The Scariest Skins In GTA 5

Originally releasing for consoles in September 2013, "Grand Theft Auto 5" has had a tremendous impact on gaming culture and mechanics. Thanks to ongoing content updates for "GTA Online" from Rockstar, as well as an aggressively creative modding scene, the title remains relevant to this day. As with earlier entries in the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, much of the narrative content in "GTA 5" is considered controversial. The "GTA" series has made players do terrible things, but some fans have found ways to push the envelope even further. 

While the game has a dizzying array of cosmetic costumes and items available for purchase, mods have raised the stakes in a big way. The beauty of "GTA 5" is the flexibility of its enormous sandbox world, and with the help of mods, players can inject whatever flair and flavor they want into the game. Even though "GTA 5" and its online companion "GTA Online" are not considered horror games by default, players can serve up scares with a wide variety of chilling costumes and special game modes to customize their experience.

Below is a selection of some of the scariest skins available for "Grand Theft Auto 5."

The mildest end of the horror spectrum consists of numerous mods allowing players to take on the appearance of other video game characters. While most of these models are typically heroic, or simply cool-looking, like Halo's Master Chief, other borrowed heroes have more disturbing appearances. For example, this intense Witcher skin has a distinctly unsettling vibe, what with its pitch black eyes and pallid skin.

While a Witcher may seem thoroughly out of place in Los Santos, the state of San Andreas is much weirder than it appears at first blush, and the game itself contains many unsettling mysteries. In fact, many companion mods, which include game tweaks in addition to custom character models, ratchet these mysteries to the next level. For instance, there is a mod dedicated to bringing the game's rumored sewer monster to life. Another fearsome mod will pit players against monsters from myths and urban legends, such as La Llorona and El Chupacabra. 

It may break the game's immersion as a gritty crime scene, but the Witcher skin would likely pair nicely with many of those other monstrous mods. Maybe players just need to let Geralt take care of the creatures that stalk Los Santos.

The Xenomorph from the "Alien" franchise is one of the most frightening sci-fi antagonists of all time, and it is still good at scaring audiences over 40 years after its debut. The creature's slick and spiny appearance — created by dark Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger — is a master class in monster design. But due to a tonal mismatch and the lack of any special abilities specific to this mod, it isn't the most terrifying alien skin "GTA 5" has to offer (more on that in a bit). 

To give credit where due, however, Meth0d's Xenomorph custom mod is well-rendered and definitely not something you would want to meet in the wastes of Grapeseed under the cover of night, even if it can't exactly spit acid. Still, there is an inherent humor to seeing the long-tailed monster carjacking people and tossing Molotov cocktails around, to say nothing of robbing banks or visiting a gentlemen's club. 

There are also other mods designed to pit players against more extraterrestrial onslaughts, and "GTA Online" has hosted official alien-themed events in the past. Adding the Xenomorph into the game just feels like the natural next step.

The anarchic action of "GTA 5" easily dovetails with the exploits of some legendary silver screen killers, particularly those pulled from classic slasher movies. Skins of famous horror icons, such as Ghostface from "Scream," Michael Myers of "Halloween" fame, and Freddy Krueger from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" are prevalent on "GTA 5" modding sites. While the quality of these skins definitely vary from model to model, most of these serial slayers are carefully rendered.

Some horror mods include a hearty mix of villains from both cinema and history, some of whom will hunt the player for sport. The simply-titled Horror Pack mod includes encounters with a headless horseman, Jack the Ripper, and the Babadook from the Australian horror film of the same name. 

While these characters are known for striking terror into audiences' hearts on the silver screen, there is an element of silliness to seeing them pop up in "GTA 5." Even so, gamers who have wondered who would win in a fight between Leatherface and Jason Voorhees now have the opportunity to find out up close.

Zombies are a horror staple, so it should come as little surprise that there are numerous "GTA" mods that allow players to dress up like the undead. Some of these shambling corpses are more grotesque than others. Some are drawn from shows like "The Walking Dead," while others take their cue from different video games, like a model based on the "Call of Duty" Nuketown zombies. 

Admittedly, most "GTA" players are likely desensitized to these garden variety enemies, no matter how gross they are, but these zombies are generally creepier than the game's standard character models. And if generic gore-soaked shamblers aren't enough, players can test their nerves against a nude, zombified version of "GTA 5" protagonist Trevor Phillips.

If skins aren't enough, "GTA 5" also features a number of zombie mode mods, each with varying mechanics and additional maps. Some of these mods can drastically change the way the game is played, introducing blackouts that shroud the city in darkness, roving hordes of zombies, and more. There's even a whole sub-genre of zombie skins for players to enjoy: cars decked out for post-apocalyptic survival, like the Zombie Bus. With these mods in tow, you can take these creepy skins to the next level.

Admittedly, thanks to the strung-out character of Wade, "GTA 5" comes prepackaged with a character model featuring Juggalo-style face paint. However, Wade is generally played for laughs in the game's campaign, rather than horror. 

The collection of monstrous clown mods for "GTA 5" might not scare everyone, but gamers suffering from coulrophobia (fear of clowns, of course) would not want to run into players rocking the "Clown Horror Face" skin, which makes your character look like a rotting circus performer. Once again, however, one of the scariest clowns in town is a mod for Trevor Phillips that decks him out in make-up that is at once absurd and unsettling. He looks almost cartoonishly evil with just a splash of makeup and a big red smile on his lips.

There aren't as many themed gameplay mods focused on clowns, but there is one notable entry from Zibulaatio which gives players their own bizarre, clown-themed mission to play. Players assume the role of a clown posse aiming to knock over Fleeca Bank to ease their destitute circus troupe's financial woes, and it's creepy seeing them all congregate like that. And those looking to truly traumatize coulrophobes can use another simple mod to spawn hostile clowns in the game at will.

As internet-era urban legends go, few entities can compete with Slender Man in terms of notoriety. The creepy character has been associated with a host of creepypasta stories, as well as real life tragedies. As a result, the lanky, business-suited terror has made appearances in a number of games — most notably, "Slender: The Arrival." It makes sense that a game as chaotic as "GTA 5" would most several character mods featuring Slender Man, both with tentacles and without.

Players can inhabit the evil entity themselves, or assign the skin to an NPC and try to survive his onslaught. YouTubers who frequently play "GTA 5", like Caylus, have recorded videos of their efforts against the blank-faced, long-armed, eldritch horror.

Slender Man has become such a ubiquitous digital bogeyman that myths persist that he may appear in "GTA 5" without modifications, and videos have been edited to perpetuate that premise. Disappointingly (or perhaps fortunately), the myths are false and there are no files for a Slender Man model in the base game.

While most of these skins are single-player affairs, two types of official skins have managed to strike terror in "GTA Online" players: the Alien Interloper and the Arena War collection's neon martian bodysuits. While neither of these skins are terribly scary in terms of appearance, they are definitely intimidating for their association with an absurd form of griefing in "GTA Online." The presence of one such extraterrestrial often heralds the beginning of a full-on invasion, followed by all-out alien war.

Groups of players dressed in the now-infamous skins will often appear and get up to hijinks ranging from impromptu dance parties to beating every rival player and NPC in sight with baseball bats. Alien invasions aren't always mean-spirited, however. And when two rival gangs of aliens cross paths, the results can be hilarious. The "GTA Online" community has also responded to the trend in a variety of amusing ways, from general good humor to the establishment of in-game "Men In Black" bureaus.