Halloween 2014 Goes Hollywood: “Frozen,” “Game of Thrones” and More
The National Retail Federation projects that people will spend $7.4 billion for Halloween this year.
By Caroline Aghajanian and Justin Ray ••
Streets and sidewalks across the country will soon be filled with Elsas, Daeneryses and Leonardos.
That's if this year's early trends in Hollywood-inspired Halloween costumes hold strong through the arrival of the Oct. 31 holiday, and can stave off the growing interest in Ebola-inspired attire.
The popularity of Disney hit "Frozen," HBO series "Game of Thrones" and a big screen revival of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" are driving costume sales for Trick-or-Treaters across age spectra, retailers say.
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Carrie White from "Carrie" (1976). Do not mess with Carrie on Prom Night. Do not! Just look at her. You want to slow dance with that?
Orion Pictures Corporation
While you prep for Halloween, say hello to the most terrifying characters ever committed to celluloid. Some of them like to wear masks made out of human flesh, chop up their victims, or even eat them (with fava beans and a nice Chianti). And no one is scarier than the brilliantly evil Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Right, Clarice?
Legend Productions/Universal
What screams I hate unicorns more than large horns and fiery red skin? Actor Tim Curry cemented himself as nightmare inducing image in 1986's "Legend." Curry played the Lord of Darkness in this fantasy film. His biggest beef with the world? The existence of unicorns. Scary for all of us.
Dawnfield Entertainment
If you weren't afraid of clowns after watching this movie you will be. Pennywise the dancing clown was the supernatural monster behind Stephen King's "It." The clown has haunted our dreams since.
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Norman Bates from "Psycho" (1960). The knife-wielding murderer with major mommy issues was really not very cool to Janet Leigh, who just wanted a good night sleep at the Bates Motel. Rude!
Warner Bros. Pictures
The Grady Twins from "The Shining" (1980). Never before or since has a tricycle ride seemed so terrifying. That's because of the ghosts of the Grady Twins, out there in the Overlook Hotel's hallway. And they aren't the only pint-sized fear-mongers around ...
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Chucky from "Child's Play" (1988). This other pint-sized fear-monger is actually a Satanic doll on a killing spree. Like a Cabbage Patch Kid who's had a bad day. A really, really bad day.
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Who can forget the menacing Freddy Krueger from 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street?" Those metal claws are classic.
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Leatherface from "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974). They call him Leatherface because he wears a mask made from a human face. Does it get any more pants-soilingly scary than that? Oh, and he likes to chop people up with a chain saw, too.
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Pinhead from "Hellraiser" (1987). They call him Pinhead because he has pins. In his head. He is also a zombie-demon lover who is rather annoyed with his unfaithful former wife.
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Harry Powell from "The Night of the Hunter" (1955). Robert Mitchum menacingly played the drifter with attitude. Don't let the LOVE tattooed on his right hand fool you -- the left one reads: HATE.
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The Demon from "The Exorcist" (1973). Most people remember a young Linda Blair's 360-degree projectile vomiting. That's just gross; this guy's truly spooky!
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The Creature from "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954). The Creature is sort of like King Kong, in that he is essentially an overgrown fish with a big crush on a human woman, but he's scarier than Kong because he comes from a Black Lagoon. And Black Lagoons are always scary.
Universal Pictures
Max Cady from "Cape Fear" (1991). Mitchum also played Cady in the original version of this flick, but De Niro nails the off-his-rocker ex-con in the remake. Punishing workouts and real-looking jailhouse tats helped transform a ripped Bobby D into a freaky misfit.
Randall Realtors
Jack Torrance from "The Shining" (1980). Here's Johnny! Stanley Kubrick's claustrophobic masterpiece gets another nod here. Yes, it's that scary!
DreamWorks Distribution
Samara from "The Ring" (2002). This is what happens to you if you are killed and thrown to the bottom of a well, have your spirit live on a mysterious videotape that can kill people and don't wash your hair.
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The Alien from "Alien" (1979). Face-clamping tentacles? Check. Ribcage-bursting strength? Yep. Slobbery jaws that can mash your bones as if they are made of brie? You got it. This sucker is a terrible triple threat.
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Although she made only a few but very horrific appearances in "The Conjuring," the possessed doll made people jump out of their seats so badly that she got another gig. Anabelle is starring in her self titled prequel to "The Conjuring" this year.
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The Shark from "Jaws" (1975). Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and some other guy battle the great white that's been chewing on swimmers offshore of the beach community of Amity. Be warned: watch this flick and you may never visit an aquarium again.
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The Zombies from "Night of the Living Dead" (1968). You might think that any monster lumbering so slowly can't be that bad. But would you still think that when the monster in question is slurping down your brain? Okay, then.
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Torok the Troll from "Troll" (1986). In childrens' fairy tales trolls tend to be a bit ornery but also sort of cute and not that scary. In this movie, the troll wants to inhabit human bodies and then turn them into plant pods.
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Too bad for the bus full of high school kids. To their unfortunate luck they were running around being chased after Creeper, the flesh-eating creature who has a 23 day feeding frenzy every 23 years.
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Nosferatu from "Nosferatu" (1922). This sparkly domed fella is based on Dracula and brings with him a mysterious plague that kills coastal dwellers along the Black Sea. And those are his good qualities.
