Dapper Cadaver Blog » Gothic, Horror & Halloween Oh My!

Haunted House Decorations

Exterior: The Cemetery

Leading up to the doorway are dozens of gothic tombstones, strewn with moss and ivy. Amidst the headstones are larger more elaborate tombstones, sad faced angels, and the twisted branches of a tree screaming and half man. Set in folding chairs in the cemetery are a couple of decomposed corpse props enjoying the night air, playing cards and drinking booze. Around the doorway several rubber skeletons seem to be climbing the walls

Entryway: Fortune Teller

The first scenario guests come to in the Haunted House will be a fortune tellers parlor. Décor includes occult oddities such as the mystic hand, the hand of glory, phrenology head, fetal skeleton, cat skeleton, human skulls, Indonesian devils, the bust of a mourning widow and a severe bearded man, and several haunted portraits, whose vintage characters transform into ghosts and ghouls as people pass by. At the center table sits an actual fortune teller who welcomes guests, tells fortunes throughout the night, and tells the tale of the evenings cursed surroundings. The glowing light of plasma balls illuminates the room. An anamatronic fortune teller can be set up as well.

“This room is the very spot where 100 years ago the wicked young baron liked to torture his servants to death for sport. Dozens of poor indentured souls were brutally murdered and buried in the very floors and wall the guest now walk on. The Young Baron himself was never found, but his damned ghost now walks the halls.”

The opening to the rest of the party is through a curtain marked with signs such as “Beware” and “Haunted House”

Inside the House:

Inside the house is the scene of the horror, the room where the young baron tortured his victims. Hanging from the ceiling are several gibbet cages with spotlights pointed at them to cast an eerie criss-cross of shadows. Hooks and chains also hang from the walls and ceilings. The furniture all has chains and shackles coming off of it to hold victims in place. In the rafters hang ghosts of all sizes, large skull headed ghosts, medium ghosts with arms, and small ghosts that are little more than shrouded heads. Cobweb covered heads, screaming heads and reaching hands are coming out of the walls. Around the floor are gothic iron candelabras and on each table are prop bones, skulls, ribcages, and table top candelabras. A bloody ax hangs behind the bar, which has been outfitted with blacklights. The specialty of the house? Ectoplasm gin fizzes and Ectoplasm vodka fizzes. The drinks glow neon blue in the blacklight. Use tonic water in a vintage bottle or with a homemade label marked ectoplasm. The quinine in tonic water is the only food that naturally glows under blacklight. A cobweb covered skeleton in a bartenders uniform stands behind the bar. Another sits on a barstool, passed out drunk, his glass turned sideways and rubber blood leaking out. Behind the bar amidst the bottles are human body parts suspended in jars of glowing fluid and skulls that seem to float in the air.

Torture equipment such as guillotines,  interrogation chairs and stocks are set up so guests can have their last photos taken screaming in pain.

Everything in the main room is covered in cobwebs. Blood drips in the bathroom, and patrons find they often leave with blood on their hands, a trick done by powdering various items with magic blood powder, which looks invisible but turns to blood when wet.

The floor is littered with skull piles and lights flicker in the fog. A ghoulish butler stands guard, watching, breathing, laughing. Bat demons fly above.

Earlier I wrote on Celtic origins of Halloween and the important changes that took place with the Holiday in America. Today for Monster Mondays I’m going to look at the early Monsters of Celtic Halloween. The traditional holiday bears little resemblance to the Halloween we know now. It was not a celebration of death, horror, and thrills, but a harvest festival and new years eve celebration. The most important practices involved fortune telling, making predictions for the coming year, and it was believed that on this day ordinary rules did not apply, and souls, spirits, and fairies could be present on earth.  Most descriptions of what souls,spirits, and fairies visit earth are rather vague, but a few specific supernatural creatures are named. As is usually the case, the first at the party are the first to go, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the Celtic Halloween monsters doing the Monster Mash or out trick-or-treating.

