Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings!   Today’s post is about Sam from Trick ‘r Treat as the Spirit of Halloween.    I know that we are two days past the holiday, but I feel that we are still in the last remnants of the Samhain season, so I decided to do this post of Sam today to embrace the end of the Spooky Season!   For those who are unfamiliar, Sam is short for Samhain and he is the figure that ties together all of the spooky tales within this iconic horror anthology.   I do want to mention before I go any further that there are major spoilers ahead, so if you have not seen the film and do not want it spoiled, I would read this one after seeing the film!

He is in the guise of a Trick or Treater, hence the title of the film.    Sam is in a orange onesie, that is made like very thick footsie pajamas.    There is a sack over his head, but his actual head is revealed within the finale of the film, and we see that his actual face is like a skeletal Jack O’Lantern!    

Over the course of the film, Sam’s job is made clear to the audience.    He is literally the Spirit of Halloween made manifest in physical form.    Sam goes around to make certain that all of the Halloween traditions are being upheld.    He kills the woman who loathes Halloween and blows out the candle in the Jack O’Lantern before midnight on Halloween because she refused to keep the spirit of the season alive!    On the other hand, he decided to let Rhonda live because she worked hard to celebrate both Samhain and Halloween and honored all of the traditions well.

Sam is also shown delighting in the mischief and violence wrought by the pack of Werewolf women because they are honoring Halloween in their own blood-soaked way.    The only person he goes after, other than the Halloween loathing woman, is Mr. Kreeg who shows his own contempt for Halloween.    This is the epic final battle of the film, which serves to show us Sam’s true face and also the fact that he has pumpkin guts instead of organs and blood!   Sam is appeased mid-way through the fight because Kreeg accidentally gives him candy, which embraces the tradition of Trick or Treating!

Kreeg does not have a good end, because although Sam gave him a pass, the souls of the children he murdered came back to kill him, which Sam lets happen, as the Dead getting vengeance is also a Halloween tradition!   I absolutely adore Sam as the living Spirit of Halloween, and I think that he has earned his place alongside Jack Skellington as a true Spooky Halloween Icon!   In fact, I would love to see a team-up between Sam and the Pumpkin King one day.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief discussion of Sam as a character.   I also hope you have had a fantastic Spooky Season!    What is your favorite part of Trick ‘R Treat?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Sam.   I found the image on https://deathbattlefanon.fandom.com/wiki/Sam_(Trick_’r_Treat).

Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services!    I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon!  Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/

Further Watching

• Trick ‘r Treat (2007)