by LORRAINE CARPENTER

The club crawl

Party with the ghosts of years past at Saphir's new Thursday weekly, Nevermind the '90s, hosted by DJs Pat Dynamite, Another DJ Dave and Vanilla Thom. Dress as your favourite '90s personality, dance to the last decade's beats and vie for prizes, pizza pockets and cheap drinks at the soirée's debut tonight, Thursday, Oct. 28 (10 p.m., $3). Saphir's weekly Panic takes a turn for the terrifying on Friday, Oct. 29 (10 p.m., $5) when DJs Plastik Patrik and Pat Dynamite take you on a warped rock and new-wave thrill ride, awarding the most monstrous costumes with macabre prizes. Meanwhile, on Saphir's second floor (10 p.m., $5) the annual Buried Alive will be resurrected, with Cruella costume prizes and the darkwave sounds of DJs Mr. Black, Uriel and Kaotik.

Missy Bar's End of Days party says buh-bye to Bush or hello to the apocalypse on Saturday, Oct. 30 (11:30 p.m., free), with DJs Radiowhore and Amyl Nitrate (that's me) radiating indie pop, mod, glam, punk, electro and new wave. Café Campus goes post-apocalyptic on Saturday, Oct. 30 (8:30 p.m., $5), when the undead will gather for Zombie Night. With cheap booze, chilling surprises, a screening of "Thriller," resident DJs Dee and La Grange and prizes for most disastrous Michael Jackson costume (and best costume overall), this party will destroy your brain.

As part of Foufounes' annual Halloweek bloodbath, DJ Carbone unleashes an '80s Massacre on Thursday, Oct. 28 (9 p.m., $4) while DJ Mutante cranks electro hardcore in the electric room. Door and costume prizes can be yours at Liquid Halloween on Saturday, Oct. 30 (8 p.m. $8), when Fouf's Formula 1 drink scheme will fuel the folly.

Costumes are mandatory at the St-Laurent resto-bar Divan Orange on Saturday, Oct. 30 (10 p.m., $2), featuring DJ Coconut and 1speedbike, with free shooters at midnight for the best duds.

A new hip hop club called Colors wants you to dress in white for Blacklight Night on Sunday, Oct. 31. Or, on the same night (10 p.m., $4), wear a mask to Ambassade's electronic extravaganza, featuring the Mole, guest DJs, freaky shooter girls and much more.

Join the circus at Living on Thursday, Oct. 28, with clowns, freaks, acrobats and DJs Eddy Jasmin and Blast to keep you on your toes. On Sunday, Oct. 31, suit up for the camouflage edition of Living's Vicious Night, with gifts, giveaways and free booze for ladies. DJs Red Dredd and Renegade will occupy the hip hop room while DJ Quan and guests plant their flag in the lounge.

Petrify for prizes

Club La Boom's Bal Masqué will ply patrons with prizes if they guess the identities of personalities behind the masks on Thursday, Oct. 28, to the sound of DJ André Meunier. Call 866-5463 for details.

A mystery amount of bling will be awarded to the best superpimp and nasty girl at Exit's second annual Pimp's Paradise (10 p.m., $10) on Friday, Oct. 29, with DJs Toddy Flores, Fiend, Ball and MC Sneeky.

Another $1,000 will be on hand at "Montreal's sexiest mega complex," Eclipse, who ask you to dress down, way down, for Diabolic & Devilicious on Saturday, Oct. 30 (9 p.m., $10), featuring DJ Hugo Bass.

On the same night, don your fetish at Cabaret Cleo, where MC Gerry Cyr will award the best-dressed proud perv with $600, or, over in the Village, vie for a $1,000 prize while DJ Gilles "Creepy" Jr. paints Unity red with The Blood Fest (10 p.m., free for the costumed).

The party's already on at the dragtastic Cabaret Mado, where Popline, Miss Vicky, Tequila and Dream will perform at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. throughout Halloween weekend, Thursday, Oct. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 31. DJs Pascale McCoy (Thursday), Marc Laflamme (Friday) and Martin 450 (Saturday).

Turn tricks into treats at the Pimps & Hos party at Parking (Groove Society entrance, 1008 Ste-Catherine) on Sunday, Oct. 31, 10 p.m., $6. It's Flava night, so expect hip hop, R&B and reggae revelry with DJs Black Cat and Torus. Also at Parking, DJs Ken Moore and Wayne Michael will be your guides through Heaven & Hell on Saturday, Oct. 30, while Miss Honey Dijon rocks the house (via the main entrance) on Sunday, Oct. 31.

