My So and I want to dress as vampire (him) and victim (me), but we’re having trouble finding a decent scary-type costume. They’re all cheesy Dracula styles or for emo kids.
He’s into facial prosthetic stuff, so we may try a Buffy bumpy face vampire, and I definitely want my “wound” to be more than just two tiny bleeding spots.
Any ideas or suggestions on what and where to buy?
Go for the Nosferatu look.
I was going to suggest that. A mask would be easy, but makeup would be better. You can get a bald-head wig from many costume shops. You’ll also need makeup. Ben Nye makes a Vampire Makeup Kit for $16. IME the bald wig (not part of the kit) is the hardest part. You need spirit gum to stick it on. For the Max Schreck look, you’ll also need to make or adapt appliances such as ears. I totally dig that tight long coat he wore. Creepy.
I love that look, I had a friend who wanted to do that last year but couldn’t find the rat teeth nor the ears [he is naturally bald =)] in time, but he did a respectable job with makeup doing shadowing and such, so he came out nicely creepy anyway =)
Or he could just shave his head.
Could do. That’s commitment to a costume!
I skimmed over this part last night. If he’s into prosthetics, then he may have the stuff already for the ears; and he may have an easier time with a bald wig – unless he shaves his head. 
Here’s Klaus Kinski as Nosferatu.
And Here’s Max Schreck.
Hey, SO here.
I like prosthetic stuff, but have very limited experience using it. I found this Nosferatu mask that looks cool, but will need some kind of painting…
And I am not dedicated enough to shave my head, sorry. So I’ll have to use a bald cap.
My original idea was to have a massive wound on her neck (like lion/tiger attack). But I don’t know if I can pull that off without spending a ton of money.
I used to decorate the yard and scare the crap out of the neighborhood kids, but justafriend says I can’t do that this year, in our new house… “Tastefully scary” she says…
One Halloween I make some simple ‘rotting flesh’ appliances. I just poured a little latex onto a sheet of aluminum foil, let it dry a little, ‘stippled’ it with a stick, and added ‘veins’ or whatever by rolling very thin sheets of dried latex into tubes and putting it into the appliances. A little spirit gum to stick them on, some freshly-made blood, and I was ghoulish! We did a neck gash for a super-8 film once, using the same technique. So you can probably do a passable neck wound with a couple of thin appliances depicting ragged skin. All it would cost is a little latex and some makeup/mask paint.
Sure, we’ve got $850 to spend on a Halloween costume. That thing is freakin awesome, though.
And my exact quote was “fun scary”. I wouldn’t mind being known as the scary house in the neighborhood, but I’d like the kids to actually want to come.
I recommend these fangs. I got a pair of them for my costume last year, and they are awesome. They look surprisingly real, and you can mostly talk normally with them. They’re just caps on the teeth.
While latex makes the best wounds, for Halloween you can get away with using cotton balls. Pull one or two mostly apart and glue them on with spirit gum. It’s going to get soggy in the process, which will give you the ragged look you’re seeking. Let it dry and then apply makeup in flesh, black and red tones for the proper amount of gore.
It won’t look as good as latex in close up, but it’s a lot quicker and cheaper.
This site is great for Halloween stuff. I get something from there every year. They also have Trauma kits that should fit the bill for the wounds you’re looking for! Take a look around, it’s a great Halloween shop!