The undead are alive and well this Halloween and the creep factor is off the charts.
That’s according to Harvey Richard, owner of Connecticut Stage Supply in Plainville. The store stocks more than 10,000 costumes; some for sale and some for rent.
“Costume trends are always influenced by movies and television. ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Z Nation’ are huge and so are zombies.”
And while a zombie costume is inexpensive to resurrect — rip some old clothes, throw on a little garden dirt and gel your hair into a frizzy tangle — your makeup can make or break the effect.
“People want realistic stage makeup blood, gore and guts,” says Richard. “Bruises. Wounds. Scars. Knife slashes. Blood. The more horrifying, the better.”
Courtney Mroch, founder of HauntJaunts.net, a site for “restless spirits” that includes a “Scareporium” featuring Halloween merchandise, says people are looking for graphic, realistically gory looks this year and are willing to pay for stage-quality makeup to achieve the looks they want.
“People are definitely going for the more extreme this year,” says Mroch. “It’s the one day people want to look really, really awful.”
At SpiritHalloween.com, videos and makeup tips help walking dead wannabees create gruesome effects. HalloweenExpress.com offers video tutorials for Day of the Dead, ghoul, zombie and other ghastly looks. MadeYewLook, a series of YouTube videos, offer step-by-step directions for creating bruises, zombie bites, veins and shattered glass lacerations, along with instructions for turning yourself into a zombie, character from “American Horror Story,” creepy clown or demon. Some of the videos are so scary, they carry the following: “WARNING: Some of these videos may contain fake blood, and fake injuries. If you do not do well with seeing injuries, please keep that in mind before watching these tutorials.”
MorphCostumes, a line of tech-enhanced outfits developed by a former NASA scientist, let you use your smartphone for screamingly-realistic effects. Users download free apps, slip phones into strategically-placed costume openings and let the fright fest begin.
Don the “Beating Heart Zombie” costume, for example, and your phone screen — positioned in the center of your chest — will play a continuous loop of a beating human heart, maggots, snakes, turning gears and tarantula spiders. Prices start at about $55 (www.morphsuits.com).
Lisa Barr, senior director of marketing and creativity for Spirit Halloween, a Halloween specialty retailer with more than 1,000 locations across the country, says costumes inspired by the Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead, are in demand.
“Bones, the sugar skull and the elaborate, colorful face tattoos are really popular,” says Barr.
Some Halloween costume choices, such as Tyvek hazmat suits, are pulled right from the headlines. Spirit Halloween stores are seeing a run on the protective gear, most likely due to the Ebola outbreak.
“We had the suits in stock because they were featured in the television show, “Breaking Bad,'” says Barr. “This year, people are buying them both because of the show and because of the epidemic.”
The National Retail Federation says Halloween will be celebrated in record numbers in 2014. More than two-thirds of Americans will buy costumes and total spending for the holiday is estimated at $7.4 billion, with most households putting out close to $80 for costumes, decorations, candy and more. (Close to 15 percent of pet-loving celebrants will buy costumes for Fido and Fluffy as well.)
Gentler Kid-Wear
When it comes to kids’ costumes, expect to see a steady stream of Disney princesses, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and super heroes trick-or-treating on your doorstep.
According to National Retail Federation’s 2014 Halloween Consumer Top Costumes Survey, an estimated 2.6 million children plan to dress up as one of Disney’s Frozen characters, while about 1.8 million children will dress as a characters from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Princesses, animals and Spider-Man will be other popular choices for children.
“It’s clear people love to get creative with costumes, looking for inspiration from pop-culture and politics to history, and even the make-believe and fantasy world,” said Pam Goodfellow, an analyst for Prosper Insights, the company that conducted the research for the survey. “We’re surprised each year with the range of different costumes, and I’m sure this Halloween will be no exception, especially given the historic number of people planning to buy costumes for themselves, their children and even their pets.”
And while politician costumes are not much in demand in non-election years, the Gipper could ring your doorbell this year.
“Ronald Regan masks are always popular,” says Richard. “He’s the one politican you can expect to see year after year.”
