC Comics, James L. Brooks said, "shocking" for a cartoon on network television. He also said this episode's tame compared to later "Treehouse of Horror" episodes.

The idea of Kang and Kodos came from Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky. Kang and Kodos' designs were based off a cover of an EC Comics issue. They were originally designed to be constantly drooling. Initially, creator Matt Groening decided against this to make the animation process easier. However, the animators didn't mind, so the drooling stayed in. The names of Kang and Kodos come from two Star Trek characters. Kang's named after a Klingon captain from the episode "Day of the Dove", and Kodos is named after Kodos the Executioner from the episode "The Conscience of the King".