singing would not be interesting enough, and they had to include these gags to make it work. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening was surprised when he saw the additions because he originally thought they were silly and would not appear in the final cut, but he has grown to like them. Cultural references Besides borrowing the overall plot structure of the Cape Fear films, the episode made several direct references to specific scenes from the films. References to the original include: Marge's going to Chief Wiggum only to be told Sideshow Bob has not broken any laws (also references the 1991 remake). References to the 1991 remake include Sideshow Bob's tattoos; the shot of him leaving the prison gate; the scene with him smoking in the movie theater; part of his "workout" scene; his hiding under the Simpson family's car; Wiggum's rigging wire around the house to a toy doll as an alarm; his suggestion that Homer can do anything to someone who enters his home; Bob, strapped under a car, pulling up beside Bart for a conversation; and Homer's hiring a private investigator who attempts to persuade Bob to leave town. The episode also contains elements of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho with Sideshow Bob staying at the Bates Motel. When Bart receives death threats in the mail, he asks who'd want to kill him, as he's "This century's Dennis the Menace." Homer's surprising Bart with his new hockey mask recalls the film Friday the 13th Part III and Sideshow Bob's tattoos on his knuckles are similar to those of Robert Mitchum's character in The Night of the Hunter. (Mitchum also played the villain Max Cady in the original 1962 version of Cape Fear.) While singing "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado during the car trip to Terror Lake, Homer's and Bart's hats allude to I Love Lucy. The scene featuring Ned Flanders with his "finger razors" references the 1984 film A Nightmare on Elm Street and its villain Freddy Krueger (threatening Bart with the razors); also the 1990 film Edward Scissorhands (shaping the hedge into an angel, just as Edward had done a dinosaur). Reception Critical reception Cape Feare is considered one of the darkest and one of the best episodes of The Simpsons. Scenes which changed the ultimate feel of the storyline involved Bob nearly killing Bart by cornering him along with tying