Spooky/Gory/Dark Costumes

700+ Horrifyingly DIY Scary Halloween Costumes

For you, Halloween is not the time for adorable costumes or sweet dress-ups. No, you are out to seriously frighten young children and adults alike. To that end, we present this section of scary Halloween costumes. Creepy, horrifying and even revolting, these costumes are not for the faint of heart.

A natural choice for those motivated by mutilation is, of course, a zombie costume. Zombies of all shapes and sizes stagger over these pages. It is extremely impressive at how creative people become when figuring out just how hair-raising to configure their death-like characters.

In addition, you will also find plenty of mummies and monsters glaring at you. Also featured are skulls, ghosts, Frankensteins and creepy dolls. Even more costumes include an exploded face which is still giving us nightmares. Still more are electric chair optical illusions and a one eyed monster that makes us shudder.

If you were freaked out from the TV show, you will absolutely want to dress as American Horror Story characters. It is incredible what well-applied make-up can do to transform your appearance into something truly grotesque.

Here, no one is immune to the gore. Even Tooth Fairies take a shocking and terrifying turn in these scary Halloween costumes. So, get ready. Your frightening frock is only a click away!

Spooky, Gory and Dark Costume Sub-Categories

Latest DIY Spooky, Gory and Dark Costumes

Spooky Homemade Costume – White Wendigo Forest Spirit

Years ago, I saw the film Pan’s Labyrinth for the first time. Haunted and inspired by the ageless, withered, beautiful faun on the screen, I developed the desire to create my own glassy-eyed, cloven-hooved forest spirit. Dozens and dozens of the designs in my head gave themselves to my sketchbooks. Months, a year, close to … Read more

Awesome Silver Willows Werewolf Costume

This werewolf costume is not only my greatest work but also the star of a Werewolf movie idea soon to be shared on Indigogo and Kickstarter, called Silver Willows. “Silver Willows is just a young woman who is only trying to lead a normal life as any other person does, however Silver’s life is anything … Read more

Coolest Homemade Headless Harry Potter Costume

This headless Harry Potter costume was so much fun to make! For many years now, our son has repeatedly received comments on his resemblance to Harry Potter. He has never wanted to be Harry for Halloween because he didn’t think it was scary enough, or shocking enough or even cool enough for his tastes. Well, … Read more

Coolest DIY Cinema-Quality Reptile Man Costume

I went as a Reptile Man costume. I came up with the idea because I wanted to do something different and kind of scary that could pass for cinema quality, only without the cost. I made the costume starting with bendable plumber’s pipes. I inserted smaller and smaller pieces into each other to create the … Read more

Child’s Alien Abduction Costume Becomes Adult Grim Streaker

The hardest part with this Alien Abduction costume was getting my 11-year-old daughter to decide what costume she wanted to be. After hours of browsing with her on this site she finally chose the alien abduction costume and we were set to go. After collecting the necessary items which took more time than actually constructing … Read more

Cool DIY Voodoo Doll Costume for a Woman

This is me as a voodoo doll for a Halloween party at work. It was a group costume, so there were two others identical to me. You can wear this in a group or alone. It was fairly simple to make. The black shirt, shirt, tights and shoes all came from a thrift store. I … Read more

Super Creepy DIY Zombie Bride and Groom Couple Costume

My husband and I decided to go with a creepy costume this year, hence our zombie bride and groom couple costume. We have been married for 17 years and have never dressed as a couple! I love thrift stores so, naturally I found our awesome outfits at Goodwill. My dress was $3, and the suit … Read more

Everyone Flocks to the Demon on the Block Homemade Costume

Me and my best friend started in August. Needless to say it was a long process! Tedious but totally worth it. Making the Demon Costume Making a rough sketch of the proportions for the pivoting wing, we measured or height and we made a scale. Me and my friend built the skeleton for the wings … Read more

Cool Homemade Zombie Bellhop Costume

This costume was inspired by the show Faceoff. His dresser part and hat is made with EVA foam (which was actually a floor mat from home depot). I used a chef jacket underneath and paired it with black pants. The dresser part (EVA foam) I cut it to form to his body. I used a heat gun … Read more

Coolest DIY Child Sea Monster Costume

Here is my son, the Sea Monster. Once he has this costume on, he does become a Sea Monster! He runs and growls, and makes sudden appearances on unsuspecting family members! The idea of becoming Sea Monster was his. It is in his heart and soul (loves to swim, dive, and cliff jump). I made … Read more

