1. PirateThis one has it all: A roguish attitude, fun but mostly comfortable clothes, and cool props—bandanas, eye patches—that don't get in the way. Throw in a huge, huge blockbuster movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, and this year you have a perfect storm of Halloween popularity. "Everyone wants to be Johnny Depp this year," says Steve Adler, CEO of Tinseltown's Hollywood Toys and Costumes. In Hollywood, guys probably want to be Johnny Depp every year but the point is, get your pirate gear yesterday or the ship may sail without you.
2. Superman (Willco's Note:
)
Even with a new Superman movie out this year, the run on Man of Steel costumes has been "just so-so," Adler says. Maybe Superman's just too goody-goody for a shadowy holiday like Halloween. Maybe no one can pull off that swirly forelock. But Superman is the king of all superheroes, so if you have enough confidence to slap on that red S—and enough grace to keep your cape out of the punch bowl—then you're a manly man indeed. More introspective superhero fans may opt for Batman, Spider-man or the X-Men's Wolverine.
3. GangsterThe Prohibition Era gangster get-up is the classic manly Halloween costume, combining malevolence and style and based in a time when real men wore fedoras instead of cockeyed baseball caps. (We'll set aside, for now, the question of whether any real man would wear a cockeyed ball cap, the look's popularity notwithstanding.) The gangster also works well with a flapper date as a couples theme.
4. HefSome celebrities are so famous they're known by only one name. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's so smooth he's known by half a name. You can buy an actual Hef costume but all you really need is a smoking jacket, a pipe and a rakish savoir-faire. (And maybe some self-tanner.) Or if you're into blasphemy, you can incorporate a walker, a tube of Polygrip and maybe a pill bottle labeled with a big blue V. (Think about it.)
5. Darth VaderWith 2005's Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the Skywalker saga finally ended. (Or began. Or something. The movies are done, is what we're saying.) But the dream will never really die for scores of Star Wars geeks, reformed and otherwise, so expect to see plenty of Darths for many Halloweens to come. And why not? The guy's soul may be conflicted but his vibe is pure evil, with wicked black accoutrements, an insanely menacing voice and a sword made of a gajillion watts of limb-lopping energy.
6. VampireThe classic. A consumer survey by the National Retailers Federation suggested vampires would again be one of the top costumes this year but that needn't dissuade individualists from going in this direction; the beauty of this old reliable lies in its flexibility. There's the tried-and-true Dracula approach or the über-scary Nosferatu vampire, or you can just pair some fangs and corn syrup with a suit and be a blood-sucking lawyer/politician/tabloid journalist/IRS agent. The possibilities are limitless, really.
7. LeatherfaceDid you know there's a new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie? We didn't until it came out in early October. But any year is a good year for Leatherface, the original freak-show movie slasher who's been around for more than 30 years but somehow seems less dated than the Jasons and Freddy Kruegers of the world. Besides, he never leaves the house without a chainsaw—what's more manly than that?
8. Ape/GorillaThis one seems like it would be a real-life nightmare to wear, but "apes are always big," Adler says. This costume's manliness quotient is off the charts—nothing combines brute strength and body hair into one fearsome package like an ape. That said, jokesters tend to favor this one because there's something fundamentally hilarious about a gorilla suit. "You can always spot the guys who want to be gorillas right away because they're joking and cutting up on their way into the shop," says Claassen of Backstage Inc.
9. Scottish Highlander, a.k.a. The Guy in the KiltWhat kind of man leaves the house in a skirt? A real man, that's what kind. The kind that's too secure in his manhood to care that only 6 inches of flannel distinguish the Guy in the Kilt from the Catholic Schoolgirl. The kind that knows just the right answer to, "What are you wearing under that thing?" Kilts have been "really popular ever since Braveheart," Claassen says. "Once something's macho on-screen, guys think it's OK to wear."
10. Mel (under the influence)Which brings us to No. 10. Granted, the Guy in the Kilt is always a winner, but given the popularity of topical, scandal-themed Halloween get-ups, this version of Mel Gibson may be a more popular—and frightening—costume choice this year.
