Halloween trends change from year to year just like regular fashion trends do. However, the difference is that the general public doesn’t witness these trends until that one night occurs.

There will always be the classics: witches, princesses and angels. However, last year and this year there have been specific costumes and pieces that have been flying off of the shelves.

Last year some of the biggest costume trends were from do-it-yourself masterpieces and pre-packaged looks. As always, box office hits from each year inspired popular costume ideas that often become so desired they saturate the market. Some of the biggest movies recreated for last year’s Halloween costumes included characters from “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “Despicable Me 2” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

The year 2013 also saw a rise to popular Halloween costumes that included anything that utilized feathers and wings. These simple statement pieces are really easy to incorporate into an outfit to make it a costume. Some easy costumes that can be made out of simple feather and wing accents are the classic angel and devil looks as well as birds of all different species, but if you’re going for a more creative route, try being a flying monkey from “The Wizard of Oz.”

Superheroes have always been a large contender for popular costumes. However, the increased number of superhero and comic book movie revivals have also caused a revival in the popularity of these costumes, and not just for men, but across gender and age groups.

Along with these classics, animal-inspired costumes also had a large presence last year, as they do every year. This past year however, instead of individuals creating highly scandalous animal looks to wear as costumes, costume companies provided these over-sexed looks. These costumes consisted of bodycon dresses with fur patterns as well as a hood with ears and often paired with tall, heeled boots. It is likely that last year was not the last time that we will see these ensembles.

This year holds a few more new trends as well as some of the same ones. The most anticipated, recognized, and predictable of these characters will be from the new Disney movie “Frozen,” which was released at the end of last year. Costume stores such as Party City have claimed that these long blue Elsa-inspired dresses have been flying off the shelves for both young girls and adults.

“Despicable Me” minions are also predicted to be a repeat favorite of this year’s costume choices. The little characters will likely remain popular because they are an easy DIY project. Just take a yellow shirt, shorts or suspenders, which can easily be found from Avalon Exchange or one of the other vintage clothing stores in Coventry, and top it off with a cut-off cup bottom painted like an eye glued to a headband.

Additionally, the superhero trend has likely spread due to the release of the show “Marvel: Agents of Shield,” “Flash” and “Arrow.” All of these shows are extending the trend of the superhero revival in pop culture.

Other costumes which were originally predicted, chic geek and vampires, have been replaced by another Halloween favorite: zombies. Just as blockbuster films have a major impact on Halloween costume popularity, television show hits can also have the same effect. One of the shows that helped resurrect zombie fanatics is “The Walking Dead.”

Whether or not campus takes a turn for the scary, sexy, cynical or silly this year, here’s to a horrifying and happy Halloween at Case Western Reserve University.