Cailleach Bheur -Also known as Cally Berry (no relation to Hallie Berry), Old Woman Winter, The Blue Hag, The Storm Hag, and The Veiled One. In all respects, the Cailleach is a god and not a monster. She is the embodiment of winter reborn every Samhain/Halloween and turned to stone, or to a tree, or to a young woman every Beltane. Her staff can freeze anything with a touch and she is the gaurdian of the animals. Some say she carvedthe Mountains of Scotland with a hammer and pick. She once fell asleep while pumping a well, flooding the valley and killing hundreds. That valley is now Loch Awe.

Aillen Trechenn, The Three Headed Monster.  Also known as the Ellén Trechend. It emerges from it’s cave every Halloween to wreck havoc. It laid Ireland to waste with it’s fire breath and was killed not once but twice, by the heroes Amergin and Fion Mac Comhaill. Despite it’s appearance being an annual event and multiple heroes claiming to kill it. There’s a lot of disagreement on what it was. Somesay a three headed dragon, others a beast, others a bird, and some say it was not one but a whole swarm of three headed things.

Hwch Ddu Gota -The black swine or specteral pig. Some say this pig was the embodiment of the Devil. Long past midnight when the raging Bonfires of Halloween died down to embers, the black swine would be born from those embers to catch and murder any drunkards still lagging about at the festival. The ultimate blow off.

Stingy Jack – For the scoop on Stingy Jack, see my previous post on the origin of Trick or Treating

Cutty Sark is the nickname given to the sexy witch in Robert Burns’ classic1790  narrative poem Tam O’Shanter. The poem is not about Halloween per se, but at the same time sets a template for the American version of Halloween to come. Burns does have a poem called Halloween but it is much more in the Celtic Tradition of Bonfires, New Years, and Story telling, and little about the ghastly celebration we know as Halloween.

Tam O’Shanter however tells of a Scotsman out drinking (shocking right?) well past the witching hour. When he finally leaves the pub the streets are alive with horrors and the undead. He sneaks to the center of the horrors where he finds the devil himself dancing with a coven of witches. In their macabre merriment they cast off their clothes, but because they are all old hags,Tam nearly loses his lunch. In their midst though is one beautiful young witch wearing a “Cutty Sark” which I’ve found translated as short skirt, low cut top, or underwear. What ever she was wearing, it was given to her as a child and was now barely containing her bursting woman hood.  Tam got so excited he hollared out, as drunks are prone to do at sexy women,  and set the devil and all his witches chasing him.

Dancing, drinking, horrors and sexy costumes. Sounds like the Halloween I know.

Cutty looks good for being 219 years old.

From Tam O’Shanter

Inspiring bold John Barleycorn!
What dangers thou canst make us scorn!
Wi’ tippenny, [ale] we fear nae evil;
Wi’ usquabae, [whiskey] we’ll face the devil!
The swats sae ream’d in Tammie’s noddle,
Fair play, he car’d na deils a boddle,
But Maggie stood, right sair astonish’d,
Till, by the heel and hand admonish’d,
She ventur’d forward on the light;
And, wow! Tam saw an unco sight!

Warlocks and witches in a dance:
Nae cotillon, brent new frae France,
But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,
Put life and mettle in their heels.
A winnock bunker in the east,
There sat auld Nick, in shape o’ beast; [the devil]
A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,
To gie them music was his charge:
He screw’d the pipes and gart them skirl,
Till roof and rafters a’ did dirl. -
Coffins stood round, like open presses,
That shaw’d the Dead in their last dresses;
And (by some devilish  cantraip leight)
Each in its cauld hand held a light.
By which heroic Tam was able
To note upon the haly table,
A murderer’s banes, in gibbet-airns;
Twa span-lang, wee, unchristened bairns;
A thief, new-cutted frae a rape,
Wi’ his last gasp his gabudid gape;
Five tomahawks, wi’ blude red-rusted:
Five scimitars, wi’ murder crusted;
A garter which a babe had strangled:
A knife, a father’s throat had mangled.
Whom his ain son of life bereft,
The grey-hairs yet stack to the heft;
Wi’ mair of horrible and awfu’,
Which even to name wad be unlawfu’.
Three lawyers tongues, turned inside oot,
Wi’ lies, seamed like a beggars clout,
Three priests hearts, rotten, black as muck,
Lay stinkin, vile in every neuk.

As Tammie glowr’d, amaz’d, and curious,
The mirth and fun grew fast and furious;
The Piper loud and louder blew,
The dancers quick and quicker flew,
The reel’d, they set, they cross’d, they cleekit,
Till ilka carlin swat and reekit,
And coost her  duddies to the wark, [cast off her clothes]
And linkit at it in her sark! [lookin' at her nekkid]

Cutty Sark became a popular motif for the figureheads of boats, then the name of the Clipper ship with the Cutty Sark masthead, then finaly the scotch whiskey with the clipper ship on the label. It’s the perfect scotch for drinking until you face the devil.

The following are some of the suggestions we give anyone setting up a Halloween Party or Haunted House. Props we can provide are linked. All Halloween props are available for sale or rental. Email BJ at BJ@Dapppercadaver.com for a quote or more Haunt scenarios and suggestions. Note the importance of actors, timing, drama, and atmosphere as well as props and effects. Be sure to add eerie lighting and sounds!

Scene 1: The Dinning Room:
A long table is set with piles of bloody body parts and partial human corpses. Gothic tabletop candelabras sit on the table and 5 foot tall floor candelabras are around the sides. On the walls are hung changing portraits, grotesque taxidermy and bloody curtains. A vulture perches on one chair, a decomposed skeleton in another. Platters are covered in small bits, eyes, fingers, tongues. Other plates are piled with intestines, hearts and livers. Two actors sit at the table in costume feasting on edible brains, hands, hearts, and faces, instead of silverware they use dissection instruments. Another actor or animatronic is on the table moving and screaming.

Scene 2: Butcher shop
The butcher is an actor in a long white butchers coat with a black butchers apron over top. His apron is strung with a variety of wicked looking steel autopsy instruments. In his hands he has a real chainsaw which still works, but the chain has been removed so it cannot cut. Hanging in chains from the ceiling are several hooks, skinned animals, a half pig, a skinned goat, a half person, a skinned person, a full corpse, and several human limbs. The walls are hung with blood splattered plastic curtains. On a chopping block is a meat grinder with a human hand sticking out the top and ground beef coming out the front. He menaces the crowd as actors behind the plastic curtains reach bloody hands out through slits and beg for help. A row of axes hangs on the wall. Animated heads rotate in torture boxes.

Scene 3: Old Hospital/ Asylum
A Mad Doctor experimenting on patients. The doctor is an actor in a long white lab coat. He holds a steel pistol syringe with a retractable fake needle and has a reflector on his head. Another actor is bound in chains and cuffs to a vintage insane asylum bed. An equally vintage autopsy pump sits beside the patient. Shelves around the scene hold several specimen jars which glow under blacklight. Also on the shelves are plasma balls flickering with lightning effects, human skulls, and the mounted skeletons and mummies of strange creatures. A full size 2 headed skeleton stands beside them. An IV bag filled with blacklight responsive fluid hangs from an IV stand. An large x ray light box covered in x rays glows in the background.

Scene 4: Tribal Headhunters
Scene is a jungle with hut. Head hunter is an actor with a headdress made of lightweight skulls and feathers. His necklace is a variety of small skulls and bones. He holds a large plastic machete and a spiked club. Shrunken heads, severed heads, chickens and skulls hang everywhere. Heads on stakes dot the background. Bright Indonesian devils sit on pedestals. In the foreground a charred body rotates on a spit.

Scene 5: Graveyard
Scene is a graveyard, a few dozen tombstones rise from the ground, amid them a large angel, and 3 large obelisks stand. On the ground is an old wooden coffin, and a pile of dirt and a shovel. In the dirt several bones and body parts can be seen sticking out. A grave digger stands, with a steel bonesaw in his hands. His belt is strung with human hands, rotted hands, and skeletal hands all wearing gawdy jewelry. He opens the casket and inside is the mummy-like corpse of an old woman, decked out in pearls, gold and rings. This would be a good scene to work in an animatronic coffin popper. Grave digger can also interact with the crowd by trying to sell rings with the fingers still inside. Crows and vultures perch on the stones and in the trees. Rats are on the ground. Low lying fog creeps over everything. Moss hangs from everything.

BIG pre-season sale at Dapper Cadaver!

