horror
Kirie Goshima from Uzumaki
Kirie Goshima is the protagonist/narrator of Uzumaki, the horror manga novel by Junji Ito. She is a student and resident of Kurozu-Cho, the town cursed by spirals. Kirie is a recurring target of the spirals, such as when her hair curls into spirals. Her friend and eventual boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, often rescues Kirie from these attacks. In the end, the two find the City of Spirals underneath the town, and they become intertwined together forever. Uzumaki received a 2024 anime adaptation on Adult Swim, now streaming on Hulu. This costume guide follows her winter school uniform.
The Miner from My Bloody Valentine
The Miner (played by Peter Cowper and Neil Affleck) is the brutal killer of the horror film My Bloody Valentine. Originally a miner who was trapped underground following an accident, he resorts to cannibalism to survive and is later committed to an asylum after murdering those responsible. Years later, Axel Palmer dons the Miner’s uniform to kill again. To create your costume, you’ll need a set of coveralls, a balaclava, black gloves, and sturdy boots. Finding a black miner’s cap can be difficult, but you can use a cheap yellow one and paint it yourself. The same goes for the silver details of your gas mask. Complete your look with the hat, mask, a belt, and your trusty pick axe.
Leo Barnes from The Purge: Anarchy
Leo Barnes (played by Frank Grillo) is a police sergeant who appears in two installments of The Purge franchise. After his son is killed by a drunk driver, Leo resolves to seek revenge on the night of the annual Purge. Later, he becomes head of security for Charlie Roan. Leo dresses sensibly for his Purge night, bringing a duffel bag with extra weapons and wearing clothes that are dark in color and easy to move in. To create your costume, choose grey pants and black boots, a light grey t-shirt and a black sweater with a black pea coat. Don’t forget the fake blood.
Mackenzie Carpenter from Drive Thru
Mackenzie Carpenter (played by Leighton Meester) is the protagonist of the horror movie Drive Thru. Mackenzie and her friends are targeted by a demonic mascot, Horny the Clown. Her style is true to the time the film was made, relying on the punk/emo aesthetic of the early 2000s. Mackenzie wears several different outfits throughout the movie, but two of the most memorable are worn while she’s chased by the killer mascot. To create your costume, start with eyeliner, black nail polish, and a thick black leather cuff watch. Then, choose which outfit to recreate. Earlier in the film, Mackenzie wears low rise grey jeans, a skull print tee, and a black zip up hoodie with white graphics. Later, she wears black combat boots, wide leg camo pants, and a burgundy tank top.
Dark Princess Animatronic by Spirit Halloween
Dark Princess is an animatronic that was released with the ‘Carnevil’ set of themeing from Spirit Halloween for the 2024 season. A tiny powerhouse of a jumpscare, she pops up from her base and screams to startle passersby.
Her lore tells us that she was curious about the goings-on down on Earth and decided to start hunting reapers, until she came across Lucifer and was captivated by his beauty. He convinced her to join him and start tempting humans into darkness, and now she works at his side causing chaos and destruction.
Dark Princess’ design is fairly simple for an animatronic, with her color scheme being very monochromatic. Her hair is shoulder length and styled in a hime type cut, her face is heavily distorted with her eyes and mouth being black stretched out voids, and she has fabric draped black wings. She has a black underskirt, and a white dress with a peter pan collar and the hems of her skirt and sleeves dip-dyed in a blackish-grey that’s seemingly consuming the white.
Roaming Antique Doll Animatronic by Spirit Halloween
The Roaming Antique Doll Animatronic is one of the smaller size ones that Spirit has offered in the past and is essentially a doll roomba.
Her lore tells us that she was neglected by her foster family in the orphanage she lived in, so to take revenge on them she set up a house fire to look like an accident, and was the sole survivor. It’s made to seem like she’s roaming through the house after her crime was committed, taking joy in what she did.
The Doll has a cracked porcelain face, with glowing blue voids for eyes, and messy shoulder length curly black hair with bangs. Her outfit is a floral lacy blue dress with a vibrant blue waistband and white buttons leading up the chest, with a white ruffled collar around her neck. Her whole dress is covered in what is presumably ash from the fire, leaving her in a rather disheveled state.
Darling Dolly Animatronic by Spirit Halloween
The Darling Dolly animatronic is an earlier Spirit Halloween animatronic, and relatively large compared to some of the other ones released around the same time, with this one being 7 feet tall.
Her lore tells us that she started off as a creepy doll that Sally Smith had found buried in the backyard of the new home her family had just moved in to in the 1930’s, which started a chain of weird and creepy things happening around the house, that her mother blamed on the doll. During a thunderstorm, Mrs. Smith tried to rebury the doll back where she had been found, but her shovel was struck by lightning, trailing into the grave, which led to her fusing with the doll after everything lit up with a blue glow.
Dolly has a very finely cracked porcelain doll face with red lipstick and glowing blue eyes (they can also flash red), and semi-curly shoulder-length (presumably) red hair with bangs. Her body is very hunched over and covered in a long, dirty light cream colored dress, a dirty grey shawl, and black wispy fabric, topped with a ruffled light tan collar. She also has splotchy light and dark brown long claws for arms, extending almost like spider’s legs.
Longlegs
Longlegs is the villain in the new popular horror film, Longlegs, and is played by Nicolas Cage. Longlegs is a horror/ mystery following the story of Harker, an FBI agent who is assigned a case of a serial killer until she discovers a connection to him during her attempts to stop him.
To dress like Longlegs you could do two different costumes. One is a red-orange shirt worn over a longsleeve cream shirt. Over this layer a blue robe. For the other, and more recognizable look, start by wearing a white button down with white jeans. Over this layer a pale pink button down, which you can cut the sleeves of to make it a vest, leaving it partly unbuttoned to show the white shirt underneath. Over that, wear a light gray denim jacket and tie a black and white scarf around your neck, tucked in partly to the white shirt. For both of these looks, the makeup and hair is a prominent part to recreate. For makeup, use a pale foundation all over the face. Use a cool makeup palette or contour shades to add similar dimensions throughout the face. Wear a light pink or nude lip that is over lined and finally for the hair, wear a blonde wig which you can cut to thin if needed and style to look messy.
Beau from Beau is Afraid
Beau is the leading character of the 2023 Ari Aster film, Beau Is Afraid. It’s a disorienting horror film following Beau as he goes on a journey to confront his worst fears to make it back home.
To dress like Beau in his most recognizable costume, wear a gray set of pajamas with white piping. For a lesser-known one, wear a light brown shirt, canvas suspenders, dark wash jeans, and a brown hat or fedora. Carry a prop hatchet to complete the look.
Lee Harker from Longlegs
Lee Harker is the main character in the new popular horror film, Longlegs, and is played by Maika Monroe. Longlegs is a horror/ mystery following the story of Harker, an FBI agent who is assigned a case of a serial killer until she discovers a connection to him during her attempts to stop him.
To dress like Lee Harker, wear a white button down shirt, gray dress pants, black boots or any black shoes, and an FBI prop badge lanyard. Wear your hair in a low ponytail and create spots of blood similar to the photo on your chest and above an eyebrow with fake blood makeup.