In 1996, New York film student Michael Dougherty created the animated horror short Season’s Greetings starring an eerily endearing little trick or treater:
Just over ten years later, he became known to even more with the release of Dougherty’s live action horror feature film, Trick ‘r Treat:
This year, the little guy with a big opinion on how to celebrate Halloween is back for his 30th Birthday with the newly launched website, Sam: The Soul of Halloween.
According to the site, Dougherty created Sam, because he felt there needed to be a horror icon that represented all that is the spirit of Halloween today: “cute but creepy, eerie but charming, playful yet dangerous.” He drew from both ancient Halloween traditions like the Jack o’ Lantern to modern fun and everything cool and creepy about the season. He stuffed them all in a pair of tattered jammies and sent him out to terrorize our Halloween fun. He gave us the modern day Samhain!
And we can’t thank him enough.
Sam is a full on Halloween icon. He might not be as big (both figuratively and literally) as other 80s modern horror icons like Jason, Freddy or Michael Myers, but Sam has his own style. Plus, he gave us a list of what to do and not to do if you want to live through another Halloween.
The new site social media presence across several platforms celebrates Sam in a big way.
All October long, new content will be created as well as a remastered version of his original short, artwork from various artists, a nifty merch site for Sam lovers, a list of screenings and special events around country, history behind Halloween mythology, and downloads, including new Sam GIFs:
New animation and other treats will be featured throughout the month of October to keep fans checking on the little dude:
Recently, there has been some news that Dougherty does have a sequel for his 2007 movie in the works, but until we learn more, Sam can haunt our dreams through social media!
Trick ‘r Treat might not be for every, but it’s hard to not find some affection for it’s pint-sized nostalgic yet horrifying star. Whatever you do, however, don’t badmouth his favorite holiday.
See what Sam is up to now on his site at Sam The Soul of Halloween!