We’ll be giving a whopping 20% off on the first Haunted House order of June over $200 as well as 10% off all Halloween orders placed in June. Contact me at bj@dappercadaver.com or 818-771-0818 to take advantage of the deal of the PRE-season.

Just got through a photoshoot with models Jezebelle X and Radhika from Art of Bleeding. Photos are by Marianne Williams.

embrace death

Model: Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Dapper Cadaver Skeletons

Bone Waltz

Model: Jezebelle X.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Decayed Mummy

Baby Skeleton

Model: Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Antique Fetal Skeleton

Skeleton Line

Model: Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Dapper Cadaver Skeletons

Angels in the Cemetery

Model: Radhika and Jezebelle.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Dapper Cadaver Headstones

Cemetery Angel

Model: Radhika and Jezebelle.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Cemetery Angel

Graveyard Jezebelle

Model:  Jezebelle.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Cemetery Monuments and Obelisks

Graveyard Jezebelle 2

Weeping Angel

Model:  Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Weeping Angel Headstone

Cemetery Girl

Model:  Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Custom Engraved Headstones

Cemetery Girls

Embrace Death 2

Baby Skeleton 2

Embrace Death 3

Girls and Skeletons

Model:  Jezebelle and Radhika.  Photographer: Marianne Williams. Props: Display White Skeleton

Embrace Death 4

Embrace Death 5

Embrace Death 6

Weeping Angel 2

Cemetery Angels 2

Bone Waltz 2

Cemetery Angels 3

On Thursday March 5th, I’d like to invite you to Dapper Cadaver’s first free after hours art event, “Drawing Blood”

WHAT: Drawing Blood – Once a month, The Dapper Cadaver Prop House opens its studios in the evening for a free evening where artists of all kinds are invited to come by and use our unique collection of props, oddities, scientific specimens and equipment, and Halloween decor as models for their art. Sketching, illustration, painting, sculpting and more are encouraged. Props can be artfully arranged to suit your needs. Coffee and snacks will be provided. Most evenings will be free form, but check out our mailing list and blog for info on special nights featuring live models and special instructors. Email me if you’re interested in modeling or instructing. Commercial photography and video not allowed.

BRING: All your own art supplies. We have some chairs and stools but if you need one you may want to bring your own. Any food or drink.

WHEN: 6:30pm -10:00pm, the first Thursday of each month.
March 5th / April 2nd / May 7th / June 4th / July 2nd / August 6th / Sept 3rd / Oct 1st / Nov 5th / Dec 3rd

WHERE: Dapper Cadaver Prop House.
7572 San Fernando Rd, Los Angeles, CA, 91352 (near Burbank)
North side of San Fernando Rd (Little San Fernando Rd), Across the tracks from Sofa U Love.

CONTACT:
BJ Winslow
bj@dappercadaver.com
818-771-0818

MORE INFO
www.dappercadaver.com
www.bjwinslow.com
www.dappercadaver.com/blog

Best regards,
BJ Winslow
Owner-Artist
Dapper Cadaver
NEW PHONE # 818-771-0818
CELL PHONE # 310-709-8691
NEW ADDRESS 7572 San Fernando Rd, Sun Valley, CA, 91352
www.bjwinslow.com
www.dappercadaver.com

COFFIN dead marilyn John Ganun, originally uploaded by Boju.

When I was a kid I loved monster masks. Every Halloween I wanted to have the coolest scariest Halloween costume and mask, and when I was a kid masks were great because I could get a couple and hit the houses with the best candy over and over.

As an adult though masks present some major problems. First you can’t drink. Second my glasses fog up. Third you can’t drink and Fourth it muffles your ability to talk. Solution? Ditch the mask and build a better creature with make up, prosthetics, contacts, and props.

As the owner of the Halloween shop Dapper Cadaver I’m amazed at how many people are reluctant to do any make up but still buy masks. Believe me the mask is 100 times more unpleasant to wear then some prosthetics. Plus, prosthetics transform your face without hiding it so you still look alive.

Then just add some creepy FX contact lenses like the kind they have at Lens Shopper and you go from an average joe to a creature from beyond.

