How to Make Halloween Costumes of Horror Movie Villains

01
of 10

Jason Vorhees, 'Friday the 13th'

Jason Vorhees Halloween costume
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Your Motivation: You're the notorious Jason Vorhees. You drowned as a child because those punk kid lifeguards at Camp Crystal Lake were off fooling around. Now, unencumbered by your own death, you've grown into a strapping man who seeks vengeance upon anyone who enters the old campgrounds.

Key Characteristics: Pre-grunge flannel shirt, optional jacket, machete, hockey mask covering disfigured corpse face, desperate need for a shower.

Typical Dialogue: None, although you're followed by an incessant "ch-ch-ch-ha-ha-ha" sound effect that you'd think would tip off potential victims to your presence.

How to Achieve the Look*: Set yourself on fire, electrocute yourself, stick a machete in your face, drown yourself and if time permits, visit Hell for a bit.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Jason Vorhees costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

02
of 10

Michael Myers, 'Halloween'

Michael Myers Halloween costume
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Your Motivation: So, you say you're Michael Myers? That means at age six, you stabbed your sister to death on Halloween with a butcher knife because, well, you could. You've been locked in a mental institution for fifteen years, but you escape and head back to your old home—conveniently enough, on Halloween—intent on killing anyone related to you. Apparently, you're terrible at family gatherings.

Key Characteristics: Jumpsuit, old Captain Kirk mask painted white, butcher knife, no emotion to speak of.

Typical Dialogue: (Cock your head to the side as you look at the corpse of someone you've just killed, as if to say, "Wow, I am messed up.")

How to Achieve the Look*: Expose yourself to some sort of trauma that will render you a speechless killing machine—like watching a Hannah Montana marathon or trying to find a HoneyBaked ham the day before Thanksgiving. The mask and jumpsuit should be easy to figure out by comparison.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Michael Myers costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

03
of 10

Freddy Krueger, 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'

Freddy Krueger Halloween costume
Photo Courtesy PriceGrabber

Your Motivation: You're Freddy Krueger, a child murderer who was acquitted by the justice system but burned to death by a lynch mob. You return from the dead with the ability to manipulate dreams, a talent you use to get revenge on the children of the people who killed you—because getting revenge on a bunch of middle-aged parents wouldn't be nearly as sexy.

Key Characteristics: Burnt face, ratty fedora, leather glove with knife blades attached to the fingers, gaudy green-and-red-striped sweater, terrible comedic instincts.

Typical Dialogue: Awful puns, like CSI: Miami mixed with an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie from the '80s. For instance: "What a waist!" after you rip someone's torso from their body.

How to Achieve the Look*: The burnt features are important, so if you're squeamish about setting yourself on fire, try sleeping on a stovetop. Acid burns might also work; feel free to experiment. If possible, learn how to ingest people's souls so that tiny replications of their faces appear on your chest. That would be cool.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Freddy Krueger costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

04
of 10

Leatherface, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Leatherface Halloween costume
Photo Courtesy PriceGrabber

Your Motivation: You are a slow-witted man who acts mostly on instinct. You're slavishly obedient to your family and will do almost anything they say with reckless abandon...and a chainsaw. Oh, and you're a cannibal.

Key Characteristics: Dress shirt, tie, optional ill-fitting sports jacket, bloody cannibal apron, mask made of human skin, spastic desire to saw people.

Typical Dialogue: "SQUEEEEEEEEAAAALLL!!!"

How to Achieve the Look*: Pack on 30 or 40 pounds, find several friends willing to donate their skin for a way-cool Halloween mask, learn to appreciate the taste of human flesh.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Leatherface costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

05
of 10

Chucky, 'Child's Play'

Chucky Halloween costume
Photo Courtesy PriceGrabber

Your Motivation: You are Chucky, a serial killer whose soul is trapped inside a doll (don't ask). Due to some voodoo fine print, you have to transfer your soul into the body of the first person you reveal your true identity to, but you're free to kill everybody else.

Key Characteristics: Red hair, blue overalls, tiny plastic body, anger management issues, rabid desire to kill.

