How To: The 5 Best Movie Characters to Be This Halloween, Sans Superhero Costumes

The Dark Knight Rises. The Amazing Spider-Man. The Avengers.

Halloween is a few weeks away and all we're going to see are these same ol' superhero costumes. It's like that every year, due to the immense popularity of comic book films by DC and Marvel.

So, if you want to skip the standard superhero getup, but still want to stick with popular movie costumes from the past year, here are a few other ideas that will help you stand out on October 31st.

The Driver (Ryan Gosling) in Drive

While the movie Drive did come out in 2011, it was released on September 16th in theaters and on January 30th 2012 on DVD. The release dates gave people little or no time at all to dress up as the iconic Driver.

What You'll Need

• The Scorpion Jacket—the most important part of the outfit. You can find the jacket for as low as $40 on eBay. You can also try any thrift shop to find a cheap white jacket and purchase some gold iron-on fabric for the scorpion emblem on the back.
• Driver also wears a jean jacket and a white shirt under the white jacket.
• For the jeans you can wear any black tight-fitting jeans. In the movie, he wears some black 511 Levi's.
• Shoes usually aren't important, but if you're into detail, you'll need to find some beige/tan boots.
• The rest of the outfit consists of his accessories: his leather tan/brown driving gloves, thick-rimmed aviator glasses and a black leather watch.

The Engineer in Prometheus

Without spoiling too much of the movie (for those that haven't watched it yet), the beginning of Prometheus starts with an Engineer. Engineers are superior beings to the human race and are the ones that give life.

What You'll Need

• A buff body. Seriously. Look how jacked that dude is. Start working out. NOW. You don't actually need to be this yolked, but it would help. If you don't quite have the six-pack abs going on, you could always look for a foam one on eBay for pretty cheap.
• A bald cap for hiding that hair. They sell bald caps at every single Halloween store. If you're a badass, shave that head.
• For the color, find some white body paint. You can also find this at every single Halloween or party supplies store. Have a friend help you (preferably a girl) with the application...it might take a while.
• Finally, you'll need some type of white briefs to cover up.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

A great costume for women—Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This girl totally kicks ass and makes for a pretty inexpensive costume. Now, of course, the original Swedish flick came out over three years ago, with Lisbeth played by Noomi Rapace, but the American remake was released just last December, with Rooney Mara taking over the leather.

What You'll Need

• The hairstyle and makeup are key. This video tutorial covers the makeup aspect of the costume. For the hair, it will need to be black and look short. There are also facial piercings (clip-on ones can be bought) and earrings. The earrings are very important to the costume and can be bought online.
• The rest of the outfit consists of mostly black: black tank tops/shirt, black hooded sweater, black jeans (both loose and very tight) and black boots. All these can be found at practically any clothing or shoe store, if you don't already possess it.
• She also wears black cut off gloves, a grey beanie, a black backpack and a grey scarf. It's up to you if you want to include these accessories in the costume. You can watch the trailer below and experiment with her different looks.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Do I need to say any more?

Though Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was not the best movie in the world, it's freakin' Abe Lincoln with an axe!

What You'll Need

• An Abraham Lincoln costume.
• A fake axe.
• If you want, you can add a vampire hunting kit or vampire hunting belt.

That's it. Seriously. It's pretty freaking easy. Feel free to take an axe swing at all the Twilight costumes on Halloween. Just kidding. Actually I'm not.

Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained

The last costume I wanted to mention is from a movie that hasn't even been released yet. Django Unchained is the upcoming Quentin Tarantino film about slave-turned-bounty-hunter Django who's out to find his wife. This movie looks all types of badass, and I would love to see some costumes from the movie this Halloween, especially since it doesn't hit theaters until Christmas!

What You'll Need

• The outfit is pretty straightforward. It's a take on a cowboy outfit, with a bit of that Tarantino snare. The green velvet looking jacket will be the toughest article to find, so start your search now. Thrift shops are always great places to find weird pieces of clothing.
• The rest of the outfit should be pretty easy to find. Beige pants, black gloves, cowboy hat, and a holster with a gun. You can find these parts in your closet or at the Halloween store.

If there are any other movies from 2012 that you feel deserve a costume shout out, let me know!