Be sure to order early, I don’t sell contact lenses and I can’t tell you how many people call me desperately in the 11th hour looking for some.

For prosthetics I usually use cinema secrets. They stick to the face easily with spirit gum / spirit glue and they can be colored with practically any make up. Don’t be intimidated by the shear variety of make up available. Unless you know you’re a make up artist go with the simple stuff. Believe me, when it’s dark out or in the club no one can see the small details anyway, what they see is “holy crap that guy really has a cut up face and creature eyes!”

My friends and I in monster make up:
Halloween 2008

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2005

hillraiser, originally uploaded by Boju.

The scariest day of 2008 will come five days AFTER Halloween, will we be electing the political team of an inexperienced newbie and a grumpy old man or ….wait I guess that’s both choices. If you’re feeling patriotic this Halloween, instead of just going for a rubber mask and a suit, why not do something truly monstrous with the candidates? Allow me to offer the following suggestions-

7. Hellraiser fetish robe + Hillary Clinton mask=
HELLARY or HILLRAISER
(see image above)

6. JOHN EDWARDSCISSORHANDS

“How about a $30,000 Haircut?”

5. PALIN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
The dumbest VP ever made.

“You know the difference between a Republican VP and a brain eating zombie resurrected by people from outer space? Lipstick.”

4. BARACKULA
A mysterious creature who lure his victims with an unearthly charm.

“Fear you can believe in!”

3. McCAINENSTEIN
A living maverick stitched together from the corpses of previous Republican campaigns

“I can only lift my arms this high!”

2. The Creature from the Barack Lagoon

He doesn’t look like other men, because he’s a fish-man, and he’ll play the species card.

1. THE TEXAS McCAINSAW MASSACRE
His bloody saw isn’t just for cutting taxes…you’re next!

Attack Boju, originally uploaded by Boju.

by BJ Winslow

As part of my quest here at Dapper Cadaver to leave no gravestone unturned I am adding a new feature to the Dapper Cadaver Blog – Haunted Los Angeles. There are over 300 different neighborhoods in Los Angeles- from out of the way spots like Aliso Village and the Yucca Corridor, and of corpse Hollywood, Downtown, Venice, and the other big deal parts of town, and every single one of them has strange specters afoot.

I’ll start with The San Fernando Valley, AKA “The Valley”

Slymar-
The northern most burb of The Vally boasts 2 paranormal epicenters that have garnered national attention. An alleged Gravity Hill in Lopez Canyon where naughty objects openly break the law of nature and apparently roll UP HILL, and a possessed statue in Glen Haven Memorial park that witness claim walks the grounds on certain nights.

Granada Hills-
Here you’ll find the home base of the independent production company Spooked TV News. We worked together on a film called Death Tunnel set in a real haunted ayslum. Best title in their catalog? “Ghouls Gone Wild”

Chatsworth-
Home of one of the largest, oldest, and most beloved Haunted Mansions in the Valley, Chatsworth is a mecca in The Valley for families looking for a fright. The attraction? Spooky House. Look for the flickering neon sign and the Bates Motel exterior. Inside you’ll find scenes of murder and insanity and more costumed actors then you can throw a pumpkin at.

North Hills-
At James Monroe High School witnesses have heard loud footsteps and opening and closing of doors when the halls are lonely. The girls gym room is haunted. Students have heard lockers open and close when no one is present.

Mission Hills-
At the Mission San Fernando Cemetery a apparition of a lady in a white dress and a white scarf on her head has been seen praying in the front row of the chapel. She has appeared both ghostly, or solid at first, then vanishing in the air.

Pacoima-
Pacoima was home to Etta Smith, an otherwise normal professional who made the news in 1980 in a very unusual case.
From CNN.com
“A nurse named Melanie Uribe vanishes on her way to work without any suspects or physical evidence. Los Angeles detectives are searching without a map for the missing woman. But one woman, Etta Smith, feels she knows exactly where Melanie Uribe is. How? A psychic vision supplied her with the exact location of the missing nurse…

Etta doesn’t know Melanie Urbie, but she’s sure that the images flooding her mind are connected to her disappearance. Detective Ryan knows that every second counts in the hunt for a missing person. Could Etta Smith’s psychic clues give them a much needed break in the case? Etta Smith’s vision becomes a reality, when she sees the exact location flash in front of her eyes.

