I was given the opportunity to speak one-on-one with Trick R Treat hyphenate Michael Dougherty and we chatted about his feeling about the Comic Con screening, the nature of his character Sam and potential future outlets for the concept. More after the jump:

Nico from Collider: How does it feel to have finally birthed Trick R Treat?

MICHAEL DOUGHERTY -- It feels really good, but I still feel like it's a long slow birth and all these screenings are labor contractions.  Until it's finally out there out there and safely in the hands of fans and viewers... that's when I'll feel like I've really given birth.  But it's nice to show the sonogram to a lot of people.

Were you able to stay for the screening last night?

MD: I decided to stay.  I've never seen it with an audience that large before.  It was 4400 people.  (A) I didn't think we'd fill the room and (B) I had no idea what to expect.  Every other screening has been at most 700/800 people at a time, so I figured there's nothing like hearing the reaction of 4000 people and I was really taken aback in a good way.

Did you feel like the laughs came at the right place and the screams came at the right place?

MD: Yeah and there were a lot of unexpected moments that I didn't expect reactions to.  In a good way.  I've noticed in screening after screening after screening there's the things that always hit, some that kinda do and some that kinda don't.  There's a moment when Sam's mask came off when there was a genuine group revulsion and I didn't see that coming.

I've seen the figure before but if you haven't seen that, it's a shocking reveal.

MD: Thank you.

What is Sam to you?

MD: Sam is the Santa Claus of Halloween.  Sam is the Easter Bunny of Halloween.  Every holiday has a mascot, has a spirit character that watches over the holiday and that's what Sam is.  He's not a deformed kid or a mutated kid.  He's the Halloween demon that's existed for as long as the holiday has.

Who would win in a fight: vampires or werewolves?

MD: That's a good question.

It seems like you have a special place in your heart for werewolves.

MD: I love both, but werewolves I find really fascinating because whereas vampires have this bestial nature that they let seep out every now and then, werewolves just completely bust out.  It's all about that inner Id of both characters, one's just more sexualized than the other.

What's next on your plate?

MD: I'm working on a project that I can't talk about too much or I'll get in trouble.  It involves more monsters, just bigger ones.

Are you going to write and direct that?

MD: Co-writing and directing.

What is your dream project right now?

MD: The one I'm working on right now.  I feel like Trick R Treat was one dream.  This is another one.

Taking it to the next level?

MD: Yeah, I always try to take projects I'm genuinely interested and passionate about versus just trying to take projects for the money.

You mentioned in the roundtable that you would like to see this potentially go to series.

MD: I have some loose ideas, but nothing concrete.  I think I would wait to see if there was enough interest to warrant a sequel.  That's not to say that I wouldn't mind exploring it, even in comic book form.

Is a comic book on the table?

MD: I would love to do it.  I just haven't approached any body about it yet.

I'll put it out there.