Sam's pumpkin-like head was originally sketched by Dougherty in 2002, and he showed it to the film's concept artist to adapt into the film. He later used Sam as the main character or influential presence in Trick 'r Treat. Another reason behind Sam's creation was to give Halloween an iconic figure, other seasonal holidays having such iconic figures (e.g. Michael Dougherty created Sam when he was at New York University taking animation classes, originally creating him as an alter ego for himself. He also seems to never interfere with these supernatural activities, regardless of who dies, like Dylan Baker's character Steven Wilkins, a firm believer in the traditions of Halloween. Sam displays an ability to influence other supernatural events to occur. Afterwards, Sam is infuriated by another rulebreaker and ends up killing her and hanging her head up on display. Kreeg after the latter unintentionally offers him some chocolate.

Kreeg, such as immortality, an ability to scale walls, and being able to quickly paint a room's walls and ceilings with blood in mere moments. Sam demonstrates supernatural abilities during his fight with Mr. Kreeg, revealing his face in the process. Sam is shown to be prone to violent or fatal punishments when it comes to rulebreakers, tormenting Brian Cox's character Mr. As enforcer of the rules and rituals of Halloween, Sam takes it upon himself to punish those who break tradition. The rules include handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, wearing a costume, and never blowing out a jack o'lantern before midnight. Sam visits one town a year on Halloween to enforce the rules of the holiday and punish those who ignore and defy them. In a deleted scene in the film's DVD release, he appears flipping the bird to an obese boy. Sam acts very much like a child, being mischievous and appearing to love chocolate.

Quinn Lord, who plays Sam in the film, described his character as being a demon who was born in a pumpkin patch.

Dougherty described Sam's head as a cross 'between an embryo and a pumpkin'. Despite his childlike appearance, it is established that Sam is more demonic than he appears, hiding a pumpkin-shaped head resembling a skull. Sam drags a dirty sack around with him throughout the film, but its contents are unknown, although as he walks down some steps early in the film, you can hear a cat making noise as Sam's sack hits each step. He is depicted as a child dressed in a Halloween costume, which consists of an orange set of pajamas, and a mask made of a burlap sack with buttons for eyes. Sam's name originates from Samhain, the origins of Halloween itself.

Sam trick r treat face mask