We’re fast approaching Halloween, and there’s no better movie to help get you into the spirit of the season than Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat.

Halloween just isn’t Halloween until you’ve watched that adorable pumpkin boy known as Sam deliver swift Halloween justice to those disrespecting the holiday, so make sure to do so – at least once – before the big day.

Think you know everything there is to know about Trick ‘r Treat? Take a break from your holiday festivities by checking out a list of ten things you just might be surprised to learn!

1) Writer/director Michael Dougherty’s original idea for the film was for it to be an anthology of stories that had no direct connections, tales that he envisioned would be directed by different horror filmmakers. Development executives weren’t so keen on the idea, which prompted Dougherty to repackage the concept – deciding to connect all of the individual stories into one seamless narrative. After years of working on the story, he also decided he didn’t want other filmmakers to bring his vision to life, feeling that his passion for the project made him the perfect person to direct the film.



2) It was actor Brian Cox who came up with the look for his character Mr. Kreeg, taking initial inspiration from old rockers like Jerry Garcia and David Crosby. The biggest inspiration for the look, however, was a man who knows a little something about Halloween: John Carpenter. Story goes that Cox had met Carpenter several years prior, taking note of the fact that he looked like he was plucked straight out of the 70s. That’s precisely the way Cox wanted Kreeg to look, and so various prosthetics were added to his face to make him look like Carpenter.

3) It’s common knowledge that it was 7-year-old Quinn Lord under the Sam costume, but did you know that Lord also has a cameo earlier in the film, before Sam even pops up? During the scene where Laurie and the gang are getting ready in the Halloween shop, there’s a little boy dressed as a monkey who is briefly seen peeping in on them as they’re changing into their costumes. That’s Quinn Lord, whom Dougherty was so impressed with that he wanted to feature him in the film outside of the costume!

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