Scariest Costumes for Halloween 2017

By Shrey Sankalp

Look, there's something about Halloween that brings out the scary element in people.
Yes, admittedly that scary element has been getting lost over the years as Halloween becomes more of a miniature Comic Con with all the superhero costumes on display, but Halloween is still traditionally associated with horror.
You think Halloween, and you immediately think of trick or treating, people with their elaborate decorations  and over the top grisly costumes designed to put the fear of God into you.
We at Wonder Costumes cherish that version of Halloween dearly, so as we were brainstorming for the best of 2017's Halloween costumes, we figured why not take a look at scary costumes with the lens of cinema?
Over the last few years, there have been some tremendous horror movies (and the odd TV show) featuring some truly terrifying characters which kept us up for weeks, and we just decided that we'll list out some of those costumes for you, so you can get an early start on your scary costumes for 2017!
Ready? Here we go.

1. 25th Anniversary Ghost Face Boys Costume

Ah, decades gone and it still scares us every time.

It's impossible for you to not have heard of Scream. It's impossible. Written by Ken Williamson and directed by horror legend Wes Craven, 1996's Scream is the poster child of slasher films - with its innovative and satirical script, wonderful score and scarily suspenseful direction, it's no wonder Scream managed to be a cult classic.
But that's just one of the reasons.
Of course, Scream wouldn't have been half the film it is without Ghostface, the killer terrorizing the town of Woodsboro.
As terrifying as the character and his acts might be, the real selling point is the Ghostface costume, which was influenced by the painting The Scream, and features a similar design for the Ghostface mask.
The costume is one of the best in the sense it's been used to establish an atmosphere of dread and fright, and as such remains one of the scariest and best costumes you can buy.
The MTV series has a similar design with subtle differences here and there, but they've got nothing on the original costume.

2. Frankenstein Costume

As far as reanimated creatures go, Frank's as handsome as they come.

Yes, it's true that Frankenstein is a literary character, but he's been adapted for the screen so many times that he's practically a product of the silver screen! An adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel, every screen iteration of the story deals with how Victor Frankenstein creates life using a vague mix of alchemy and good old fashioned chemistry, with the result being an eight foot tall grotesque monster with a surprising emotional depth.
This monster - retroactively dubbed Frankesntein - tries to fit into human society, but after being ostracized, seeks revenge upon his creator.
This relatability and emotional depth made the character such a fan favorite, and when he was adapted for the screen and stage, his monster aspect was played up via costumes and makeup, resulting in a truly terrifying creature.
Frankenstein may firmly be a classic, but his is the most ubiquitous monster costume for a reason - it just works.
Pick up a Frankenstein costume this Halloween and show that the classics have enough life left in them!

3. Freddy Krueger Costume

Hoo boy, that's not a face you're forgetting anytime soon.

Another one of the late Wes Cravens' creations, Freddy Krueger first appeared in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street and since then has never let go of childrens' nightmares.
A burnt serial killer with a razor glove on one hand, Freddy can manifest himself in people's dreams, and as he kills them in the dream world, they die in the real world too.
What makes him scary (apart from his costume and general demeanor, of course) is the fact that he's near invincible in the dream world!
Freddy's terrifying appearance and dastardly acts consistently rank him high on multiple villain lists, and his costume, comprised of a striped sweater and fedora alongside the trademarked glove make for one of the scariest costumes you can purchase today.

4. Michael Myers Costume

SO. MUCH. EVIL.

Making his first appearance in 1978's cult classic Halloween, Michael Myers has since then gone on to become one of the most reviled villains in cinematic history.
A product of John Carpenter's imagination, Michael Myers' characterization propelled the film into the stratosphere, and why shouldn't it have?
A deeply disturbed and vile character, Michael Myers is pure unspeakable evil, and his very costume is a representation of that.
Comprising of a white mask (John Carpenter originally just used a William Shatner mask painted white) and a brown uniform, Michael Myers' costume might not be all that different from a UPS delivery boy's costume, but it's hardly one you ever want to be on the wrong side of.
But when you're on the right side of it, with some theatrics, you might just end up with one of the best costumes of Halloween.

5. Stephen Kings It Pennywise Costume 

Yeah, that's not Ronald McDonald.

Call him Pennywise, call him It, or call him Bob Gray, he'll be as scary as he is now.
That's the magic of Stephen King, really. First making his debut in the 1986 novel It, Pennywise is one of the scariest characters King has ever written, and when it was adapted to TV and then film, the character's visual representation made him even scarier.
Pennywise is a demonic creature with a host of supernatural powers who prays on the children of Derry.
As scary as that might be, it's Pennywise's appearance that brings the rain. Pennywise's most popular costume is the clown costume, and King's reason for going with the clown costume is a very valid one.
With a majority of the children being extremely scared of clowns, could there be a better costume to scare them?
This is the costume to go with if you're not particularly fond of kids, but won't mind scaring them some on Halloween.

6. Saw Movie Billy Mask

Let's play a game.

We're probably cheating here as this is hardly a costume, but come on, this is as scary as a full costume, isn't it?
James Wan's Saw (and its countless sequels) may have been boundary pushing in terms of the gore they featured, and yet the scariest thing they're remembered for is Billy, the creepy doll used by the killer Jigsaw to communicate with his victims.
Billy's surprisingly long-lasting popularity has caused him to become a sort of mascot for the entire franchise.
Billy's scary appearance helps factors as well, and Billy has consistently proved to be one of the top selling horror costumes on Halloween.
We wouldn't want to change that now, would we?

7. Sleepy Hollow Headless Horseman Costume

As authentic as you can get just short of getting too authentic.

Created by the duo of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Fox's Sleepy Hollow proved itself to be a remarkably competent and intriguing show. And while we can heap praises on its setting, production values and genre mashing, the real MVP of the show is the antagonist, the Headless Horseman.
Equal parts terrifying and cool, a hat tip is indeed necessary towards the costume department, because as difficult as it must be to authentically replicate a costume as challenging as that of a headless horseman (because, you know) they have managed to do a very convincing job, and made sure we have something new to visit us in our nightmares.
Our Headless Horseman costume has proved to be a fairly popular one all through the year thanks to its relative authenticity, and with a new season of the show set to premiere soon enough, the costume is only going to enjoy a surge in popularity as the show makes its way into the public eye once again.

Bonus: Zombie Costumes!

Come on, we all knew this one was a given!

Zombies and horror movies have been best friends for as long as one can remember, and if even if we weren't to include zombies on our explicit list of top Halloween costumes in the scares department, we're sure zombies would still have clawed their way to the top half of our highest selling costumes list, such is the cultural obsession with zombies.
Of course, much of it can be down to the concept of the beings themselves, but the past few decades ave provided us with an acceptably large amount pf acceptably great zombie movies, be it something gory and chilling like Night of the Living Dead, [REC], Dawn of the Dead (and its Zack Snyder remake too, for the most part) or maybe something with a more humorous outlook such as Shawn of the Dead.
Even TV isn't that far behind when it comes to zombies with shows like The Walking Dead and iZombie.
And that's just the amount of things that are popular now, without even thinking of the things that can come!
So yes, in light of all the already available zombie content and the content to come, there's no way zombies stop being popular, and there's surely no way zombie costumes stop selling.

So yes, at the end of the day, those are the top costumes we feel will be a hit on Halloween this year, as far as movies are concerned. There's always the possibility of a scarier movie with a scarier costume coming out, but come on, the classics are the classics.
And hey, even if that new costume does come out and you find yourself wanting it, you can always rest assured Wonder Costumes will have it in stock. No just because it's what we do, we're your friends and friends look out for each other.