Happy Halloween!
This was definitely a last minute costume (I painted that rib cage on my dress last night!) but I'm mildly happy with how it came out. I don't think I've ever done a spooky Halloween costume before, I usually go with some kind of pop culture figure (past favorites: Princess Unicorn from The Office and Helena from Orphan Black) but tonight I'm volunteering at my local independent movie theater and the costume theme is characters from horror films.
I have to admit, I haven't seen that many modern horror movies. I've seen a lot of the fun ones, like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Craft, Beetlejuice, etc. but ACTUAL horror movies like Saw, the Freddy movies, the Jason movies, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, those have all eluded me. So I went with what I know and chose to dress up like Barbara Steele's character from the 1961 Italian horror movie Black Sunday.
Black Sunday is about a witch who is burned at the stake and vows vengeance on the family that killed her. It's low budget but super atmospheric with lots of fog and cobwebs to give it a spooky vibe. It also has this thing (a lot of people HATE this in movies but I personally love it) where it takes place in the middle ages but everyone's hair and makeup is super 60's. It's probably one of the reasons I gravitated towards this movie when I was deciding on a costume :)
It's an Italian production but the movie is dubbed in English, so if you're not a fan of foreign films, don't let that turn you off. It's available to rent on amazon here, and I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for a fun thriller to watch tonight! I also just watched another Barbara Steele horror film (although this one is in Italian with English subtitles) called The Long Hair of Death. I like Black Sunday better but this one is *almost* as good, and it's on Amazon Prime so if you have an account it's free to stream :)
Last but not least, I put together a Halloween video set to Bauhaus' "She's in Parties." I included clips from some of my favorite spooky classic movies like Cat People, The Old Dark House, and The Bride of Frankenstein. If you're a fan of classic movies, I hope you'll love it, and if you're not a fan (yet!) maybe this video will give you a little taste of what classic horror movies are like. If you're interested in checking out any of the films in the video, I have a list of the ones that I included on the youtube video page here.
Since I'm pretty sure a reference is necessary for this costume, here is Barbara Steele in stills from Black Sunday:
