halloween costume contest Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Pictured: Just one of the many entries already in for Cinematical's Fifth Annual Halloween Costume Contest.

By now you've probably tricked and treated your tiny little hearts out, and either you're spending a quiet night at home with your favorite scary movies or you're heading out for a night on the town dressed up in some outrageous movie-inspired costume (because we know that's how you roll). If that's the case, and you're busy putting the finishing touches on your costume as we speak, then make sure to bring a camera out with you and take lots of pictures because Cinematical's Fifth Annual Halloween Costume Contest is still open for submissions until November 6th. That's right, you still have all next week to get us your fantabulous movie-inspired Halloween costumes for a chance to win some pretty cool prizes.

Like we do every year, this contest is open to folks under 18 and over 18 (with two separate prize packages), so no matter how young or how old everyone can participate in what's already shaping up to be our biggest (and best) contest yet. For more on this year's contest -- including rules, prizes and all that fun stuff -- head right over to our contest announcement page. We look forward to seeing your inspired creations real soon.

From our family to yours, we wish you a happy, healthy and safe Halloween.

Pictured Above: The winner of Cinematical's Fourth Annual Costume Contest in the adult category
Pictured Below: The winner of Cinematical's Fourth Annual Costume Contest in the child category

We host a lot of contests throughout the year, but it is now my pleasure to announce the official launching of my absolute favorite: Cinematical's Fifth Annual Halloween Costume Contest is on! Now you have more than one use for that awesome movie-related Halloween costume, right? Once again, we have all sorts of nifty prize packages for the best adult costume and best youth costume, and unlike previous years, this time we're giving away more than just DVDs. Um, yeah, there might be a sweet Blu-ray player among those prizes.

So, again, that's two prize packages this year: One for adults over 18 and one for kids under 18 (though this year we added a special treat for the parents of those kids who are over 18). Like in previous contests (check out last year's winners), your costumes MUST be movie-related. We're taking submissions starting now and all the way up until November 6th. Once our spook-tacular judges here at Cinematical narrow the field down to 10 finalists in each category, we'll then let you vote (via poll) for the winner. And speaking of winners, here's what you'll receive:

Grand Prize Package: Adult Winner

Insignia Blu-Ray DVD player
Collection of 5 Magnolia DVDs (The Host, Donkey Punch, Shrooms, Splinter, The Signal)

Grand Prize Package: Youth Winner (entrants under the age of 18)

Note: This prize package contains DVDs for both kids and adults (we figured you parents deserved something for all your hard work, too).

Peanuts 1970's Collection Volume 1
Chop Socky Chooks: Volume One
Curious George A Very Monkey Christmas
Aussie & Ted's Great adventure
Tom and Jerry Greatest Chases V3
Scare Tactics Season 3 Part 1
Turner Classic Movies: Greatest Classic Horror Films
The Hills Run Red
Trick 'R Treat

To Enter: Fill out the attached release (doc format or txt format) and email digital photos (along with aforementioned release) in .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, or .PSP format to the following email address: 2009costumecontest AT gmail DOT com, with the subject line "HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST." Please tell us who you are dressed as, in case we can't figure it out. Oh, and good luck!

For more complete details, please click on rules links below ....

READ THE OFFICIAL RULES FOR THIS CONTEST

Above: This year's child costume winner, Mr. T.

It took a little bit of time to get the votes sorted and contact the winners, but we can finally announce the two winners of Cinematical's Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest! We had more entries this year than any year before, and it was absolutely painful to trim the group down to 10 finalists in each of our two categories (best adult costume and best child costume). Once we did settle on our finalists, though, we left it up to you fine folks to vote for the winners ... and that you did. After receiving roughly 13,000 votes, we'd like to congratulate our child winner, Mr. T (pictured above). Check out the other child finalists in the gallery below, and you can see the adult runner-ups -- as well as our winner, Optimus Prime -- after the jump. See ya next year folks!

Before we begin, let me just say that our little Halloween Costume Contest received a record turnout this year, and it's taken some time for our team of crack judges to narrow down the field to ten finalists in each of the two categories. 2008 was by far the toughest year yet, and all of us here at Cinematical were amazed to see the creativity, passion, love and just plain movie geekdom that went into all of these costumes. Unfortunately, we couldn't make everyone a finalist as there were only ten spots available in the adult category and child category, but we feel our selections represent the best of the best. From all of us here at the site to all of you out there -- thank you for participating, thank you for reading and thank you for being a fan. Now, onto the voting!

Here's how this works: Below you will see a photo gallery for each category. Within each photo gallery, there are ten images which represent each finalist alongside a number and the character they're dressed up as. Below each gallery there is a poll listing the numbers and characters as per the order they show up in their gallery (note: this order is random). We need you to look through each gallery, then vote for who you feel has the best costume in the polls. Got it? Good.

The Adult Finalists are listed below, and the Kid Finalists are listed after the jump (along with the prizing and official rules). We'll keep the voting open through Friday. Good luck!

Pictured: The winners of Cinematical's Third Annual Costume Contest in the adult category

Hey, so did you know that dressing up in a movie-related costume for Halloween could win you all sorts of fabulous prizes from your most favorite online movie destination? Of course you knew this ... and now that it's October, we here at Cinematical are putting the finishing touches on our Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest. Like we have in previous years, we'll be giving away a pretty awesome Halloween-themed prize package to our top winner(s) in each of our two categories: best adult costume and best children's costume.

