Michael Dougherty is bringing Sam back for Halloween with a new Grindhouse-style trailer titled Season’s Greetings 2: Mischief Night.
The short teaser plays like an announcement for a sequel to Dougherty’s original animated film, but it’s “COMING SOON…?” message leaves the question of an actual movie open. Are we really getting something new? Or is this faux trailer entirely it?
The latest sneak peek arrives as part of Sam: The Soul of Halloween, a multimedia project celebrating the 30th anniversary of Season’s Greetings. Dougherty introduced Sam in the 1996 animated short he created while attending New York University. The character would later become the breakout Halloween icon of Dougherty’s 2007 anthology film Trick ’r Treat.
Dougherty directed the new trailer, with animation by Cyrus T. Hayley of Dragline Pictures. The production also features executive producers Evan Gorski and Curtis Waugh, alongside Dougherty and Hayley, with music by Alexander Taylor. Trick or Treat Studios provided the Halloween Trio who will be familiar to fans of Halloween III: Season of the Witch. That legendary sequel got it’s own horror prequel fan film with Project Shamrock earlier this fall.
Despite the sequel-style title, Season’s Greetings 2: Mischief Night is part of a larger effort to give Sam a permanent online home. The anniversary project brings together new animated shorts, illustrations, artist collaborations, merchandise, and other creative interpretations of the character. Dougherty has invited artists to put their own spin on Sam, allowing the familiar little trick-or-treater to appear in different styles and mediums.
The project also includes an official online shop with limited-edition merchandise based on Dougherty’s original animated version of Sam. It gives fans a chance to revisit the character’s earliest incarnation, which predates Trick ’r Treat by more than a decade.
Dougherty has made it clear that Sam’s story extends beyond the 2007 movie.
“Trick ’r Treat obviously became a huge part of Sam’s story, and I remain incredibly proud of that film,” he said. “But Trick ’r Treat wasn’t the first chapter in Sam’s story, and it won’t be the last.”
That statement leaves plenty of room for Sam to show up in new projects, but it doesn’t confirm that a feature-length Season’s Greetings sequel is in development. For now, Mischief Night is a fun piece of anniversary promotion that borrows the look of a vintage Grindhouse movie trailer while giving fans a fresh glimpse of the Halloween mascot.
Fans can follow the project through the official Sam: The Soul of Halloween website and its social channels. The new Season’s Greetings 2: Mischief Night trailer is available to watch below.
