It's official. Halloween has become a celebration of freakdom worldwide. No longer a pastoral harvest fest or day to frighten off the dead, the modern world views it as a pass to extensively decorate our bodies, dress slutty and partaaay. Hell, let's just call it Suicide Girls Day.

For tattooed and pierced folk, the problem in Halloween dressing lies in just how much freakier we can be. I mean, there are polyester costumes in our honor and articles on how to look like Kat Von D of Miami Ink, so whom are we supposed to emulate to frighten people into giving us candy. If only there was an Ann Coulter costume. Indeed, Satan herself could scare anyone Commie, and holiday booty would be evenly distributed among the masses.



Being that I'm more for dressing seductive than sinister, I'll opt for going as The Lizardman as this woman did. Nothing says sexy like two tongues.

However you decide to dress, just make sure not to anger anyone's sacred ancestors. Case in point: Maori leaders have been fighting against an LA store selling Halloween Moko tattoo kits. New Zealand's One News explain the Maori's complaints on the issue:

While there are numerous arguments on both sides of this debate, it all comes down to cultural sensitivity in your part of the world. For example, many white people dress up as Native Americans without anyone saying a word, but put on blackface and an afro and you'll get your ass kicked. I've witnessed it first hand in Brooklyn, NY. But even in Brooklyn I wouldn't chance pissing off an age-old culture known for being fierce warriors. I'm sticking with my Lizardman idea.

Beyond temporary costumes, Halloween is probably the biggest holiday celebrated on skin. Just check out BMEzine's gallery of Halloween-themed tattoos. My favorites, though, are less literal and even spookier: horror tattoos. TattooNow has galleries of film-inspired horror tattoos or ones that are just plain evil. For even more inspiration, view the portfolios of masters of the dark art, such as Bob Tyrrell, Robert Hernandez, Benjamin Moss, Dan Henk, Shane O'Neill, and of course Paul Booth and the Last Rites crew including SG's own ymonster, Tim Kern.


Tattoo by Bob Tyrrell.

But please don't spend all of Halloween online trolling tattoo portfolios. Especially when there are so many people in porn-star-like Bo Peep outfits outside. My usual haunt on October 31st is the Village Halloween Parade but as we're in Europe, I'll be hosting a horror flick fest, using Chris Gore's movie picks and adding one of my own to the mix: Tattoo, the 2002 film about a killer who harvests the skin of tattooed people for underground collectors.

It's my ultimate nightmare, losing my preciously decorated skin to some dude on eBay. Quelle Horreur!


Marisa_DiMattia is a lawyer and editor of Needled.com, a blog on tattoo art and culture.