Back in the late nineties to early millennium there was a series on the Science Fiction channel here in America called “Exposure,” it was a fantastic take on a mini film festival by taking experienced indie directors and showing off some of the best and worst short films they could dole out to the audience. In the meantime we also were able to see early works from legendary filmmakers in Hollywood. “Season’s Greetings” was one of the best I’ve ever seen.
It’s a short horror film that takes the classic trick of misdirection by opening the story with the classic fear of a young child being left to trick or treat to their own devices. As lights go out all over a suburban block, a young child with a burlap sack takes part in the trick or treating and is eventually cornered by a large man who attempts to make good use of the boy’s weak appearance and then the tables are suddenly turned.
Michael Dougherty’s short is one of the finest uses of traditional animation to tell a story and set the atmosphere and brutal tension I’ve ever seen and it’s not often an animated movie can accomplish what Dougherty does. The character Sam has lots of potential to be one of the greatest of the cinema spooks.
Thankfully he was revived with Dougherty’s “Trick R Treat,” a feature length film by Dougherty that includes the signature character as a reminder of what world we’re watching between the anthology’s short stories. “Season’s Greetings” is a definite classic and should be seen by more viewers because the tricks and treats it serves up are too good. Watching it again so many years later, it’s still a horror short film that I continue to love more and more every time I sit down to see it. Top notch animation and a biting morbid sense of humor make this a rarity in horror animation.