Santa's Little Helper the dog was a "sympathetic" character. Welker has been praised by staff members for his performances on the show. David Mirkin has noted that "he can do anything, and it fits perfectly. You forget you're listening to a guy, and he's a pleasure to work with." Groening has commented that he was "unbelievably good" at doing animal noises. After 1995, Castellaneta voiced Santa's Little Helper on his own while Welker performed other animal noises until his full departure in 2002, when he was denied a pay raise. In the "questions and answers" section on his website, Welker revealed that the
Satan's Little Helper chubby little shoulders of a 9-year old. Still, horror buffs will delight in ingenious twists, perverse satire and gleefully off-kilter Amanda Plummer/Katheryn Winnick mother-daughter team." The website JoBlo.com gave the film a 8/10 rating, writing, "if you like your horror with a heaping dose of the blackest of black comedy, then "Satan’s Little Helper" will be quite the treat! The flick is a prime example of horror on a low budget done right. Characters are actually developed, jokes are skillfully executed, and the scares are delivered with flair." Dread Central called the film "Irreverent, subversive and deliciously caustic [...] a