Horror Decor Ranked

Samuel Parigela

When to start decorating for Halloween is one of those traditionally contentious topics, with some preferring to start in late September, while others start earlier, in the last days of August. But, either way, if you're planning on decorating, you should have started by now. Here are five (somewhat common) Halloween decorations, ranked from worst to best.

Jack-o’-Lanterns

It might trouble you, that I place the jack-o’-lantern, the symbol of Halloween, at the bottom of this list. Well, that’s part of the problem–Jack-o’-lanterns are simply too generic. While they may be considered ‘iconic’, it doesn’t matter when everyone next door is carving up pumpkins too. They’re eyesores, given how much we see them.

Skeletons

Skeletons may be as generic as jack-o’-lanterns, but at least you can get more creative with them! You can have them strike poses, put clothes on them, cover them in cobwebs, and more. But that’s it. They’re still extremely ordinary (yes, even with the dark cloaks and red LEDs in their eye sockets).

Ghosts

Ghosts make the middle of this list for their variety and minimalistic charm. While their overuse keeps them from getting higher, they are still very nice decorations. Ghosts as decorations tend to be underwhelming, though, usually just consisting of a black or white cloth as the cloak or body and a face, though that isn’t always there.

Creepy Clowns

I know, it’s not 2016, but clowns always make for a good scare, right? When you have skeletons and vampires and all the traditional characters present, clowns provide a unique twist. Even if the clown doesn’t have a nasty look on its face, it can still play into the fear factor just because of the stigma towards clowns in general. They can also evoke the haunted carnival category of decorations.

Haunted Mirror

This may be controversial as the number one. but mirrors by themselves are already creepy, not to mention all the lore about them being portals or fortune-tellers. Plus, they’re easy to make at home and can be bought online. I rate these highly because I couldn’t imagine looking into a seemingly normal mirror just to see someone looking right back at me.

At this point, you may be more or less in agreement, or you could be outraged, or perhaps you don’t care much. But I hope you found this list somewhat useful. Happy decorating!