BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES FOR THE EDGY INDIE NICHE ALT CINEPHILE SAD GIRL

Did I get them all?

Movie Characters
- For ease of scrolling DUO costumes are in purple and GROUP costumes are in orange.
TV Characters
Iconic Artists
Classic Figures
COMMENTS SECTION

MOVIE CHARACTERS

NOTE: A LOT OF THESE MOVIES ALSO HAPPEN TO BE VERY GOOD AND PERFECT FOR OCTOBER VIEWING!

BARBARELLA

Roger Vadim’s Barbarella is an ICONIC film following the extremely sexy space adventurer Barbarella, as she undertakes a mission to stop a mad scientist.

Character: Barbarella

Costume: Getting her hair right is half the battle. She has a lot of iconic looks throughout the film so the costume components are flexible.

BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER

Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader is a brightly coloured political satire following gay cheerleader Megan as she attends a conversion therapy camp. It’s a must see.

Character: Megan the lesbian cheerleader

SINGLE Costume: All you need is a blond wig, red pompoms, blond hair, fancy white gloves and a lust for women.

Characters: Megan and Graham

DUO Costume: All you need is a button up shirt, button up cardigan and skirt in the most disgusting bubblegum pink imaginable.

Characters: Conversion camp attendees

Group Costume: Bring the whole conversion camp to your halloween party. Girls wear the disgusting bubblegum pink set, and boys, just wear your freshest baby blue shirt and your best dark blue tie.

THE LOVE WITCH

Anna Biller’s The Love Witch is a comedy horror centred around Elaine, a badass witch who can’t help it if men die after an encounter with her!

Character: Elaine, The Love Witch

SINGLE Costume: You need the longest pitch black wig in the world, a cigarette, bright blue eyeshadow, a thick little eyeliner wing, the right giant necklace, a bitchy red manicure and a general distaste for men.

POSSESSION

Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is probably one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen.

Character: Anna/Helen

SINGLE Costume: You need short dark hair, fake blood, a dagger, a turtle neck long sleeve blue/purple dress and a lot of passionate dedication to playing the role.

THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM

Ken Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm is a supernatural horror comedy about a girl and her scary worm.

Character: Lady Sylvia

SINGLE Costume: Lady Sylvia has several excellent looks throughout the film, but for her signature cover photo, all you need is a slicked back pixie cut, round black earrings, black latex head to toe, a killer red lipstick and fangs. It also helps to have a nerdy little man on your arm.

IRMA VEP

Olivier Assayas’s Irma Vep is a satire following Maggie Chung as she shoots a B movie in France.

Character: Maggie

SINGLE Costume: You’ll need a black latex catsuit, a thick black headband, shoulder length black hair, black lipstick and patience.

MS. 45

Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 is an Italian thriller that follows deaf-mute clothing studio worker, Thana, as she seeks revenge on her rapists, and on all men.

Character: Thana

SINGLE Costume: All you need is a nun costume, red lips, red nails and a toy gun- not to be the safety police but make sure that your toy gun is brightly coloured or something and doesn’t look real.

JENNIFER’S BODY

What would we have done without Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body? If you haven’t seen it yet, RUN.

Character: Jennifer

SINGLE Costume: I think the most iconic Jennifer look is short denim skirt, black ankle boots, low neck henley top, white short puffer and tons of blood.

Characters: Jennifer and Needy

DUO Costume: Jennifer wears a white off the shoulder prom gown and Needy wears a magenta off the shoulder prom dress. Both girls are wet and covered in blood.

PARTY GIRL

Daisy von Scherler Mayer’s Party Girl follows sassy and young Mary as she navigates the absolute horrors of post grad adulthood.

Character: Mary

SINGLE Costume: She has multiple iconic looks, but the red tights are her signature. For this look, you need white gloves, little circle sunglasses, a leopard fur coat, a red skirt, striped red tights, a striped multicolour bag and a deep exhaustion with everything around you.

BEFORE SUNRISE

Richard Linklator’s Before Sunrise is an absolute classic. Celine is so wonderful. Why not dress up like her?

