It's that time of year again when the whole world seems to fall into step with those of us who are horror fans all year long. In October, horror movies pop up everywhere from Turner Classic Movies to Animal Planet. But some horror movies are more in keeping with the spirit of Halloween than others. Here are some seasonal suggestions for your viewing pleasure.

CLASSIC MONSTERS

Yes, they're kind of clunky and primitive now and can't hold a candle to Hollywood's current technical wizardry, but nothing says Halloween quite like the old horror films from Universal and Hammer studios. Universal buttered its bread with monster movies in the 1930s and '40s — Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein monster and The Mummy, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr. as the The Wolf Man, and Claude Rains as The Invisible Man are black-and-white horror icons that have never lost their luster.

After a series of successful monster movies, Universal threw all their creatures together in a couple final monster blow-outs. The underrated House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula united all the creatures before they became the stuff of comedy. The classic creatures stepped aside for new threats — atomic mutations and aliens from outer space dominated American screens in the '50s and into the '60s. But in the late '50s, the small British studio Hammer revived those gothic monsters in a new and bloodier, sexier series of technicolor horror films starting with The Curse of Frankenstein and The Horror of Dracula. Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing became the new icons of horror. You can't let Halloween pass without watching at least a couple of these enduring classics.

SCARES FOR THE KIDS

After the kids are done trick-or-treating, there are some movies that are perfect for them. Monster Squad is a fast-paced flick about a group of children who come face to face with classic creatures Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and the Gill Man from Creature From the Black Lagoon, with a script by Shane Black and director Fred Dekker that has lines like, "The Wolf Man's got 'nads!"

Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Nijimy play comical witches in Disney's Hocus Pocus — not one of my personal favorites, but I know some who love it, including my wife Dawn.

Tim Burton's animated fantasy The Nightmare Before Christmas is perfect for both kids and grown-ups either at Halloween or Christmas.

HORROR COMEDIES

In Love At First Bite, George Hamilton plays the Transylvanian count for laughs — there are some big ones, and Arte Johnson gets a lot of them as Renfield. If you're a horror fan who also enjoys '80s teen comedies, you'll find My Best Friend Is A Vampire doubly satisfying. Horny teenagers meet up with vampires and their hunters in Houston. If I'm not mistaken, this movie went straight to video back in 1988, and remains unseen by most. That's too bad, because it's a funny little flick. Add to that the 1985 teen horror-comedy, Fright Night.

In 1957's Invasion of the Saucer Men, creepy alien creatures with hypodermic fingers inject alcohol into horny teenagers so no one will believe them when they try to warn the townfolk — a must for you Frank Gorshin fans. John Landis mixes laughs with some honest-to-God fright in An American Werewolf in London. If you've never seen this one before, prepare to laugh, but don't get too comfortable.

Barry Sonnenfeld's The Addams Family and Addams Family Values mine the work of cartoonist Charles Addams for plenty of Halloween gold. Tim Burton seems to make a lot of Halloween-friendly movies, and 1988's afterlife comedy Beetlejuice is no exception — Michael Keaton's performance is still hilarious.

Universal's monster lineup is featured in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, probably the best thing Bud and Lou ever did. Private eye Harry Philip Lovecraft (Fred Ward) is hunting for the Necronomicon in the 1991 made-for-HBO movie Cast A Deadly Spell, which mixes humor, horror, and gumshoe chic in an alternate earth where everyone uses magic. But if you watch only one horror comedy this Halloween, it probably should be Mel Brooks's classic send-up of classic horror, Young Frankenstein, in glorious black-and-white.

HAUNTED HOUSES

What's Halloween without a haunted house? Both versions of The House on Haunted Hill — William Castle's campy 1958 original, and William Malone's 1999 remake — are a lot of fun.

A tense script by Richard Matheson and a strong cast that includes Roddy McDowell and Pamela Franklin helps make The Legend of Hill House an outstanding entry in the subgenre. 1940's The Ghost Breakers provide some haunted house thrills while showcasing the comedy of Bob Hope (back when he was really funny), and the 1959 remake, Scared Stiff, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis is equally entertaining.

The Spielberg factory turned out Poltergeist in 1982, the story of a haunted house in the cookie-cutter suburbs that has some real scares. But the grandaddy of all spookhouse movies remains Robert Wise's 1963 nightmare, The Haunting, which manages to scare the hell out of us without showing us anything. The 1999 remake is to be avoided at all costs.

CROSS-DRESSING HORRORS

Tim Burton's Ed Wood is the often funny and sometimes touching story of the ambitious and enthusiastic cross-dressing movie director who lacked only talent. It's not a horror film, but it certainly has about it the spirit of Halloween. In fact, this is the perfect time of year for any of Wood's titles, especially Plan 9 From Outer Space and Glenn or Glenda? But the Halloweeniest movie ever made about dressing up and going out is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman's campy horror/sci-fi musical about fun-loving aliens and the joy of having a monster on the slab.

TEACHING OLD MONSTERS NEW TRICKS

Those old monsters never die. Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula revived the count in 1992 — if you can get past the embarassing British accents used by stars Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder, it's a rich and beautiful film.

Jack Nicholson is bitten by a wolf and starts having lycanthropy problems in New York City while romancing Michelle Pfeiffer in 1994's Wolf. With Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, director Kenneth Branagh makes a valiant attempt to breathe new life into the old creature. Although it's quite a disappointment, it's worth watching for Robert DeNiro's performance as the creature, which, oddly enough, is one of the reasons the movie fails.

Washington Irving's headless horseman is brought vividly to life by Christopher Walken in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, a fresh and atmospheric new look at an old horror story starring Johnny Depp. Stephen Sommers pumps up The Mummy with lots of action and an overload of CGI — not a great movie, but fun if there are plenty of popcorn-balls and Halloween candy to munch on.

THE HALLOWEEN MOVIE

Don't forget — Halloween is the night he comes home in John Carpenter's phenomenally successful, influential, and enduring holiday slasher flick, Halloween. A Halloween without Halloween is like ... well, like a Christmas without Black Christmas.

Whatever holiday movies you choose to watch, remember — Halloween isn't just for kids anymore. Enjoy yourself.