Michael Dougherty is bringing Sam back to his animated roots with new shorts, artwork, artist collaborations, and merchandise through Sam: […]
Michael Dougherty is bringing Sam back to his animated roots with new shorts, artwork, artist collaborations, and merchandise through Sam: The Soul of Halloween. And to celebrate, he sent me a box here at Dread Central HQ filled with Halloween goodies, including handcrafted certificates declaring both me and the site “Sam Approved.”
Coming from the filmmaker who gave us Trick ’r Treat, that means a lot to me.
The project launches October 1 with an official website and social channels, giving Sam an official home of his own for the first time. It also celebrates the 30th anniversary of Season’s Greetings, Dougherty’s original animated short, whose newly restored 4K edition continues its festival and independent theater run throughout October.
Watch the teaser for Sam: The Soul of Halloween below.
We’re getting new Sam films. And before getting into everything Dougherty has planned, I want to show you what arrived.
Inside the black box were aged-looking scrolls tied with twine, artwork, shirts, a Season’s Greetings poster, and a personal Halloween greeting from Dougherty. The black envelope is addressed to Dread Central in red, and the signed card reads “Happy Halloween!” with Sam’s stitched face worked into the lettering.
The two handcrafted certificates are personalized to “Bradley F. Miska” and “Dread Central,” with distressed paper, ragged edges, and a raised red seal featuring Sam’s face. Across the top: “SAMHAIN APPROBAVAT.” Below that, we’ve officially been recognized as “SAM APPROVED.”
The certificates recognize a commitment to “Spooky spirit, autumnal atmosphere, creepy creativity, mischief, tricks, treats, and the dark magick of October,” and promise Sam’s protection throughout this Halloween season.
“For now.”
An accompanying letter from the Order of Samhain explains that the certificate is reserved for people who keep Halloween alive all year through art, storytelling, mischief, imagination, or an unreasonable devotion to spooky things.
“We don’t give these damn things to just anybody,” it reads.
There are also three shirts showing very different sides of Sam: a colorful “Let’s Summon Sam” design with costumed children gathered around him, an orange-and-black Sam: The Soul of Halloween logo shirt, and a black-and-white “The Order of Samhain” design with the words “Ave Samhaini.”
The “Let’s Summon Sam” artwork also appears on a separate printed piece, complete with a “Halloween Rituals” label.
Then there’s the Season’s Greetings poster, showing Sam beneath a sprawling, ominous tree. The package also includes an illustrated foldout introducing his history and the new project, with glimpses of the different ways artists are interpreting him.
It’s an incredible package, and receiving it brings me back to seeing Trick ’r Treat before most people even knew who Sam was.
When I lived in Los Angeles in the 2000s, I used to attend early test screenings whenever I could. They were a way to get a taste of upcoming movies, but also to meet filmmakers and talk with them about what they were making. Seeing Trick ’r Treat that way remains one of the biggest moments of my career.
Dougherty’s work as an artist had that Tim Burton-esque quality, and here he was translating his imagination into this twisted live-action horror universe filled with colorful, unique characters. Having a studio behind him, with the resources to bring that world to life, made it feel like something special was happening.
The movie blew me away. I knew instantly that it was going to become a cult classic, and I wrote its first review, an extremely positive one. I loved Sam, the school-bus story, the sinister trick-or-treating, and the way all those Halloween nightmares fit together. The film understood the spirit of the holiday.
That made it heartbreaking to watch the momentum build, only for the studio to pull the rug out from under him. Trick ’r Treat didn’t get the initial theatrical release it deserved, but it found its audience. For me, it’s now a top-three Halloween staple, right alongside Halloween itself.
And now Dougherty is opening up Sam’s world to a whole new group of artists.
Starting in October, Sam: The Soul of Halloween will release original animated shorts, illustrations, artist collaborations, merchandise, and other glimpses into Sam’s peculiar corner of Halloween. The work centers on the character’s original animated incarnation, first introduced in 1996, before Trick ’r Treat brought him to live action.
Rather than sticking to one visual style, Dougherty has invited artists and filmmakers to interpret Sam through their own creative voices. The collaborators span the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and beyond, working in traditional and digital animation, illustration, sculpture, photography, and stop-motion.
“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
Michael Ballif
Additional surprise collaborations will be revealed throughout the month.
The launch also introduces the official Sam: The Soul of Halloween online shop, featuring exclusive, limited-edition merchandise built around Dougherty’s original animated Sam.
The first releases will include T-shirts, posters, pins, stickers, and other art, with more apparel and merchandise planned. Many pieces come from the same artists contributing to the project, bringing their individual versions of Sam into collectible form.
At the center of the anniversary is Season’s Greetings, the four-minute animated short Dougherty created in 1996 while studying at NYU. It follows a seemingly ordinary trick-or-treater who encounters an ominous stranger on Halloween night, introducing Sam as the spirit of the holiday itself.
As we previously reported, the short has received a new 4K restoration. It looks gorgeous, with an old-school Disney animation quality that makes revisiting Dougherty’s drawings a pleasure.
The restored film has been returning to big screens throughout 2026, and its anniversary run continues in October at more than 30 festivals and independent theaters. Announced stops include:
Screamfest in Los Angeles
Texas Theatre in Dallas
Brooklyn Horror Film Festival in New York
Music Box Theatre in Chicago
Gardena Cinema
Vancouver Horror Show
Knoxville Horror Fest
Frida Cinema in Santa Ana
Revue Cinema in Toronto
Telluride Horror Show in Colorado
The Myers House N.C.
FilmQuest in Utah
Sleepy Hollow Cinema
Additional screenings will be announced.
Dougherty’s career has since included co-writing and directing Krampus and directing Godzilla: King of the Monsters. His screenwriting credits also include X2: X-Men United, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Superman Returns, and he co-wrote the story for Godzilla vs. Kong. According to the announcement, he is currently adapting 13 Dead End Drive for Artists Equity and Seven Bucks and serves as Executive Vice President of Entertainment for Colossal Biosciences.
Revisiting Season’s Greetings helped inspire this larger project.
“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.”
Sam: The Soul of Halloween launches October 1. You can also find Sam on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under @samthesoulofhalloween.
