Before the New ‘Cape Fear,’ A Look Back on ‘The Simpsons’ Parody – 5 Things You Should Know

In 1993, The Simpsons gleefully steered its family station wagon into much darker waters, delivering a wickedly inspired parody of Martin Scorsese’s 1991 thriller Cape Fear, starring Robert De Niro, which itself was a glossy, teeth-bared remake of the 1962 suspense classic starring Robert Mitchum, which was in turn based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners

The episode, cheekily titled “Cape Feare,” transformed the horror tale of stalking and vengeance into a carnival ride of ill-placed rakes, delightful show tunes, and courtroom absurdity, with Sideshow Bob stepping in as Springfield’s answer to Max Cady. What could have been a simple spoof became something far stranger and smarter: a note-perfect collision of prestige cinema and cartoon chaos, where high art, low blows, and slapstick dread all shared the same houseboat.