It’s been seventeen years since Michael Dougherty’s anthology film Trick ‘r Treat arrived on the scene and became an almost instant Halloween classic, but the origins of the beloved Halloween icon Sam actually date back even further. Sam was first introduced by Dougherty in his 1996 animated short Season’s Greetings, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
And for the horror icon’s 30th birthday, Michael Dougherty is bringing Sam back to life…
Dougherty, director of Trick ’r Treat, Krampus, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, has launched SAM: THE SOUL OF HALLOWEEN, a new creative home for the pint-sized trickster!
The launch tonight, on the eve of October 1st, coincides with a month-long run of festival and independent theater screenings of the newly restored 4K edition of Season’s Greetings.
The new Sam: The Soul of Halloween website and social channels will give Sam an official home of his own for the very first time.
What can you expect from this new era of all things Sam?
Just in time for spooky season, new original Sam content will be released across his website and social channels, including animated shorts, illustrations, artist collaborations, merchandise and other bite-sized glimpses into Sam’s peculiar corner of Halloween.
Dougherty invited a growing roster of talented artists to interpret Sam through their own creative voices. As a result, Sam will wander through wildly different styles, mediums and imaginations.
“Trick ’r Treat obviously became a huge part of Sam’s story, and I remain incredibly proud of that film,” says Dougherty. “But Trick ‘r Treat wasn’t the first chapter in Sam’s story, and it won’t be the last. It really started with this weird little hand-drawn animated short I made as a film student. And for the 30th anniversary, it felt like the perfect time to go back to those roots — handmade, independent and artist-driven — and see where Sam might wander next.”
October’s releases will include new Sam art, animation, and short films from Mike Baird, Breehn Burns, Sam Furst, Richard Garcia, Cyrus Haley, Austin Pardun, Alexander Ray, Steven Rhodes, Ryan Sawyer, Christopher Shy, Trent Shy, Christopher Waltemate and Michael Ballif. Additional surprise collaborations will be revealed throughout the month.
The launch also marks the debut of the official Sam online shop, featuring exclusive limited-edition merchandise created specifically around Dougherty’s original animated incarnation of Sam.
The first batch of releases will include T-shirts, posters, pins, stickers and other art, with additional apparel and merchandise planned. Many pieces have been created in collaboration with the same artists who helped expand Sam’s mythology, allowing individual interpretations of the character to move from screen and page into collectibles.
Throughout 2026, a newly restored 4K edition of the 1996 animated short Season’s Greetings has returned to the big screen at genre festivals and special screenings around the world, introducing the original film — and the original Sam — to a new generation of audiences.
That theatrical anniversary homecoming continues throughout October, with Season’s Greetings screening at over thirty festivals and independent theaters including Screamfest in Los Angeles, the Texas Theatre in Dallas, Brooklyn Horror Film Festival in New York, the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, the Gardena Cinema, the Vancouver Horror Show, the Knoxville Horror Fest, the Frida Cinema in Santa Ana, Revue Cinema in Toronto, Telluride Horror Show in Colorado, the Myers House N.C., FilmQuest in Utah, and Sleepy Hollow Cinema — with additional screenings to be announced.
“What surprised me most was how alive Sam and his debut film still felt thirty years later,” Dougherty says. “People who grew up with Sam were bringing their kids. Artists were reaching out wanting to make things. Fans were showing up in costumes. It started feeling less like looking backward and more like opening a door into a new chapter.”
Follow Sam: The Soul of Halloween on Instagram and Twitter now!