Now, investigators left to make sense of a bizarre chain of events. A woman goes to the remote canyon and finds the body of a murder victim she claims she’s never met. It seems like an improbable feat. So improbable, that Etta Smith becomes suspect No. 1 in the murder of Melanie Uribe.”

For the rest of the article visit CNN.com here

Shadow Hills-
Despite its ready for horror sounding name, I could find nothing spooky about Shadow Hills. Correct me if I’m wrong Shadow People!

Sunland-
Something must be happening in Sunland, because in the past few years both Ghost Ride Productions and UFO Magazine moved their shops elsewhere. What’s going on there that’s scaring off the spookies?

Tujunga-
The Eastern end of the San Fernando Valley features a famous UFO sighting and a famous haunted house. Good job Tujunga!
For Ghosts it’s The Bolton Hall Museum. Investigative groups have documented paranormal phenomena on numerous occasions at Bolton hall over the past few years here. Supposedly, six spirits haunt this now historic museum. A W.W.II soldier, a blonde haired woman dressed in a Victorian style dress, a young girl with red hair, two older gentlemen with white hair and beards, one is missing and eye and
the other is missing a leg and in addition, a tall well dress man is also seen.

The book Situation Red documents a 1975 UFO sighting over Tujunga. The article can be found here

Sun Valley-
Quite probably the most unusual spot in the whole valley. Paranormal and Haunting things you can find in Sun Valley-
Michael J. Kouri, famous ghost seer, spirit communicator, TV Ghost expert, and paranormal author.
A 13th degree Rosicrucian mother who can send telepathic roses to her children.
A mall that a plane crashed into and is now haunted.
A haunted power plant.
And, my personal favorite, a man who is tying to sell his haunted house for $400,000 Lets see if the price comes down. Does a house in need of an exorcism count as a fixer upper?
Here’s the description-
“I lived grew up in that house, and I can tell you from first hand experience that there is something there. We would hear footsteps at night, we would feel like we were being followed down the hallway to the bedrooms to the right of the house. We would see shadows at night and we would also have things fall off of shelves for no apparent reason as if they were pushed. We were never hurt by the energy, but our family did tend to fight more when we were in the house. We always wanted to get a priest in there to bless it but we never did. Then we moved. If you are considering buying this house, please make sure to bless it.”

_______________________________

That’s it for the Dapper Cadaver tour of the Haunted Valley…for now. I’ll be going through the neighborhoods of Los Angeles one by one hunting for hauntings and other unusual apparitions between now and Halloween 2008. Halloween parties, Haunted Houses real and man made, horror movies, spooky stores and all things gory are on the menu. If you have a ghost story to share, let me know.

zz ingrid pitt the house that dripped blood, originally uploaded by Boju.

Everyone knows Freddy and Jason, Frank and Drac, but ask anyone who the greatest female monsters are, and they’ll likely draw a blank (or maybe the Bride of Frankenstein and Elvira). Which is too bad, because female monster are amongst the scariest and hottest creations around, and they make kick ass Halloween costumes for women who want to mix scary with their sexy.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 40 lady monster costumes of all time. 40 because I don’t mess around with puny top ten lists when the topic is this important. Pictured above is the beautiful Ingrid Pit as a vampiress in The House that Dripped Blood. She didn’t make the cut for top 40 because her costume appears to be a 99 cent cape and 25 cent fangs and this list is for the best costumes.

40. Gozer from Ghostbusters

Costume: New Wave Eye Make up + Butch Lesbian Hair cut + Body Stocking + cotton batting.
Coolness Factor: “When Someone asks you ‘are you a god’ you say YES!”

39. Terminatrix from Terminator 3

Costume: Leather jacket + perfect hair + cyborg makeup or prosthetics.
Coolness Factor: Doing the robot on the dance floor. Kicking The Governators ass.

38. Baby Jane from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Costume: Tattered baby doll clothes, bad whore make up, puffy facial appliances.
Coolness factor: Acting infantile, harassing the handicapped.

