‘Trick ‘r Treat’ Director Michael Dougherty on the Joy of Designing Sam, His Signature Halloween Mascot, ‘Strictly for the Passion, Strictly for the Art’

Michael Dougherty’s early love of Halloween led him to create Sam, the silent, mischievous child who became the mascot of his 2007 horror anthology film “Trick ’r Treat”. A 4K restoration of his 1996 hand-drawn short “Season’s Greetings”, which first introduced Sam, has brought back the pleasure of making art for its own sake.

Dougherty says the restoration involved scanning the original 16mm print frame by frame, removing damage and adding a new 5.1 soundtrack with original composer Evan Chen. He is also keeping the character alive through a new graphic novel and commissioned short films on Sam’s Instagram page. A proposed sequel has a script, but its estimated $20 million budget, roughly equivalent to the first film’s cost with inflation, has deterred some industry accountants.