Randall Realtors
Damien Thorn from "The Omen" (1976). He might look like a charming little chap in his right jaunty cap but young Damien is actually, quite literally, the Antichrist. So scary he spawned several sequels.
Columbia Pictures
Annie Wilkes from "Misery" (1990). She said she was the "Number 1 fan" of writer Paul Sheldon (played squirmingly by James Caan). Then she bashed his ankles with a sledgehammer. With fans like that ...
Paramount Pictures
Jason Voorhees from "Friday the 13th" (1980). This is the movie that taught a nation never to open a summer camp in the same place where a child once drowned. Because then some dude in a hockey mask with a very sharp machete will come and hack everyone up when all they wanted to do was make s'mores and go on panty raids.
Empire Pictures
Dr. Carl Hill from "Re-Animator" (1985). You could make the case that Herbert West, a medical student at Miskatonic University with a taste for bringing back the dead, deserves to be here, instead. But did Herbie ever try to strangle someone while headless, like the school's Dean, Dr. Hill? No, no he did not.
Erik, The Phantom from "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). Long before Andrew Lloyd Webber charmed Broadway with his version of this story, Lon Chaney terrified audiences with a more sinister take on the role.
New Line Cinema
John Doe from "Se7en" (1995). "What's in the box!!?" Brad Pitt memorably sobbed at the end of this brutally tense thriller. For those who have not seen the movie: You don't want to know. Kevin Spacey in his oddest, most sordid role.
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Michael Myers from "Halloween" (1978). A psychotic killer escapes from a mental institution and returns to his hometown in order to go on a bloody rampage. Happy Halloween!
The National Retail Federation estimated that 2.6 million children will dress up as a "Frozen" character, such as Snow Queen Elsa or Olaf the snowman, while about 1.8 million will choose crime-fighting reptiles Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello or Raphael. Seventy-five million adults are expected to pick a traditional get-up, such as a Batman, a pirate or a witch, retailers say they're seeing more requests for costumes inspired by some of the season's hottest TV shows and films.
"Without question, outfits inspired by movies and TV are the ones that have been flying out the door versus any pop culture sensation like Miley Cyrus," said Holly Botsford, public relations manager for BuyCostumes.com.
Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Jennifer Lawrence as "Hunger Games" heroine Katniss Everdeen or "X-Men's" Mystique, Black Widow from "Captain America" (Scarlett Johansson) and Zoe Saldana as Gamora from "Guardians of the Galaxy" lead Fandango's list of top-rated movie-inspired female Halloween costumes.
The movie ticket site surveyed more than a 1,000 film fans in the first week of October to discover Groot (Vin Diesel's character in "Guardians of the Galaxy"), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Ninja Turtles, Star-Lord ("Galaxy's" Chris Pratt) and Dracula were the most nominated male characters.
Spirit Halloween has named "Game of Thrones" and "The Walking Dead" characters as their top trends of 2014. The chain, which bills itself as North America's largest seasonal Halloween retailer, partnered with HBO to license outfits inspired by both shows.
Spirit Halloween
"Game of Thrones" character Khaleesi, also known as "Mother of Dragons."
“Those two series are very popular and are also very good for costumes,” said Lisa Barr, Spirit’s senior director of marketing & creative.
“People are posting online about entertainment, making a higher level of engagement in movies and television,” said Courtland Hickey, manager of Chicago Costume. “Everyone wants to wear a costume that everyone knows and now that social media has made these series well-known, people can wear outfits that everyone will recognize as one of those characters discussed online.”
The Hollywood trend has been seen in popular couples costumes like Khaleesi and Khal Drogo from “Game of Thrones," and the fictional character Rick Grimes and a zombie outfit from “The Walking Dead."
Want to dress your baby? Retailers say the character Olaf from "Frozen" and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle looks are popular costumes for infants. Pets? Cats and dogs can also join in on the fun with a "Despicable Me" minion costume or outfits inspired by "Ghostbusters." Fandango's top-rated kid's costumes for 2014 in descending order are Olaf, a minion, the Ninja Turtles, "Frozen's" Elsa and Spider-Man.
A trending, though arguably insensitive, costume idea has even received its own Hollywood spin. Ricky's, a beauty shop chain in New York City that offers a wide range of costumes, has received Ebola costume requests on a daily basis, President Richard Parrot said. Although they have decided not to offer one, customers have been using hazmat "Breaking Bad" suits as a substitute.
Too soon? Not at web retailer BrandsOnSale. They offer an Ebola Containment Suit costume for $79.99. "You are sure to be prepared if any outbreak happens at your Halloween party. This will literally be the most 'viral' costume of the year," reads the outfit's description.
"We don't stray away from anything that's current or controversial or anything like that," BrandsOnSale chief executive Johnathon Weeks told The Associated Press. Though Weeks admits the costume has been received with outrage by some members of the public, he says it is now the item on his site most shared on social media.
Overall, consumers are expected to shell out a lot of cash on Halloween, with The National Retail Federation projecting that people will spend $7.4 billion in 2014. The organization's president and CEO Matthew Shay said in a news release that "there will be a record number of consumers taking to the streets, visiting haunted houses and throwing unforgettable celebrations."