37. Morticia Addams from the Addams Family AKA Vampira AKA Elvira

Costume: Long black hair, tight black dress, pale skin, cleavage.
Coolness Factor: It’s 3 costumes in one!

36. Bloody Mary from Urban Legends 3

Costume: Half skull make up or appliance.
Coolness Factor: You’ll appear whenever someone orders 3 bloody mary’s at the bar.

35. Columbia from the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Costume: New wave make up, flapper hair cut, yellow top hat and tails, madonna corset and hot pants. Everything bedazzled to hell.
Coolness factor: People will be yelling lines at you all night.

34. Sadie Frost from Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula

Costume: Fangs, white face, doilies piled on top of doilies.
Coolness factor: being the weirder than thou love object of 3 men and a vampire.

33. The White Witch from Narnia

Costume: 2 swords, a full length chainmail dress, fur shoulder pads, a gold eagle for a hat.
Coolness factor: Offering people turkish delights.

32. Luna from Mark of the Vampire

Costume: Long black hair, white robe with sleeves down to the floor.
Coolness factor: Those sleeves!

31. The Nurse from Kill Bill

Costume: Nurses outfit with matching eye patch. Syringe.
Coolness factor: Can you whistle that creepy theme music?

30. Ilsa from Ilsa She Wolf of the SS

Costume: Puffy directors pants + riding crop + Nazi uniform + cleavage.
Coolness factor: Offensive to everyone

29. Macarena Gomez in Dagon

Costume: golden princess dress with a crown that looks like a golden sea shell covered in spikes.
Coolness factor: doing the macarena

28. Angela from Night of the Demons 3

Costume: Blue fright wig, facial prosthetics, werewolf teeth, fishnet gloves.
Coolness factor: Ordering martini’s with 2 eyeballs instead of olives.

27. GoGo from Kill Bill

Costume: Japanese schoolgirl outfit, big freaking ball-chain mace.
Coolness factor: being the ultimate object of geek fetishes for japanese school girls and huge weapons.

26. The Snake Vampire Woman in Lair of the White Worm

Costume: Blue body paint, huge fangs, chain mail yarmulke.
Coolness factor: Doing the cobra dance in and out of baskets.

25. Lilly Munster from The Munsters

Costume: Goth make up, white streaked hair, the vampires house dress.
Coolness factor: doing something original with the Elvira idea.

24. Alice from Alice Sweet Alice

Costume: One of those creepy transparent masks, yellow raincoat with cinched hood, knife.
Coolness factor: being inherently the creepiest person in the room even if know one knows the context. Especially if no one knows the context.

23. Dracula’s Daughter from Dracula’s Daughter:

Costume: The Morticia dress with a cape and gold trim.
Coolness factor: Calling Dracula Daddy.

22. Voodoo Lady from Pirates of the Carribean

Costume: Victorian dress, fx contact lenses, bones and flotsam tied up to every inch of you. Dreadlocks.
Coolness factor: Ordering Malibu Rum in the same cheesy accent as the commercials. Cursing people.

21. Varla from Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

Costume: Pants suit, cleavage, switchblade, motorcycle.
Coolness Factor: Getting into bar fights, chosing “What’s new Pussycat” for Karaoke but adding “KIll! Kill!” to the chorus.

20.Japanese Ghosts from The RIng, The Grudge, etc, etc,

Costume: Long black hair, baby doll dress, corpse make up.
Coolness factor: Standing in front of TV’s, sneaking up on people and making faces at them. Handing out video tapes to trick or treaters and saying “you gotta watch this, it’s so good you’ll die”

19. Prom Queen Carrie from Carrie

Costume: Prom dress, blood. Bug eyes and telekinesis helps.
Coolness factor: Appropriate outfit for slow dancing, revenge, and covering your dirty pillows.

18. The Evil Queen AKA Elisabeth Bathory from The Brothers Grimm

Costume: red queen dress with spikey fan collar, huge gold horn things.
Coolness factor: Bathing in blood will keep you young. Hunting virgens.

17. Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty

Costume: Black and purple robes with jagged flame like edges. Horned headress. Staff and crow.
Coolness factor: Being the scariest thing ever shown in a Disney Cartoon.