Unity gets biblical on your ass on Thursday Oct. 28 with Hell in Eden, featuring a fierce battle between DJs Eloi "Angelic" Brunelle and François "Satanic" Lebaron. On Friday, Oct. 29, hip hop/R&B DJ Puppa "The Butcher" Sacha provides the soundtrack for Unity's Terreur au Collège. Both nights at Unity begin at 10 p.m. and are free for the costumed.

Bedeviled blowouts and live evil

The seventh annual Gloom costume ball rolls into Château Médiéval Sire d'Howard in the Laurentians on Saturday, Oct. 30 (9 p.m. to noon, $45). Hear the house, techno, trance and hardcore of DJs Méa, Eddy Jasmin, Saturnin, Alex Matthews, Miss Innocent, Lady Bass, Mad and Twinspin. Call (450) 625-7000 for details, or go to www.rayjunior.com. Back in the city, DJs Dieselboy, Rap, Yaz and Mini spin to scare at Aria on Friday, Oct. 29, a debauched party running from 1:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Double your fun at Circus on Saturday, Oct. 30 (midnight, $50), where DJs James Andersen, Serge Duchesne, Mat Ste-Marie and Eddy Jasmin set the scene along with freaky-deaky décor, live performances and costume contests. Wear white to the Blackout party in the hip hop room, which opens at 1:30 a.m. and features the fine sounds of DJs Big Poppa, Prody-G, Crowd and MCs B.U. and L.D. Get your tickets through www.ticketpro.ca or 908-9090 - all profits go to CJD, the gay, lesbian, bi and trans legal defence committee.

Get your groove back with the ghosts of old Montreal at Spook da House, a very special happening at 377 Richmond, between William and Notre-Dame, on Saturday, Oct. 30 (10 p.m. to 10 a.m., $20). Brace yourself for DJs Bear, Bruno Brown, Simon B and Jon Jonas, with guest vocalists and percussionists.

Have a Maudite Halloween on Friday, Oct. 29 (9 p.m., $17) at Bain Mathieu (2915 Ontario), an old abandoned bathhouse-cum-disco. In two rooms, magicians and tribal drummers will work their wonders and DJs Coran and Soul will spin deep house, techno, R&B and top 40.

Get yer frightful funk with Funkstitution and Brass on Friday, Oct. 29 (9 p.m., $10, $8 for students), at Le Va-et-Vient, where a Brazilian Halloween bash unfolds on Saturday, Oct. 30 (9 p.m. $5) with Bomboruba (a merger of Zuruba and Bombolessé).

On Saturday, Oct. 30 (10 p.m., $3, $2 with a costume), be bewitched by The Nymphets and the Ex-Pharaohs at Barfly, where the Hooks keep the Halloween spirit alive on Friday, Oct. 29 (10 p.m., $5 or $3 with a costume) with the Strange, Brian Limoyo and the Last Minute Band.

German electro-rockers Zombie Nation cook up a fabulous feast with DJ Mini at Parking on Thursday, Oct. 28 (10 p.m., $6), and the Brains, the Moribunds play a hot psychobilly hootenanny on Saturday, Oct. 30 (10 p.m., $7) at O'Hara's Pub with DJ Tiki Surfah. On Sunday, October 31, choose between Moustache and the World Provider at Casa del Popolo (10 p.m., $5) and Prototypes, Frigid and Call Me Poupée at Cabaret (10 p.m., $17).

Celluloid and stage scares

Spooky Boogie Nights at Café Chaos will be on in full freaky force on Sunday, Oct. 31 (8 p.m., $5) with a series of short films, a live set by Freakency, a costume contest and go-go dancers.

Fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show can warp their minds with a screening of the classic film, a full cast and a costume contest conducted by the lovely Plastik Patrik. At Theatre Corona on Friday, Oct. 29 or Sunday, Oct. 31 (9 p.m. and midnight shows) or Saturday, Oct. 30 (midnight only, all shows $13.95).

Get your creep on at Kiss My Cabaret, a smorgasbord of music and theatre at La Sala Rossa on Saturday, Oct. 30 (8 p.m., $12, $6 with costume). Costumes will be judged by celebs and proceeds benefit the Farha Foundation.

Last, but frightfully far from least, La Grande Mascarade is a massive Halloween festival spread over three days, from Friday, Oct. 29 through Sunday, Oct. 31. The first annual event promises thousands of vampires, witches and ghosts wandering the streets of Old Montreal in and around the Bonsecours Market and Place Jacques-Cartier, acting, storytelling and simply providing ambiance. Expect a funeral procession, a Nuit des Sacrifice ball (featuring Stefie Shock, Cirque Éloize, fashion shows and glam/goth rock DJs), an all-you-can-drink party to benefit water sanitation projects in Africa, a singles party called Blind Date and a comedy show by local goofs les Denis Drolet. Please visit www.grandemascarade.com to dissect La Grande Mascarade's myriad possibilites, and have a great ghouls' night out.

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