When it comes to the horror genre in the 21st century, Sam from Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat is truly an icon. Sam's design is equal parts unique and creepy while adorable at the same time, especially with his mask on. But when his mask comes off, he becomes truly terrifying. He's certainly not a human, but it's impossible to really make out what kind of creature he is, which is so unsettling and psychologically screws with his victims and the audience. He's something no one has ever seen before and likely will never see again. The kill scenes are so scary and intense while also having a visceral element to it. His motivation for killing on the surface seems almost innocent, but is rooted in disturbing and ancient traditions from the folklore of Halloween. Sam never speaks to any of his victims and never shows any emotion whatsoever. He doesn't even show pain when he's shot or dismembered and that can creep anyone out. Sam is the scariest horror character introduced in decades.
Looks That Could Kill
Sam's overall design is so fantastic while also being well-thought-out and put together. He's truly unique in a genre filled with so many other masked killers. He has this sack head mask and an orange onesie that gives him a creepy and innocent look that's perfectly balanced. Which also makes his design fresh and that isn't the easiest thing to achieve in the horror genre. Once he's unmasked though, he's revealed to be some kind of humanoid pumpkin creature. He's not exactly human, but he doesn't look like an animal either, which creates a confusion and creep factor when Sam's true nature is finally revealed in the third act. Throughout most of the film you don't know what Sam actually looks like under the mask, which gives him such a creepy aura. You don't even see Sam in his costume for the first few scenes, which creates a lot of tension right at the beginning. The most effective and terrifying moments of Sam's reveal are in the sequence with Old Man Kreeg (Brian Cox).
It all starts when some kids come to Kreeg's house to trick or treat, and he scares them away by dressing up his dog in a scary costume. This upsets Sam, and he immediately targets Kreeg and begins his gruesome pursuit of the old man. He starts off light, by egging Kreeg's house to make him drop his guard at first. Then, when the dog gets out through the back door, Sam begins stalking his new victim slowly and quietly. Then a little while later Kreeg is distracted by his next door neighbor Steve Wilkins (Dylan Baker). Once Kreeg starts to head back inside he finds a ton of lit jack-o-lanterns on his porch that appeared out of nowhere. These moments establish how Sam is potentially a supernatural being, but it is never revealed to the audience if he is or not.
Sam does something just as creepy just a little while later in Kreeg's bedroom. Kreeg discovers a jack-o-lantern that's lit on fire with the words to the trick or treat nursery rhyme written on the wall in blood. This imagery is so eerie and is one of the scariest sequences in any horror movie of recent memory. While doing very little, Sam can terrify his victims and the audience alike, while not even being on-screen. Then once he's on-screen, it gets ten times scarier and more intense.
Sam's attacks against his victims are vicious and he doesn't pull any punches. Like when he attacks Old Man Kreeg, he starts by stabbing him in the Achilles tendon. This obviously makes it hard for the victim to walk and Sam slowly creeps towards him. Once he manages to get up he runs off, but ends up falling down the stairs. Once Kreeg starts trying to get up on his feet, his hands get cut by candy made of glass that's all over the floor, which magically appeared, and Sam is now at the top of the stairs, laughing at him. Kreeg runs back upstairs to try and shoot him with his shotgun. Sam is nowhere to be found until the camera pans up and shows him crawling on the roof until he descends onto the old man. Sam's mask gets ripped off and his unsettling appearance is revealed in full for the first time. He screeches a high-pitch squeal unlike anything heard before and it is so effective in raising the scare factor.
Sam gets shot point-blank in the face after biting Kreeg's leg and gets shot several more times after that. One of those shots severs his hand and Kreeg retreats to call 9-1-1. Once Kreeg isn't looking, Sam's severed hand starts crawling towards the body, and wakes him up. After he's miraculously awake again, his hand reattaches itself to the arm, and he's alive again like nothing ever happened. He puts his mask back on and pulls out a sucker and bites off half of it to make it into stabbing weapon. Sam seems to strike him with the sucker at first, but once Kreeger opens his eyes he realizes Sam noticed his chocolate bar from earlier and stuck it into that instead. He grabs the chocolate bar and opens it up to start eating it and turns away from Kreeger without saying a word, then leaves through the front door by opening it with his mind. That entire sequence alone is a master-class in how to make a character terrifying but also subvert expectations.
Where's Your Halloween Spirit?
When it comes to the overall motivation for Sam as a killer he seems to be simply upholding the traditions of Halloween and if you don't, that's when he targets you. Doesn't matter who it is or what tradition in particular they break, he's coming for you, and you will not leave alive if you continue breaking the rules. As a concept itself is so terrifying because he lacks any emotion.
For example, the opening sequence with the couple dressed as robots. Sam notices from across the street that the wife blows out the jack-o-lanterns in their front yard. Sam gasps, offended, and from that moment he starts stalking them, setting his sights on the wife. He covers himself with a sheet from one of the ghost decorations as she begins taking them down. He starts stalking the wife slowly and takes his time. Once he finds an opening, he leaps out with the sheet and starts stabbing the wife repeatedly. Some kids walk up to trick or treat, but when they realize someone is seemingly getting killed, they run off. Then Sam drags the corpse back by the porch while covered in the blood-soaked white sheet. The husband hears her scream and rushes downstairs, but he's too late. Sam has turned her corpse into a gruesome decoration with her tied to a post with Halloween lights, and a big sucker shoved into her mouth. He did all this for such a seemingly silly reason, but was so treacherous with his attack that it's deeply disturbing. These people did nothing wrong and the wife didn't deserve half the punishment she received.
Old Man Kreeg did some really screwed up stuff in the past for sure, so he wasn't innocent at all. At the same time though, Sam has nothing to do with that and Kreeg never did anything to Sam personally. Sam is truly a terrifying slasher villain that doesn't have unnecessary explanations for his origins or some watered-down motivation. He represents the dark side of those classic traditions of Halloween's past, and becomes a metaphor for one of those spirits they tried to keep away in those times.
Sam from Trick 'r Treat has gone on to become truly the biggest horror icon of the 21st century. People could say there are a few contenders over the past couple decades, but they pale in comparison to Sam and the impact the character has made. The design is unsettling, creepy, distinct, and somewhat cute, all wrapped into one. The mask is creepy in and of itself, but the design of the creature itself is so creepy and downright nasty looking. It makes you want to look away, but you can't help but look at him in equal measure. The way director Michael Dougherty chose to not reveal Sam's look a ton of times throughout the runtime of the film makes him more effective and proves that sometimes less really is more. You see him long enough to get scared, but he is never shown enough to lose his impact. Other modern killers currently have that issue, with too much over saturation in their respective films or franchises. The kill scenes are so visceral and gory without being too gratuitous.
Every time Sam strikes it's very brutal and intense and never loses that creep-factor. Sam never says a thing and only make sounds very sparingly throughout the story, which only makes him more mysterious and weird. It has made these scenes age well over these past 13 years and are just as scary today as they were back then. Trick 'r Treat also isn't filled to the brim with kill scenes and victims getting sliced and diced. It's a few select scenes that get the point across and scares the audience without overstaying its welcome. The psychology behind Sam as a character is so simplistic and illogical it's fascinating while at the same time it's terrifying. Theoretically, nobody is safe and can be targeted on October 31st by Sam, and before they realize what happened they'll be long dead. No one ever explicitly explains his motivation, but that just adds to the mystique around the character of Sam. He wasn't bullied or wronged in the past; he's a creature from a time seemingly long ago, yet no one can explain what he is, even when they see him with their own two eyes. Sam is truly a horror icon today and will remain in that top tier for years to come.