By Chris Kavan - 10/28/10 at 11:12 AM CT
Halloween can be plenty scary, but it can also be plenty of fun. In fact, aside from Christmas and the 4th of July, Halloween is about the only holiday I look forward to every year. Movies have offered me a lot of ideas for costumes, and, depending on your level of originality, are usually pretty easy to throw together. Here are my favorite costumes based on characters from films throughout the years:
1) Oompa Loompa from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - For someone short like me, this costume has represented a golden standard, which is why I go back to it time and time again. This is the Original Oompa Loompa - green hair, orange face, white gloves - and I have won contests due to this costume before! It's lots of fun and pretty unique - in all the time I've gone out, I've only seen a couple of other people wear this, but everyone seems to know it immediately. However, I'm afraid this is only a costume you can pull off if you are short - anyone over 5'3" need not apply. The girls love it, too! (unless they happen to be deathly afraid of it).
2) Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski - Worn specifically for a movie-themed party, this gave me the chance to chill and drink White Russians all night while quoting on of my favorite movies. The hardest part about this costume? The Dude's jellies - finding correct footwear proved incredibly difficult compared to the rest of the outfit (brown-dyed bath robe, dark glasses, facial hair, brown wig). I ended up with flip flops instead of jellies, but since they were clear I was happy enough.
3) Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange - This is the milk bar Alex - bowler hat, cane (sadly mine had no hidden knife) underwear on the outside and that screwy eyelash thing - which are a pain to get on just right by the way - but when you get it together it looks fantastic. I did this one in college but if I did it again today I would get into more detail (like a knife) and really get my ultra violence on.
4) Lloyd Dobler from Say Anything... - Easy, long brown coat, old boombox, extra points for the Clash t-shirt and Bam - you've got the outfit. Extra, extra points if the boombox actually works and you have "In Your Eyes" playing... I had to cheat and use external speakers and my iPod because finding a working boombox these days is a more daunting task than I had anticipated.
5) Vincent Benedict from Twins - If this doesn't ring a bell, think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DaVito playing brothers... oh, now you know what I'm talking about, do you? Actually, I'm going to wear this tomorrow, so I'll have to see how this works out. The outfit was pretty easy to get together, though the bald cap has gray hair instead of black, but otherwise, the glasses and suit are easy enough - now I just have to make sure someone taller than me does the same thing.
Anyone else whose rocked some movie-themed costumes? Any and all revelations will be accepted. If you want to see me in my costumed glory, find me on Facebook - I keep a detailed record of all my Halloween exploits.
