Scariest Halloween Costumes Ever: The idea of what constitutes a truly scary Halloween costume has changed drastically over time. Where it used to be about the pure shock value or originality, now it’s more about how good the individual costume looks. In the digital age every costume one could think up is most likely online in some form, so it’s almost impossible to score high in any sort of originality score.
In addition, in large part due to social media, people have pushed their Halloween costume ambitions and spending to new heights in recent years as people recognize the opportunity to be seen by millions of people on the internet should their costume go viral. This hasn’t necessarily been a positive though, as we recently ranked the 30 worst Halloween costume ideas ever brought to horrible life.
So, in order to rank the scariest Halloween costumes ever, we avoided things like budget and instead looked at the scariest costumes out of choices that are used on at least a semi-consistent basis, as opposed to short-lived, Hollywood-style, blockbuster costumes that the average consumer could never replicate.
Now then, lets take a look at the scariest Halloween costumes ever:
6. Angry Butcher
If it were more popular, it would definitely be higher on this list. Personally, an Angry Butcher scares the crap out of me. I’m not sure if I’ve just seen too many movies (lookup ‘Midnight Meat Train’), but angry butcher costumes are generally scary. They almost all come with an over-sized cutting knife, and blood on an apron. The more the person portraying the butcher actually looks like they could be a butcher in real life, the scarier the costume will be. Yet, no matter who is donning the costume, an angry butcher will remain a scary option every October.
The scariest Halloween costumes ever continue on the next page with a horrifying movie favorite.
5. Regan from The Exorcist
The obvious knock against this costume would be that many people simply wouldn’t recognize the character, especially the younger generation that may never have heard of the famed movie. But it truly doesn’t matter, as this costume is scary enough without any context. For those who have seen the film and do recognize the nature of the costume, it will only make it that much scarier.
4. Vampire
Vampire almost didn’t make this list, the reason being that this costume can be done on an incredibly lazy level. Someone can make their face pale, throw on a cape, and call themselves a vampire. So, while execution is not a factor in these rankings, let’s assume for the purpose of this list that people are at least attempting to fully use the costume.
For those really trying, its hard to make a vampire costume that’s not at least a little bit scary. Truthfully, I think the costume has recently experienced a bit of a renaissance if you will. While it may have been played out and getting repetitive, I argue that the resurfacing of the Vampire in pop culture through shows such as True Blood has actually allowed the costume to show consistent variation and change. Thus the vampire is one of the scariest Halloween costumes ever because of its duration as a potential scary outfit, and the recent increase in scary versions of it.
3. Zombie
Zombies have long been one of the most popular Halloween costumes. However, in recent years I’ve noticed more and more genuinely scary versions of the zombie costume. For instance, a Zombie Avatar costume has been popular of late. Zombie costumes are typically scary, as people of all ages wear them and the concept of zombies is scary enough that when people do put a twist on the idea, it truly becomes one of the scariest Halloween costumes ever.
2. Chucky from Child’s Play
As movies have been made featuring this character since 1950, Chucky has become one of the most recognizable horror figures in society. The idea of a doll turning evil and going on homicidal rampages is vicious in itself, but the look of it is what makes the costume truly scary. A doll face with scars and makeup on it, will almost always look scary. And as almost anyone would recognize this outfit, Chucky is one of the scariest Halloween costumes ever.
1. Scary Clown
Clowns are always a bit scary, and its one of the few costumes where the older you are, the creepier you look representing a clown. Along those lines, it’s a weird costume because you can see the persons face while not knowing their expression. The element of surprise in part is what makes this such a scary costume. Moreover, the main reason for the number one ranking on my list is the wide amount of variation that comes with this costume. As the base element of a scary clown is already a bit frightening, people have been able to take this idea and most consistently turn it into the scariest Halloween costumes ever.