Super Realistic Zombie Poison Ivy and Zombie Riddler Costumes

By the time Halloween 2016 rolled around, I had been wanting to be Poison Ivy for a few years. And I finally did it – threefold. I had purchased a gorgeous (and expensive) PVC corset/superhero underwear set in 2014 and planned on wearing that. But…I didn’t make it… I always make my costume. I had … Read more

Cool Zombie Homemade Costume

This was definitely the most involved costume I’ve ever put together. First off, my dress was made by a dear friend who is a hobby seamstress. It was originally made for a school event so I promised not to tear it or muck it up for the sake of looking more zombie-like, so I let … Read more

Scary Tooth Fairy Homemade Costume

For this Halloween I wanted to do something memorable, as it would probably be my last year going out trick or treating. I came up with the scary tooth fairy idea while browsing Pinterest for costume ideas and saw an amazing mask that I wanted to try and make. I came up with the scary … Read more

Cool The Walking Dead Negan Costume for Toddlers

We are huge fans of TWD and I am unconventional when it comes to kids costumes, but in saying that I also don’t like costumes that depict things that take things too far as well. We had seen the final episode of season 6 and we were really excited about season 7 which had not started, … Read more

Coolest Banshee of the Moors DIY Costume

I had such a fun time making this costume, and it was a bit of a challenge as I decided that I was going to limit myself to what I had on hand. I had a finished completed costume from years ago, and I wanted to keep some elements but change a whole lot more, … Read more

Cool Swamp Monster Halloween Costume

I got the idea for this costume from Pinterest. We began by drawing the plan on how to create this frame and the dimensions. Our first plan was to use paper Mache but this would be quite hard to attach so many materials to without it falling apart. So, we decided the only way to … Read more

The Abomination Costume

Halloween is my passion, and I love the haunted attraction industry. I make costumes to use in haunted houses, although I also love making them for the fun of it. This character—The Abomination—was inspired by Clive Barker’s work and SPAWN. I love the aesthetic of the characters in Clive Barker’s movies/stories and Tod McFarlane’s comics, … Read more

Coolest Easiest and Grotesque Zombie Walker Costume

So, winter break of 2014/15, I got really into Walking Dead. Since I really liked the series, I decided to be a walker Halloween of 2015. The goal was to be a walker that had only been dead for a day or so. It wasn’t a hard costume to put together, it was just very … Read more

Big Orange Homemade Monster Costume

This is my 10 year old dressed in an original homemade monster costume as BOB, The Big Orange Blah. Around Halloween time, when my daughter was three, she hid behind a door and waited. When I came into the room, she jumped out and yelled ìBig Orange Blah!î I laughed pretty hard. I thought it … Read more

The Boy Who Wanted To Be A Real Refrigerator

Before going back to work I made costumes for my kids at Halloween. Thing 1 and Thing 2: 2 M&M’s, Washer and Dryer and the A Lion’s Den with my son in a lion costume watching a homemade TV. Fast forward one more kid. Two layoffs, no health insurance and depleted savings no more home-made … Read more

Mummy Madness Couple Costume

We decided to be Mummies for my boyfriends 30th Birthday and had to stand out from the crowd. It took about 2 hours to get ready. We created these costumes by tearing sheets apart and dying them in tea to give them an old worn out look. For the mens costume we then sewed each … Read more

Black Widow Spider Bride Costume

I came up with the spider bride Ideas for this years costume. After searching high and low it was hard to find the costume I had envisioned for this idea. So I took a little from this costume and a little from another costume and put it all together. My biggest problem was I blended … Read more

Wearable Haunted House Costume

One of those costumes that ensures you can’t have fun at a party, but oh so worth it to be the ultimate spooky icon. Made mostly of kappa board and lollipop sticks, plus more hot glue than anyone would consider reasonable. The haunted house features the creepy girls from The Shining, a ghost-baby party, an … Read more

Wedding Massacre Group Costume

This photo is of my husband and I (bride and groom), and our amazing neighbors. We were attending a Halloween fundraiser costume party. We wanted to do a group costume as we were all sitting together at one table. While racking our brains for a unique group costume, my husband and I were discussing our … Read more