Characters: Celine and Jesse

SINGLE Costume: You need the messy french blond hair, a white t-shirt, a long brown dress, an oversize cardigan around your waist and a lumpy black bag.

DUO Costume: The same as above, just add a man with jeans, a white shirt, a leather jacket, and messy hair (on his face and on his head).

SUCKER PUNCH

Sucker punch is a psychological fantasy about a group of girls who believe themselves to be trained warriors. The outfits are everything.

Characters: Babydoll, Sweet Pea, Rocket, Blondie, and Amber.

Group Costume: They each have a unique outfit that you can easily put something together for, but there are also pretty good costumes available online.

THE RED SHOES

The Red Shoes is an iconic backstage drama exploring dedicated ballet dancer Vicky Page’s obsession with her craft.

Character: Vicky Page

SINGLE Costume: You will obviously need red ballet shoes. You will also need a white lacy dress, big orange hair, the signature intense makeup look shown above, and the capacity to pretend that ballet is life.

I SHOT ANDY WARHOL

Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol, is a biopic following Valerie Solanas, the woman who shot Andy Warhol after he refused to return her script to her. Solanas is known for her widely published manifesto, The Society for Cutting Up Men.

Character: Valerie Solanas

SINGLE Costume: Very short hair, determined glare, yellow quarter zip, sherpa lined coat, gun (one that looks fake pls) and maybe a little patch somewhere on the jacket that says “SCUM”.

ALIEN

Alien is, well, Ridley Scott’s horror classic Alien.

Character: Ripley

SINGLE Costume: You need a grey jumpsuit or Grey cargo pants with a matching button up collared cargo shirt, short curly hair, a big watch and an even bigger space gun.

BOUND

The Wachowski sisters’ debut, Bound, is a crime thriller following a passionate forbidden love affair between the building handy woman and the girlfriend of a violent tenant.

Characters: Corky and Violet

DUO Costume: This costume works best as a duo. Corky wears black cargo pants, a ribbed white, racerback tank, an arm band and a chin length straight haircut. Violet has curlier hair at the same length, dark red lipstick, giant diamond earrings and a little black dress.

THE DOOM GENERATION

Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation follows a group of teens who hate the world and try to do all they can to make living bearable.

Character: Amy Blue

SINGLE Costume: The issue with this costume is that if you’re not careful you could get mistook for Mia Wallace. Getting the dress, boots and sunglasses right is key for avoiding this.

Character: Brandi

SINGLE Costume: The costume would be so fun to do. As long as you have the right giant bleach blond wig and pink heart shaped glasses, the rest can be very flexible.

MAY

May is a psychological horror film about an extremely lonely vet assistant who struggles to connect with the people around her.

Character: May

SINGLE Costume: You’ll need to perfect the makeup, but otherwise, a red ruffled dress and a deadly glare will do.

ELVIRA

James Signorelli’s Elvira is a horror comedy about a hot horror movie hostess who drives an entire town crazy.

Character: Elvira

SINGLE Costume: Crazy big hair, intense eyeliner, red lipstick, black lipliner, a v neck long sleeve black dress, a chunky leather belt and of course, a tiny little bejeweled dagger.

SMILEY FACE

Gregg Araki’s Smiley Face is a stoner comedy for GIRLS!!!!

Character: Jane

SINGLE Costume: For this you’ll need a white and blue shirt, a red zip up hoodie, short blond hair, and the biggest joint EVER. The best part of this costume is that you’ll be required to act super high (or…be super high). 🙂

METROPOLIS

Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is the first AI movie ever. It’s so fun and the scenes are notoriously stunning.

Character: Artificial Maria

SINGLE Costume: Her hair and makeup are the key pieces here. You’ll need light curly hair, pulled back into a bun and black liner and shadow all around your eyes. Your lips need to be a dark red, and your expression needs to be purely sinister. For the clothes, any old style dress over a long sleeve white button up will suffice.

I, TONYA

Crag Gillespie’s I, Tonya is a biopic about Tonya Harding, the figure skater whose husband famously attacked her skating rival.

Character: Tonya Harding

SINGLE Costume: All you need is a regular short white dress, and gold fabric paint. The designs on her original costume would be very easy to paint on. Just add curly blond hair, a pair of skates (or laced white boots) and an intimidating glare!

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE

Brian de Palma’s, Phantom of the Paradise is a rock opera based on The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Phantom of the Opera. It’s one of my favourite movies ever.

Character: The Phantom

SINGLE Costume: This is a hard one for sure, but the pay off is worth it. First you’ll need to somehow source the mask. Then you’ll need a black jumpsuit, black gloves, black boots, several belts, a cape and black lipstick.

Character: Phoenix

SINGLE Costume: If you go with the look from her Old Souls performance, all you need is a lacy cream dress, short wavy hair, anda microphone.

Characters: The Undeads (Rock Band)

GROUP Costume: The key here is getting the face paint just right. Otherwise you just need a run of the mill black long sleeve tunic and you’re set.

PHANTOM THREAD

Phantom Thread follows an uptight little dressmaker (Daniel Day Lewis) as he whines whenever something goes even slightly wrong. Alma (Vicky Krieps), his lover, becomes good at putting him in his place. From the beautiful soundtrack to the absolutely insane unspoken tension to the poisonous mushrooms, Phantom Thread is a movie that does everything right.

Characters: Reynolds and Alma

DUO Costume: This is another one that would work best as a duo. For Alma, you put your hair in a boring bun, and you’ll wear a red dress and white apron. For Reynolds, you’ll need to slick back your hair with an entire tub of hair gel, and wear a green plaid 13 piece ensemble, including a scarf, dress shirt, vest and other layers I don’t even understand.

BEETLEJUICE

Beetlejuice is another one that speaks for itself. If you haven’t seen it and you’re looking for a bizarre fantasy comedy for the halloween season, watch it asap.

Characters: Beetlejuice and Lydia

DUO Costume: This duo is popular enough that you should be able to find a store bought costume. If funds do not allow for something licensed, I would

DEATH BECOMES HER

Death Becomes Her is a comedy about a love triangle between a woman, her husband and his immortal ex wife. Another great Halloween comedy.

Character: Helen

SINGLE Costume: For Helen, you need a red v neck with a painted on hole effect, black bottoms, red hair and to be full of intense rage.

GROUP Costume: You can go as the whole triangle: Helen, Madeline and Ernest. Or you and a friend can go as Helen and Madeline. The key to these costumes is to make sure it looks like you have a hole in your torso.

BLADERUNNER

Bladerunner is the iconic film where Harrison Ford needs to hunt replicants (bots that look like humans).

Character: Pris

SINGLE Costume: For Pris, the eye makeup and hair are most of the battle. You’ll need a short bleach blond wig, lots of black shadow around your eyes and a leather choker. The outfit can be flexible as long as there is some black mesh and maybe cheetah print too.

WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?

Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a half live action half animated cult comedy.

Character: Jessica Rabbit

SINGLE Costume: You’ll need a sleek, long, orange wig, elbow length purple gloves, pink pumps, and a fabulous pink bodycon gown.

THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT

Jacques Demy’s The Young Girls of Rochefort is a French musical about two sisters who go on a journey looking for love.

Characters: Delphine and Solange

DUO Costume: The best way to do this would be getting two identical mid length white dresses and adding in the coloured sections (either with fabric paint or by cutting and hand sewing patches on). You might be able to find the hats at a thrift store. It’s possible.

CASINO

Casino is the Martin Scorsese mob movie where Robert Deniro yells at a chef for not putting an equal amount of blueberries in every muffin that he bakes.

Character: Ginger

SINGLE Costume: Ginger has many looks to choose from but what connects them all is that you’ll need to be prepared for a high level of glam. She loves a high pony, big coats and lots of jewels.

AUSTIN POWERS

This legendary spy movie speaks for itself.

Characters: Austin and the Fembots

SINGLE Costume: All you need to be a fembot is a big blond wig, a baby pink nightie and pom pom heels.

GROUP Costume: You can go as a whole group of fembots, and if you really want, you can bring a nerdy guy along to be your Austin.

BONNIE AND CLYDE

I am referring to Arthur Penn’s movie, Bonnie and Clyde rather than just the couple themselves because the costumes are easier to mimic.

