Season's Greetings is an animated short created by Michael Dougherty

Michael Dougherty

Michael Dougherty is a screenwriter who is known for his work with Dan Harris on the scripts for Bryan Singer's films X2 and Superman Returns.-Early life:...

 in 1996. The short later ignited a full-length feature film, Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by Michael Dougherty, and based on his short film Season's Greetings. Originally slated for an October 5, 2007 release, it was announced in September 2007 that the film had been pushed back. Warner Bros...

 directed by Michael Dougherty and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures

Legendary Pictures

Legendary Pictures is an American film production company, whose parent company, Legendary Entertainment, is based in Burbank, California and was founded by Thomas Tull in 2004...

. The movie features Sam, a little boy dressed in orange footy pajamas and a burlap sack with button eyes and a stitched-on smile covering his face. He is the horror icon of the movie and the short animated movie in which he is also featured in. The animated short is about the mysterious Sam being stalked by a stranger on Halloween night.

Plot

It's midnight and all the lights in the neighbourhood houses start to go off as people head to bed. Meanwhile, a young boy (which is Sam but not known at the time) dressed in orange-footy pajamas and a burlap sack with buttons and a stitched-on smile is still on the streets trick-or-treating. A poster is posted on a tree pointing out a missing boy while the trick-or-treater walks by it. The trick-or-treater finds a broken baby doll on the curb and starts poking it with a stick. The boy walks up to a house, knocking on the door, and hoping to get some candy. But nobody answers, so he moves on to somewhere else. While walking on the streets, a mysterious stranger spots the boy and starts to follow him. The boy then ends up in a dark alley way as the mysterious stranger follows. The stranger pops up behind him as the boy turns around. The boy lifts up his bag, hoping for some candy from the mysterious stranger. Then, we get a close-up of the boy's eye as it opens wide. Suddenly, there is punching along with the sound of thunder. The sounds of punching and snapping are heard along with blood squirting onto the wall. This scene is only shown as a shadow on the alley way wall. A few seconds later, it stops. The boy then comes out of the alley way, dragging the body of the mysterious stranger in his trick-or-treat bag. Before the video ends, the boy turns to the audience. We can see his button eye is loosened from the encounter. Blood is spattered across his burlap face. He winks his other eye which glows yellow and his stitched-on smile broadens.

Trick 'r Treat

The movie, Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat

Trick 'r Treat is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by Michael Dougherty, and based on his short film Season's Greetings. Originally slated for an October 5, 2007 release, it was announced in September 2007 that the film had been pushed back. Warner Bros...

, is based on the animated short both created by Michael Dougherty. The movie features the same character in the short, Sam - a not-so-innocent kid dressed up in orange-footy pajamas and a burlap mask, who puts the 'trick' in 'trick-or-treat'. The name "Sam" derives from Samhain

Samhain

Samhain is a Gaelic harvest festival held on October 31–November 1. It was linked to festivals held around the same time in other Celtic cultures, and was popularised as the "Celtic New Year" from the late 19th century, following Sir John Rhys and Sir James Frazer...

, a festival held at the end of the harvest season. It is also the festival of the dead, celebrated on All Souls' Day. The movie was supposed to be released on October 5, 2007 but then pushed back to October 6, 2009, a day and two years after the originally planned release. The movie revolves around five stories: a couple learns the danger of blowing out a jack-o-lantern before midnight; a school principal teaches a neighbor the true meaning of Halloween; a woman dressed as Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is a French fairy tale about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. The story has been changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and readings....

is stalked by a mysterious stranger; a group of pranksters get into danger when learning the truth of a massacre; and an old curmudgeon gets his just desserts from a little trick-or-treater.