Although Get Duked!, an obscure horror-comedy movie from 2019. The Simpsons has based many episodes of the long-running series on all manner of surprising source material over its 33 seasons. Over the decades, the show has retold Shakespeare, parodied classic horror movies, and reimagined Bible stories as part of the cast’s adventures.
The series has been on the air so long that one Simpsons season 33 episodes copied the show itself (although the outing changed enough details to still feel fresh). As such, it should come as no surprise to discover that The Simpsons season 33 episode 12 is another extended homage to an earlier piece of media. However, the sheer obscurity of the movie that the episode references is pretty notable.
2019’s Scottish indie horror-comedy Get Duked! tells the story of three juvenile delinquents (and a requisite nerdy kid hoping to improve their academic CV) who get chased along a wilderness trail by cult-ish killers after being sent on a personal improvement, team-building hike. This specific premise is recreated to a tee in The Simpsons season 33, episode 12, “Boyz N the Highlands." Now, as fans of The Simpsons’ annual "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween specials can attest, the show spoofing a famous horror movie is not a new phenomenon. The difference is that Get Duked! is already a comedy as well as a horror, and this Simpsons season 33 outing doesn’t spoof the existing movie per se.
Instead, the plot of “Boyz N the Highlands” tells essentially the same story as the obscure (but critically well-received) movie without ever formally acknowledging where the outing has borrowed its plot from. That said, The Simpsons episode doesn’t hide its inspiration, either. As if to further underline the Get Duked! reference, the episode is soundtracked with Scottish folk music, and the group is chaperoned by Groundskeeper Willie (even though their highland trail is presumably somewhere in America, despite looking more like Scotland than the Simpson’s home country).
This results in a Ready Or Not upon its original release. As for The Simpsons, season 33 has thus far been able to at least partially reverse the show’s critical downturn with solid reviews, so hopefully, mining inspiration from sources as obscure as Get Duked! will see the show’s creative energies reignited even further.
New episodes of The Simpsons air Sundays on Fox.