Halloween Costume Tips From Scream's Costume Designer

Published on 8/29/2023 at 8:30 PM

Avery Plewes has always loved Halloween. "Halloween was my favorite holiday as a kid," she tells POPSUGAR. "Before I was a costume designer, I was so into it. I would go all out." However, now that she's designed costumes for some of the biggest horror movies in the business — including 2022's "Scream 6" — she's less inclined to dress up, given the fact that she spends the whole year crafting elaborate costumes for the screen.

That also means she has a huge amount of Halloween costume expertise to share with the rest of us. Plewes took a particularly deep dive into Halloween icons of yore while costuming "Scream 6," which takes place during one long, bloody Halloween weekend in New York City. "I wanted to design as many costumes for the background as I could to make it feel as realistic as possible, and also to have the audience get lost in the Halloween of it all," she says. In particular, Plewes had to go all out for a terrifying scene that takes place on the subway, where the real Ghostface blends in with countless costumed riders dressed as everyone from the Babadook to Julia Fox. "That scene was like my child," she says, describing it as a moment of "crisis" for the characters.

"Fake blood always helps, in my opinion."

While most of the costumes in legacy franchises like Scream have to be put together perfectly, Plewes had to make sure the subway riders' costumes looked a little more haphazard. In movies, "when you're reproducing a look, you always want it to be as accurate as possible," she says. "But for this, I had to unlearn that because often with Halloween, it's like, 'Oh, I have a shirt that kind of looks like what Freddy Krueger would wear.'"

Fortunately, that means she has plenty of simple tips to offer the rest of us when it comes to putting together quick and easy tributes to our Halloween characters of choice, including the "Scream 6" characters themselves. If you're planning on dressing up as a character from the movie other than Ghostface, Plewes suggests pairing that more ordinary look with a scary character from the subway scene for a unique couple's costume.

When it comes to actually deciding on a costume, Plewes's advice is to follow your heart. "I always think people have the most fun when they pick a costume from something that's meaningful to them — and also comfortable," she says. "I would always personally lean into either a franchise or a movie or something that I really enjoy, because putting the costume together will be more fun that way."

Ahead, check out Plewes's tips on how to dress as some of the many characters featured in "Scream 6"'s subway scene.

When it came to creating Ghostface's costume for "Scream 6," Plewes says she wanted to put her own spin on the classic character. While she pretty much replicated the robe used in "Scream 5," she added the fringes that come down from Ghostface's sleeves. "I wanted to call them the 'Ghostface wings,'" she says. ". . . I wanted those to feel different and new." She also made sure each of the robe's "wings" included six pieces of fabric, signifying the sixth movie.

Putting together your own Ghostface Halloween costume is pretty easy, Plewes says, mostly because "you can literally just go buy it at the store." Of course, some diehard Scream fans might not even need to make the trip to the nearest Spirit Halloween. "I think most true Scream fans have a Ghostface mask," she adds.

As for why the costume itself is so terrifying and iconic, Plewes explains that it might be because of "how anonymous [it] feels, because the robe is so big and oversized. You can't really tell the . . . gender or the shape of the body or how the person presents themselves, because the robe is so overpowering and domineering." The robe's sheer size also contributes to the costume's scariness, as does the mask itself. "The mask is such a piece of art in itself that the way it catches the light really can feel jarring," she notes.

If Plewes had to choose one "Scream 6" character to dress up as this Halloween, she would choose Gale (Courteney Cox). "It's a pretty simple costume that could be thrown together at a thrift store," she says. It also helps that some of Gale's fashion choices are in style at the moment. "I call it Galecore right now, but a lot of bright suiting is really in," she adds. "I think you could go to pretty much any mall or thrift store and find a brightly colored suit and go as Gale Weathers."

For a Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) costume, Plewes suggests going with a simple look. "Her plaid pants and her hoodie that's covered in patches is very easy to replicate," she says.

For Tara (Jenna Ortega), "you could do just a striped long-sleeve sweater with jeans and her white Converse with the red stripe," Plewes suggests. On the other hand, Tara "almost always wears baby pink," she notes — another easy option.

For Laura (Samara Weaving), Plewes suggests replicating a look from the beginning of the movie. All you'll need "is just a neon turtleneck dress with silver shoes," she suggests.

A Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) costume isn't tricky to replicate, mostly because all you really need is her distinctive outerwear. "For Kirby, I'd just do the leather motorcycle jacket, and a dark outfit underneath that," Plewes says.

In both "Scream 5" and "Scream 6," Sam (Melissa Barrera) "wears a tank top at the end," Plewes notes, meaning you'll probably be able to find this costume in your closet. To make a Sam costume a bit more elaborate, Plewes suggests adding a bit of fake blood. "Fake blood always helps, in my opinion," she says. "You can kind of cover up any imperfections with fake blood."

Freddy Krueger is definitely up there alongside Ghostface as one of the most iconic and terrifying horror-movie villains ever, so naturally, he appears in "Scream 6"'s subway scene. To create the look, Plewes says, "we just found a red long-sleeved shirt and put black duct tape on it to make it striped and added an oversized fedora."

She also had another fun DIY idea that didn't wind up making it into the film, though it could still serve as a unique addition to a Halloween costume. "One thing I wanted to do that didn't end up working out is I wanted someone to have really long fake nails to mask as his fingers," she says, "which I thought would be kind of a hilarious thing."

If you look closely at the subway scene in "Scream 6," you'll spot two of the scariest little girls ever to appear on screen: the Grady twins from "The Shining." That look simply consists of a "blue short-sleeved minidress with knee socks and Mary Janes," Plewes says. Of course, plenty of fake blood always helps.

Here's yet another excuse to pull out the fake blood. Carrie's doomed prom night in "Carrie" is the stuff of horror-movie legend, and it also makes for an easy and recognizable costume. According to Plewes, all you need are "just a slip dress covered in blood" and a tiara to bring the whole look together.

Not only is the Babadook a queer icon, but he's also one of the more recognizable and unique horror-movie villains to emerge in recent years, making him a perfect Halloween choice. Plus, you'll definitely stay warm on a chilly October night with this costume. According to Plewes, you'll just need "a giant black coat with a top hat, a wig, and face paint."

Dressing as the creepy doppelgänger family from "Us" is also pretty simple, because all you really need is their signature garment. "It's a really fun, easy-to-replicate costume," Plewes says. "It's just the red jumpsuits."

Scream is known for being an extremely meta, self-referential franchise, so it makes sense that Plewes had her own meta experience while working on it. Plewes designed the costumes for 2019's "Ready or Not," and "Scream 6" directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also directed 2019's "Ready or Not," insisted that she feature main character Grace Le Domas's (Samara Weaving) costume in the subway scene.

"That was the most meta thing ever, doing a costume I've already designed in Halloween form," she says. ". . . I was like, I feel almost embarrassed inserting my own costume as a Halloween costume. But also, it can't look like I've given all the attention to this costume."

Ultimately, a Grace look is pretty simple. "It's just a lace top with a crinoline skirt and Converse, and then a bandolier," she says. "You can buy it at a Halloween store with a corset underneath, or even just use a white tank."