Dougherty Restores Season's Greetings in 4K
Director Michael Dougherty completed a 4K restoration of his 1995 short film Season's Greetings for its 30th anniversary.
Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Horror
Michael Dougherty restored his 1995 short film Season's Greetings in 4K for its 30th anniversary. The restoration involved scanning every frame of the original 16mm print and removing dust, dirt, and scratches.
Why it matters
The restoration preserves an early work from the director of Trick 'r Treat and Krampus, which features the character Sam. It also marks the start of a series of Sam short films released on the character's official Instagram page.
The restoration scanned every frame of the original 16mm print at 4K resolution, and Evan Chen created a 5.1 sound track for the restored film. Dougherty reportedly spent about 10 hours a day on the restoration work, though the release platform for the restored version has not been announced.
The players
Michael Dougherty
Michael Dougherty is a filmmaker known for directing the horror anthology Trick 'r Treat and the holiday horror film Krampus, and he also directed Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Origins Archival
Origins Archival is a Hollywood facility that performed the 4K scan of the original 16mm print of Season's Greetings.
The details
Dougherty created Season's Greetings as his senior thesis film at NYU, drawing it by hand over most of 1995 and 1996 and shooting it on 16mm film. Origins Archival scanned every frame at 4K, and Dougherty and the archive removed dust, dirt, and scratches while stabilizing the image and reanimating portions of the film.
Timeline
1995 to 1996: Dougherty hand-drew the short film Season's Greetings.
2007: The anthology film Trick 'r Treat, featuring Sam, was released.
2026: The 30th anniversary 4K restoration of Season's Greetings was completed.
Roadmap
The restoration of Season's Greetings revisits the early short film that preceded Dougherty's 2007 anthology Trick 'r Treat, the feature that introduced the character Sam. It extends the Sam franchise backward in time while the character continues to appear in new short films on social media.
Viewers may be able to see the restored Season's Greetings and the new Sam short films on the character's official Instagram page. The source does not state a release date or platform for the restored film itself.
The takeaway
The restoration shows how a filmmaker's early work can be preserved and reintroduced decades later using modern archival techniques. Fans of Dougherty's horror films can follow the character Sam through both restored earlier work and new short films.
Further reading
For more on the genre behind this restoration, explore Horror coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Variety.
