Sam: The New Face of Halloween
Few horror characters introduced in the 21st century have made an impression quite like Sam.
He's tiny.
He's adorable.
He's wearing pajamas.
And he has a burlap sack over his head.
Obviously, this is a perfectly reasonable creature to invite into your home.
Sam represents the darker side of Halloween traditions, and Trick 'r Treat makes one thing very clear: Halloween has rules.
Don't extinguish your jack-o'-lantern before midnight.
Don't disrespect the traditions.
Don't ruin the holiday for everybody else.
And, most importantly, don't assume that the little kid standing on your porch is necessarily just looking for chocolate.
Because if Sam is involved, things can go south very, very quickly.
That's one of the reasons Trick 'r Treat works so well. Dougherty didn't invent an entirely new holiday. He took the Halloween that audiences already knew and loved and reminded everyone that underneath the costumes and candy is a very old tradition built around ghosts, monsters, superstition and things that go bump in the night.
