15 Iconic Halloween Costume Ideas Based on Your Favorite ’80s Movies

byMaggie Griswold Oct 18, 2019 at 10:00 am EDT

Photo: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock.

OK, Halloween is just around the corner and most of us probably haven’t figured out the perfect costume. (It’s alright—I’m in the same boat.) As someone who is out of college but doesn’t have a family of their own yet, Halloween can be a weird in-between time where you’re not really sure what kind of costume is the most appropriate. While in school, people would make any costume sexy, but people with kids go a tame route—So what’s left for me? After taking some time to think about it, I realized that there are so many ’80s Halloween costume ideas for 2019 based on my favorite movies from that era. Most of them are just the right about of sexy (for going out to parties, bars, etc. as a real-life adult) but not so wild that you look like it’s your 21st birthday. In other words, the ’80s were filled with looks (a lot of which are coming back into style now) that are perfect for Halloween 2019 costumes.

While not all ’80s movies are the same by any means, most of them have a similar style when it comes to costuming. Dirty Dancing and Heathers are completely different films, but those ’80s hairstyles don’t really vary at all. And, because the ’80s were filled with romantic comedies, most of these ’80s-inspired costume ideas can be recreated with items found in your closet today. Other ’80s films like The Shining or Ghostbusters might take a little more work to recreate, but are equally as iconic.

Below, you’ll find 15 Halloween costume ideas based on ’80s movies. Hopefully your friends are cool enough to understand who you choose to dress as, but even if they don’t get it, you’ll know you did the ’80s proud with your costume.