‘Trick ‘r Treat’ Director Michael Dougherty on the Joy of Designing Sam, His Signature Halloween Mascot, ‘Strictly for the Passion, Strictly for the Art’

Michael Dougherty really loves October 31. “Some of my earliest memories were Halloween,” Dougherty said during a Variety-moderated production masterclass in partnership with genre festival FilmQuest in Provo, Utah. “Carving a pumpkin with my dad, going out trick-or-treating. That, combined with my love of horror movies and the occult, made me go down the Halloween […]

https://variety.com/2026/film/features/trick-r-treat-michael-dougherty-sam-halloween-1236940667/