The episode was written by Joel H. Cohen , John Frink , Don Payne and Carolyn Omine while Jim Reardon served as the director . It was the first '' Treehouse of Horror '' since the original special to not employ " scary names " in the credits . According to executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham , this was due to the September 11 terrorist attacks , after which the '' Simpsons '' staff tried to be more serious and sensitive . However , according to current show runner Al Jean , the " scary names " were dropped because they were too difficult to come up with . The episode contains numerous references and parodies to science fiction and horror works , including '' 2001 : A Space Odyssey '' , '' Demon Seed '' , '' Harry Potter '' and '' Star Wars '' . The episode also features Pierce Brosnan and Matthew Perry as guest stars
September 11 terrorist attacks
September 11 attacks
Treehouse of Horror XII