Carbon Costume serial killer
The Grabber from The Black Phone
The Grabber (played by Ethan Hawke) is the horrifying antagonist of the film The Black Phone, based on the short story of the same name. The Grabber is a child abductor and serial killer who wears a terrifying white devil mask with a mouth that can change from smiling to frowning. When he abducts his latest victim, the Grabber dresses as a magician with a black top hat and white face makeup. To recreate his look, you’ll likely need to cut the arms off a red turtleneck sweater, as short-sleeved versions can be difficult to find, and layer it under a black polo shirt left unbuttoned. If you want to wear a devil mask as part of your costume, you use some white spray paint to alter a more commonly available red one. Alternately, a lower face mask designed for paintball can get the job done with some white face paint.
The Blissfield Butcher from Freaky
The Blissfield Butcher (played by Vince Vaughn) is the terrifying serial killer behind the supernatural body swap film Freaky. When Barney Garris attempts to murder high school student Millie Kessler with an ancient dagger known as La Dola, he inadvertently trades their personalities and they wake up in one another’s bodies. The Blissfield Butcher’s costuming is simple, but it can be hard to track down a similar mask, since no official merch has been released for the film, yet. You can use a generic-looking oval mask and paint it if you’re feeling especially crafty.
Nurse Mildred Ratched from Ratched
In the Netflix series Ratched, Sarah Paulson plays the impeccably dressed and increasingly evil Mildred Ratched. Nurse Ratched was first introduced to the world as the primary antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The Netflix series serves as a prequel to the film, charting Nurse Ratched’s origins and how she became the tyrannical battleax she is known as in pop culture. To create Ratched’s nurse outfit, your best bet will be to find white items and dye them the appropriate shade of teal. While this may seem intimidating, using Rit fabric dye is actually a very simple and straightforward process, and by following the directions on the bottle, you will be able to better mimic the beautiful color of Ratched’s uniform, which is difficult to find ready-made.
Jeff the Killer
Jeff the Killer is a classic meme originating from a creepypasta post in 2008. He is a young boy who, after being badly beaten and burnt, goes insane, cutting his eyelids and mouth and becoming a deranged serial killer. He tells his victims “Go to sleep” before murdering them.
Edmund Kemper from Mindhunter
Edmund Emil Kemper III is an American serial killer who abducted and murdered several women in the early 1970s using his large stature and formidable intelligence. He was portrayed every so creepily by Cameron Britton in the 2017 Netflix series Mindhunter.
Mick Taylor from Wolf Creek
In the Australian horror film Wolf Creek, Michael “Mick” Taylor (John Jarratt) is a cold, calculating, and sadistic man. His m.o. is to gain the trust of tourists traveling the outback before kidnapping, torturing, and murdering them. He’s loosely based on a real life serial killer nicknamed the The Backpack Killer.
Bloody Face
In American Horror Story: Asylum, Bloody Face is a serial killer who started murdering in the early 1960s. His true identity is suspected to be a gas station worker named Kit, but it turns out to be respected psychiatrist Dr. Oliver Thredson (Zachary Quinto), and decades later, his son Johnny Morgan (Dylan McDermott).
Dr. Decker
Dr. Decker is the slasher villain of the cult classic fantasy/horror film Nightbreed (played by legendary horror director David Cronenberg) and the novel Cabal by Clive Barker of Hellraiser and Candyman fame. He is a serial killer psychologist who convinces his patients that they are serial killers before reporting them to the police and having them killed.
Leslie Vernon
Leslie Vernon is the focus and antagonist of the cult classic mockumentary comedy-horror Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. He is a wannabe serial killer inspired by the likes of Jason, Michael, and Freddy (who in this world really exist). What he lacks in physical power he makes up for in his cunning planning and setting up of traps for his would-be victims. Don’t forget to wear and tear his clothes. Leslie Vernon walks barefoot, so it’s recommended that you wear sandals when not posing for pictures. Black face paint for the black circles around his eyes.
The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man is the name given to the protagonists of H.G. Wells’s sci-fi novel of the same name and the classic Universal Studios horror movie franchise that spawned from it. Besides that, similar characters have appeared in numerous other media, such as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics and a stage play. Since there have been many people to take up the mantle, designs vary. Feel free to mix and match different articles of clothing. Personally, I like to use Solar Shields when I dress as him as opposed to Victorian sunglasses, because they look like goggles worn in more contemporary depictions, have side lenses like the 19th century sunglasses worn in the classic films, and are large enough to cover my eyeglasses.