The contest will begin on October 20th and run through early November (exact dates to be named later). We'll be working with the same rules as last year more or less (read a few after the jump), but instead of letting you vote in the comments, we'll be creating a poll for you to use. Make sure to check out last year's contest for costume ideas and such, and get your ass back here later this month for our official contest kick off post where we'll announce the sweeet prize packages.

Happy Halloween movie freaks!

I've spent the last few days combing through all the photo submissions we're getting for this year's Halloween Costume Contest, and let me just say that these people are nutty. We're getting tons and tons of costume pics, from folks who've taken great care in putting together outfits that are just -- I don't even know what to say -- interesting, I suppose. Verrry interesting. For those interested in participating, check out the post, as well as all the rules (note: please read the rules!), and get your photo in by November 4. That's this Sunday, and it also happens to be my wedding anniversary -- which, I think, means I'll be broke come the end of this weekend.

Anyway, looking at all these costumes reminded me of my most successful Halloween costume over the years. Back in 2003, I dressed up as Krusty the Clown and participated in New York City's annual Halloween Parade in the West Village. If you're in NYC, and have never been to the parade, you need to get over there ... it's a blast. And while I couldn't see a damn thing out of my Krusty mask, a good 150 people stopped me to take a picture, kids were shouting "Krusty! Krusty!," and even NYC police officers were pulling me aside to snap a pic. I felt like a celebrity for the night, and it was definitely second on my list of most memorable Halloweens (read about my most memorable Halloween over here). I haven't dressed up and gone out (to a party, parade, whatever) since dressing up as Krusty, because it would be way too tough to top that night. What about you? What was your most successful Halloween costume?

(Note: I spent two hours searching for a pic of me as Krusty, but for some reason it has been erased from my computer. So, please enjoy that pic above of some dude sporting the same costume I wore on that particular night.)

Okay, all you movie maniacs, it's officially time for our Third Annual Halloween Costume Contest. We're so excited about it we just couldn't wait another day to give you the official rules -- and tell you what the prizes are. We want you to have plenty of time to plan for and prep your fabulous costumes, because if last year's entries are any indication, the competition is going to be stiff! The father-son duo dressed as Doc Oc and Spidey, pictured, was last year's winner in the adult category.

So what are you competing for? A spooktacular (yes, I really did just say that, sorry) prize package of horror DVDs hand-selected by our Cinematical staffers! This year, there will be two winners: one adult (18 years or older) and one kid (under 18 years old).

These fabulous prizes can be yours -- if you have the costume our readers think is the best! Here are the DVDs the lucky winners will be adding to their collections:

GRAND PRIZE PACKAGE: ADULT WINNER

When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Nightmare on Elm Street Box Set
Dawn of the Dead -- Ultimate Edition (1979)
Scream -- Dimension Collectors Series
From Dusk til Dawn -- Dimension Collectors Series
The Thing -- Collectors Edition (1982)
The Exorcist -- The Complete Anthology
Alien Quadrilogy
The Wicker Man -- Two Disc Special Edition(1975)

GRAND PRIZE PACKAGE: YOUTH WINNER (entrants under 18 years of age)

Gremlins
Monster House Widescreen Edition
The Monster Squad Two Disc 20th Anniversary Special Edition
Corpse Bride Widescreen Edition
Peanuts Holiday Collection
Halloweentown/Halloweentown II

This contest has some important rules. PLEASE read them carefully:

At last, it's time to vote for your favorites in Cinematical's 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Contest. We made a minor change to the contest: Because we got quite a few super-cute kid entries, we decided to put the kids in their own category to give them a better shot -- and their own prize package! The entrant in the Child's Costume category will receive DVDs of It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown AND Monster House, along with a Cinematical t-shirt (the smallest shirt size we have is an adult small, but they make great nightshirts for little ones -- or the adult who entered the child can take it for themselves ... ).

The winning adult entry will get a Cinematical t-shirt, and the horror movie DVD collection chosen by our staff, which includes:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Session 9
Evil Dead 2
Shaun of the Dead
Darkness: The Vampire Version
The Changeling
Bubbu Ho-Tep
Young Frankenstein
Eyes Without a Face
Silent Night, Deadly Night (Parts One and Two)
The Old Dark House
The Monster Club
The Thing


Before we show you the entrants, here are the voting rules:

• Enter your vote in the COMMENTS at the bottom of the post. Do not email your vote to us or it will not be counted.
• You can vote for ONE child entrant and ONE adult entrant per email address. Duplicate votes will not be counted.
• Contestants can direct as many of their friends and family to vote as they want.
• You have until 5PMPST Saturday, November 11, to get your vote entered. Winners will be announced on Monday, November 13. Prizes will be shipped within six weeks.

That's all for the rules ... now go and VOTE!

Halloween is drawing near, and we know you're all busily getting those costumes ready for Halloween parties this weekend. If your costume has a movie-related theme, make sure to take pictures so you can enter our 2nd Annual Halloween Costume contest. You might just win the fabulous collection of horror DVDs chosen by our writers! Need inspiration? Check out some of last year's finalists! Or better still, check out this video of Cinematical's very dignified Editor-in-Chief, James Rocchi, in his other job as the film critic for San Francisco's KPIX CBS-5, doing his best Roger Ebert impersonation. Too bad for James, he's not eligible for the contest -- but you are! We already have some good entries, but you have plenty of time to get us your own pics. Send your entries to kim@cinematical.com with the subject line: HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST. You have until 11:59PMEST, Wednesday, November 1, to submit your entry.

Ready, set, sew!