Horror Film Character Costumes

In horror films the Villain is normally dressed in black or dark colours to make them seem sinister and scary. The colour black is also associated with the night which is when the stereotypical villain normally approaches its victim as it means they are less likely to be seen as they blend in with the darkness. However, the black clothes contrast with the pale white face villains sometimes have. They have pale white faces to make them have a blank expression which scares the audience even more as it makes them look more powerful and in control as they look focused on what they are about to do. Some villains wear masks to hide their identity and make them look more threatening to the victims and viewers. It also gives the villain a well known feature for the audience to look out for and they know from the familiar face that someone is about to get murdered. this is also detected as they normally have ironic music that goes with their character. This also makes the audience aware when the villain is going to make its next attack.
When the villain doesn't have a mask on they normally have scars or burns on their faces to make them look more dangerous. This connotes that they may have been in fights or accidents before or might even have been nearly murdered and therefore want revenge on someone or people that may of caused it. Also some villains don't wear a mask so that they can seem like a normal person. This makes them less scary as their identity has been revealed so we now know who they are and that they just look like an everyday person. However this could come across as scary to others because you wouldn't expect anything from them if they look like an everyday person.

The type of clothes that the characters from horror films typically wear are normally long, dark black coats. If they were the type of villain who plans things like serial killers, then they would wear a long coat to portray themselves as clever and that they know exactly what they are doing. This shows that they spend a lot of time going into detail and perhaps planning out their murders. Other horror film characters may wear normal clothes to make them look like they are just an everyday person which makes them look innocent. However, they will then show another side to them when they begin their murders. This shows the audience that anyone could potentially be a murderer which leaves them feeling tense and scared as no character can be too innocent. Some characters will have a certain costume which are significant to that specific character. For example Freddie Kruegar wears a black and red jumper. His costume is interesting because he also wears a black top hat which is strange as you wouldn't usually associate a murderer to wear a top hat.