16. The Borg Queen from Star Trek

Costume: Black body suit with tubes and gizmos everywhere. Bald head, corpse make up and tubes stuck to head.
Coolness factor: using the royal “We” when referring to yourself.

15. Mystique from X Men

Costume: Yellow eyes, red hair, blue scaly skin, nudity.
Coolness factor: If you’re feeling modest you can transmogrify into some pants.

14. Mother from Dead Alive

Costume: See Baby Jane but add open wounds that ooze blood and goo.
Coolness Factor: Eating dogs and shouting “Where’s my Pudding!”

13 Creature from Darkness Falls

Costume: Freddy Krueger face + zombie body + vintage dress.
Coolness factor: Being as gory as possible and still being in a dress.

12. Cherry from Planet Terror/ Grindhouse

Costume: Tube Top, daisy dukes, machine gun leg (don’t ask me how)
Coolness factor: Puns galore! Fully loaded, legs that can kill, etc.

11. The She Creature from She Creature

Costume: Gargoyle face + The Thing rock suit from Fantastic Four + Boobs made of rock.
Coolness factor: A rack of rock!

10. Regine from Fright Night

Costume: Some kind of vampire bat creature with pointy nipples. When doing this costume it helps if you know Rick Baker or someone like him.
Coolness factor: Seeing if men notice your hideous face first or if they still stare at your hideous chest.

9.Amanda from Saw

Costume: regular clothes, with some kind of bear trap on your head. A severed pigs head would make a great prop.
Coolness factor: setting up death traps for your friends.

8. Vampirella

Costume: A cape collar attached to 2 red bandages strategically concealing your nudity. Nudity.
Coolness factor: Vampirella holds the record for wearing the smallest costume for the longest time, since the 60’s! If she wasn’t a Vampire she’d be a grandmother in a red bikini.

7. Sil from Species

Costume: some kind of sexy alien exoskeleton.
Coolness factor: If you can make this costume you are too amazing for everyone.

6. Julie from Return of the Living Dead 3

Costume: shredded 80’s punk clothes, spikes sticking out of everything. Brains to munch on.
Coolness factor: being the punkest zombie chick ever.

5. Bride of Frankenstein

Costume: White robes, bee hive with stripe.
Coolness factor: The most celebrated of all lady monsters.

4. Robot Maria from Metropolis

Costume: Art Deco 1930’s German Expressionist Female Robot. I’m sure the corner costume store can help.
Coolness factor: Being a champion of Women-Robot’s rights.

3. The Tooth Fairy from The Tooth Fairy

Costume: Have yourself rotoscoped out of the Halloween party and replaced by a CG eyeless corpsy fairy with huge leathery wings.
Coolness factor: Offering people a dime for their teeth.

2.Angelique from Hellraiser

Costume: Latex fetish dress. Calvarium cut in head. Corpse make up. Support rods hooked into shoulders and head. Blood. Hooks in flesh. Hellraiser cube.
Coolness factor: The pinnacle of scary sexy with some fetishy weirdness thrown in to boot. Also a great sexy costume that doesn’t require a mile of cleavage.

1. Regan from the Exorcist

Costume: A girls night gown. Blood, puss, and corpse make up.

Regan gets top billing for having a supremely scary and iconic costume. It can be done simply with blood and corpse make up, or you can go all out and get fx contact lenses and where your clothes backwards so it appears your head is spun 180. She’s also incredibly fun if you get in character, vomiting on priests, shaking the bed, using your “Satan voice” to tell friends “Your Mother sucks c*cks in Hell!” and your friends can dare you into dumb stunts with “The power of Christ compels you!”

Honorable Mention

Bride of Chucky
Dracula’s Brides – In Francis Coppola’s Dracula, in Van Helsing, in Bat form in Van Helsing
Queen of the Damned
Porcupine Lass from Nightbreed
The Unnamable
Barbara Steele in Black Sunday
Nancy in The Craft
Ingrid Pit in The House that Dripped Blood
Zombie Form Regine from Fright Night
Alessa from Silent Hill
High Tension
Miho in Sin City
Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmations
Ms. Lovett from Sweeny Todd
Xenia Onatopp from James Bond
Sally From Nightmare Before Christmas