Characters: Bonnie and Clyde

DUO Costume: For Bonnie, you’ll want a blond bob wig, a beret, a funky scarf, a knit top, a skirt and a fake handgun. For Clyde, just make sure you get the hat right and any suit will do.

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE

Kiki’s Delivery Service is a magical movie about a girl, her talking cat, her flying broom and her sense of self.

Character: Kiki

SINGLE Costume: This is a fairly easy costume. You’ll need a mid length long sleeve navy blue dress, a messenger bag, a giant red bow, a broom, and if you can, a little talking cat.

WANDA

Barbara Loden’s Wanda is one of those movies that makes you feel like you just lived someone else’s life for a little while. It’s a movie about a woman who doesn’t know what to do next in a world where everyone wants something from her.

Character: Wanda

SINGLE Costume: For the headband, I think this would be easy to put together by hot gluing plastic flowers to a white scarf. Otherwise, all you would need is a white dress, blond hair, bangs and a Bartleby-esque sadness about you.

PRACTICAL MAGIC

Practical Magic is a rom com following two sisters who decide to give magic a chance and instead end up jeopardizing their whole family line.

Characters: Sally and Gillian

DUO Costume: Finding a green velvet corset dress for Gillian will be difficult but if you achieve it, it’ll be an incredible piece to have in your wardrobe. For Sally, all you need is jeans and a white top. This is one of those costumes where you might not be recognized but the costumes itself are easy to achieve.

CRUEL INTENTIONS

Cruel Intentions is a 90s teen drama where two evil prep school students make a bet to see who can deflower the headmaster’s daughter first.

Character: Kathryn

SINGLE Costume: The most iconic part of this costume will be to get her coke cross necklace. Otherwise, all you need is a prep school uniform, short dark hair and a manipulative energy.

SUSPIRIA

Dario Argento’s Suspiria is a beautifully coloured Italian horror film following Suzy as she attends a ballet school with a terrifying secret history.

Character: Suzy

SINGLE Costume: For this, the key is to find a little cardigan that mimics the one above. Otherwise, it’s just curly hair, simple makeup and a fake dagger. You can even put a patch or badge somewhere on the cardigan that reads “TANZ Dance Academy” to be more identifiable.

THE COMPANY OF WOLVES

The Company of Wolves is a wild adaptation of Angela Carter’s iconic short, The Bloody Chamber. I’ve included it because Little Red Riding Hood deserves to be on every costume list.

Character: Rosaleen

SINGLE Costume: For this, you’ll just need a red cape, a corseted dress, and a picnic basket.

9 TO 5

9 to 5 is a comedy about 3 women who want to overthrow their misogynistic boss.

Characters: Doralee, Violet and Judy

GROUP Costume: This would be better as a group. For these costumes, any work- appropriate dresses of the era would work, as long as you get all the hairdos right.

THE INCREDIBLES

The Incredibles is that Disney movie about the family of superheroes that all wear red.

Character: Edna E Mode

SINGLE Costume: You’ll need round glasses, an incredibly boxy black bob, black tights, a dark blue mid length dress and a blue rectangular fabric to pin onto the dress. This costume is likely also available at costume shops.

POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN

Cecelia Condit’s Possibly in Michigan is an underrated musical horror film following two women as they try to do normal things without being victimized by men. This could be my favourite movie of all time.

Character: Sharon
SINGLE Costume: You’ll need a white sweater and skirt set, long straight black hair, and intensely drawn makeup. Having a deformed man following 2 feet behind you also helps.

A NEW LEAF

Elaine May’s A New Leaf is a comedy following the pathetic trust fund baby Henry Graham as he scrambles to find a way to live after all of his money has run out. Enter Henrietta Lowell, a rich worryless woman who Henry believes would make an excellent bride.

Characters: Henry and Henrietta

DUO Costume: Henry just needs a suit, a bad haircut and a sour personality. Henrietta needs little round glasses, a teacup, a fascinator clip hat, a beige suit jacket and matching skirt and a beige shirt to go underneath. She also needs to not take any responsibility ever again unless it relates to her research.

THE CONFORMIST

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist is a political thriller centered around Marcello Clerici, a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy.

