Deconstruction of costumes in horror films

Killer

 

In a typical horror film, the killer wears dark clothes, mainly black with a feature that stands out against the rest of the outfit. In some cases, they also carry their weapon (if it is a slasher horror) and it has blood dripping on it.
 

For example, in Scream, the killer wears a long black cloak, black gloves and carries a dagger with them with blood on it, like they have just murdered someone. The defining characteristic is the scream mask that is the image of the painting called scream, where the face is long and the mouth is gaping open wide. This is effective because it is all very dark and adds to the sense of danger, and the mask being reflective of the famous painting adds creativity and an art-like style, suggesting that what they’re doing is like art.
 

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, the killer has many defining features. They wear a green and red striped jumper, a dark brown fedora, and have a unique glove that has long, sharp claws for each finger – like Edward Scissorhands. His by far most prominent feature is his skin on his face. It is like he has no skin and it is just showing the muscles underneath, or like he has many cuts and gashes on his face, also with rotting teeth. The outfit would be easy to recreate however the makeup would take a long time and would therefore not be effective for us to use.
 

The killer in the film ‘Halloween’ has a very simple outfit of just a navy blue jumpsuit. This is paired with an expressionless white mask that looks like a human face but is plain with no real emotion shown, so the killer seems to look like they lack remorse and feel nothing from killing. The hair is swept back and looks slightly messy. Overall this costume is very easy to recreate while still being effective by looking very scary.



 

Victim(s)

 

Contrasting to the killer in these films, the victim always seems to be wearing something casual and comfortable, possibly lightly coloured, that makes them look vulnerable.

In Scream, the victim wears a comfortable, light brown jumper and has short blonde hair and little makeup that makes her look softer and in a cosy environment. The colour is also lighter suggesting that it is easier to make blood show up to add gore.

The victim in A Nightmare on Elm Street also has blonde hair but more makeup, conforming to the pattern of the victim being a pretty blonde girl. She has a light blue top on that is tight to sexualise her more. This again reflects the idea that blood will show up, leaving a more horrific impact on the audience.

This time the victim has slightly darker hair and looks a few years older. She, again, wears a light blue long sleeved shirt that is rolled up at the sleeves. The shoulder of the shirt is torn where she has a cut there which obviously tore the shirt.

These victims’ costumes are extremely easy to replicate because we will just need to get soft, light clothing and make them look torn and messy, which is what we had in mind anyway.