The best Mad Monster Party Arizona costumes we saw in 2025

This year’s Mad Monster Party Arizona was ghouls gone wild. Hordes of Valley horror fans invaded the Renaissance Glendale Phoenix Hotel for three days of frights, fun and fandom during the annual horror and sci-fi convention.

Memorable moments during the con included appearances by horror icons like Brad Dourif of "Child’s Play" fame and "The Exorcist" legend Linda Blair and a concert by “ghoulish rock ’n’ roll” band The Phantom A.D.

Another highlight? The local cosplayers who showed up to Mad Monster Party Arizona 2025 ready to slay.

Horror-inspired costumes were in abundance all three days of the con. It was a blood-soaked, cosplay-filled fright fest. And fans loved every scream-worthy second. Freddy Krueger clones were everywhere, thanks to horror legend Robert Englund being at the event in the flesh. There were also numerous versions of Jason Voorhees lurking about in honor of actor Kane Hodder’s appearance at Mad Monster.
Elsewhere, cosplayers portrayed characters from such horror flicks as “Jaws,” “Heart Eyes” and “Saw.” Others dressed up in costumes inspired by “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” the Netflix series “Squid Game” or mockumentary vampire show “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Some attendees got creative with their costumes, like one cosplayer who wore a body suit to re-create Buffalo Bill’s infamous and iconic dance to the Q Lazzarus song “Goodbye Horses” from “The Silence of the Lambs.” (Yes, that scene.)

Another Mad Monster Party Arizona attendee came as a female version of Pinhead from the “Hellraiser” series and dressed up her dog in a canine version of the iconic character.
Members of local charity cosplay group Return of the Giving Dead dressed up as the evil playthings from the '80s cult classic horror film “Puppet Master,” including Tunneler, Torch and Six Shooter.

Kids even got to participate in the cosplay fun at Mad Monster Party Arizona, becoming characters like Edward Scissorhands or a mashup of Jason with Wolverine from “The X-Men.”

Here’s a look at all the freaky, frightening and fun cosplay we encountered at Mad Monster Party Arizona 2025.