Character: Giulia

SINGLE Costume: You’ll need to find that dress, or make it. You’ll also need a short black crimped wig.

WILD AT HEART

David Lynch’s Wild at Heart is an epic romance about young love, crime and parental guidance, starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern.

Characters: Sailor and Luna

DUO Costume: For Sailor, you NEED to do the snakeskin leather jacket. This jacket will give you mad rizz. Otherwise, it’s just black pants, shaggy hair and a toy handgun. For Luna, you can choose from a handful of styles. The key pieces with her are a long curly blond wig, silver hoops and a deep V halter dress.

JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES

Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman follows a widowed mother as she juggles a long list of tedious domestic duties with her career in sex work.

Character: Jeanne Dielman

SINGLE Costume: The hair is a big part of her look, so getting a short red wig is step number one. For the outfit, any dreary short sleeve button up dress will do, as long as you layer a white collared shirt and a grey long sleeve below it.

WITTGENSTEIN

This is Derek Jarman’s creative biopic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Character: Lady Ottoline Morrell

SINGLE Costume: She has a series of costumes throughout the film, all ridiculous and all very fun. The one above is my favourite. Whichever look you choose, just make sure you answer every question with “what the bloody blue blazes should I know? I’m the woman. You’re the philosopher”.

CLUE

These characters would make an incredible group costume. I’ve put it in the movie category as Jonathan Lynn’s movie based on the game has some good outfit inspiration.

Characters: Peacock, Scarlet, White, Green, Plum, and Mustard

GROUP Costume: This would be most recognizable as a group. The key to these costumes is getting the colours right and having one of the iconic weapons in hand.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU

Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You is a sci fi comedy about a ladder climbing telemarketer who begins to understand what capitalism really costs.

Characters: Cassius and Detroit

DUO Costume: To be fair, you can certainly do Detroit on her own, but the costume will be much more recognizable with Cassius around. For Detroit, you’ll need to perfect the hair, get an oversized thrifted button up, a black tie, a sign to flip around and of course, giant anti capitalist earrings. For the sake of this costume, I think you could DIY these by drawing the design on cardstock, cutting it out and sticking it to stud earrings you don’t wear much. For Cassius, you can remake his iconic picket line crossing get up with a douchebag suit, a white head wrap with a blood spot, and a water bottle.

CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

Crimes of the Future is David Cronenberg’s latest release. It’s set in a world similar to our own where surgery is sexual and plastic is part of our diet.

Character: Klinek

SINGLE Costume: I’ll be honest, I mainly put this on the list for the ear man. I think he would make a great halloween costume. I think the best way to go about this would be to get a tight fitting shirt that matches your skin tone, and to hot glue ears all over it. It would probably be cheapest to make these ears yourself but they sell fake ears at most costume shops. You can also make an ear headband and ear bracelets.

VAMPS

Amy Heckerling’s Vamps is a movie about two vampire roommates living in New York City in the company of a family of vampire hunters.

Characters: Stacy and Goody

DUO Costume: They have a lot of looks throughout the film, but I think the key is to highlight Goody’s traditional outlook against Stacy’s young and hip persona. Having some plastic fangs on would help too.

CHICAGO

I’m including Rob Marshall’s Chicago because it has great costume inspiration.

Characters: Velma and Roxie

DUO Costume: General flapper costumes work here, as long as one costume is silver and the other is black. Getting the hair right will add to how recognizable it can be.

PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock is dreamy mystery about a group of schoolgirls who disappear while on a school trip.

Characters: The missing students and teacher

GROUP Costume: This is the one where you get to make all of your friends wear white victorian gowns.

BOTTOMS

Emma Seligman’s Bottoms is one of the best coming of age movies I’ve ever seen.

Characters: PJ, Josie, Jeff, Isabel, Brittany, Hazel, Mr. G,and Miles.

GROUP Costume: They all have several looks throughout the film but the poster looks are probably best to do as a group. You can also make this a bigger group by adding in other side characters.

Characters: PJ and Josie

DUO Costume: For PJ, you’ll need a striped tee, suspenders and wide leg corduroy pants. For Josie, you’ll need cargo pants and a striped collared sweater.