Typical Dialogue: "Ade due Damballa. Give me the power, I beg of you!" Repeat this voodoo spell over and over until you're blue in the face, because Chucky can never get it to work in time to transfer his soul into someone else.

How to Achieve the Look*: Either stunt your growth with cigarettes and coffee or saw off your legs below the knee. In either case, make sure you have health insurance.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Chucky costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

06
of 10

Pinhead, 'Hellraiser'

Pinhead Halloween costume
Photo Courtesy PriceGrabber

Your Motivation: You are a resident of Hell who views pain and pleasure interchangeably. You mostly hang out "downstairs" with your demonic posse, but once in a while you're summoned to Earth when someone solves the Lament Configuration puzzle box, thus opening the gate to Hell. Their prize is to have you tear them to pieces, usually involving chains and gratuitous nudity.

Key Characteristics: British accent, pins inserted into bald head, no sense of humor, black leather dress with "wardrobe malfunction" holes, fondness for S&M.

Typical Dialogue: "Your pain will be legendary!"

How to Achieve the Look*: In order to get the pins inserted evenly, you'll need to draw a graph on your shaved head. That's the easy part. Then, you'll need either help from a friend or a series of strategically placed mirrors to get the pins nailed into your skull properly. Now all you have to do is grease yourself up and slip into that skin-tight leather dress. And sell your soul to the Devil.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Pinhead costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

07
of 10

Norman Bates, 'Psycho'

Psycho Norman Bates Halloween costume
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Your Motivation: You love your mother. A lot. I mean, you really, really love her -- so much so that you dress up like her, talk in her voice and kill people who invade your turf. Did I mention that you're nuttier than a fruitcake?

Key Characteristics: Nagging old woman voice, old woman dress, old woman wig, butcher knife, tendency to hang around showers.

Typical Dialogue: "Norman! Get that trollop out of here!"

How to Achieve the Look*: Rummage through your mother's drawers and pick the most matronly dress you can find. Then get therapy for having rummaged through your mother's drawers.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Norman Bates costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

08
of 10

Shark, 'Jaws'

Jaws Halloween costume
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Your Motivation: You are a great white shark. As such, you are hungry. All. The. Time. Luckily, the town of Amity is like a maritime smorgasbord during the summer. (In the winter, you vacation in the Caribbean, where you stalk the shark-killing Brody family.)

Key Characteristics: Gray, shark-like, good swimmer, 25 feet long, apparently holds a grudge.

Typical Dialogue: "Glug, glug, glug, RAAAAAARRR!"

How to Achieve the Look*: Get some sort of experimental "species change" to turn yourself into a shark, or at least a porpoise with a chip on its shoulder. Make sure to have a body of water nearby that's bigger and saltier than your bathtub. Find a string quartet to follow you around and play your theme song.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on shark costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

09
of 10

Alien, 'Alien'

Alien Halloween costume
Photo Courtesy PriceGrabber

Your Motivation: You've got babies to make! If only these humans would be more cooperative. Instead of shooting you, they should let your young ones attach themselves to their faces and lay eggs in their throats. Then, when the baby alien is ready, it'll just pop out of the human's chest and grow up to protect the queen. For some reason, though, humans don't like the whole dying part.

Key Characteristics: Elongated head, double mouth, long tail, in desperate need of a drool cup.

Typical Dialogue: Lots of hissing and spitting.

How to Achieve the Look*: Allow an alien to impregnate you; make sure it buys you dinner first.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on Alien costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.

10
of 10

Zombie, any George Romero zombie movie

Zombie Halloween costume
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Your Motivation: Brains....You must eat brains. And intestines. Maybe the occasional arm or earlobe.

Key Characteristics: Slow, dimwitted, decomposing body, appetite for human flesh, fondness for malls.

Typical Dialogue: "Uuuuuunnnnnggggggpppphhhmmmm..."

How to Achieve the Look*: First, die. If you can arrange it so that you're wearing a wacky outfit at the time of death, all the better. Allow yourself to decompose for several months for optimum gruesomeness. Stipulate in your will that you be buried in an area close to a nuclear dumping site so that you'll be awakened when the inevitable spill happens.

The Easy Way Out: Compare prices on zombie costumes.

*For macabre entertainment purposes only. Do not try this at home.