by LORRAINE CARPENTER

All events, unless otherwise indicated, take place on Saturday, Oct. 28.

Sounds From Darkness will emanate from Café Chaos on Thursday, Oct. 26, when DJs Dark, Alakazoo and LVX join in on DJ Cyanure’s weekly offering of EBM, industrial, dark wave, goth rock, techno and metal. Expect a raffle, costume prizes and a $5 cover ($3 in advance).

If you love Halloween as much as Neon does, point your peepers at the ninth edition of Voyeur at SAT on Friday, Oct. 27, 10 p.m., $10 (voyeuristic.ca). Hosts Thalia and Jordan Dare will be joined by Why Alex, Why? and Thomas Von Party to deliver “electro-ish” shock therapy.

Also on Friday, Mile-End’s Assommoir restaurant throws its sixth annual costume ball, la Maudite Halloween, at Théâtre Plaza. Dance to the unholy sounds of ’80s, Top 40, R&B, hip hop and house in two rooms, care of DJs Zo and Soul, and take advantage of 2-for-1 drink specials. Tickets cost $12, at the door and in advance (112 Bernard, 790-1245). Advance-ticket holders skip the line-up and get one free drink. All patrons at this UNICEF co-presentation are encouraged to bring donations of candy, which will be distributed to kids in St-Henri on Oct. 31.

Costumes are key at Monde Osé’s House of Sins at Mile End Bar, the destination for swingers on Friday, Oct. 27, 10 p.m., $65

(mondeose.com). DJ Dan Stringer, from the USA’s “Wet & Hard” scene, promises to kick-start this Halloween swap-hop with dark dancefloor sounds, then segue into the sensual side of house. All comers will be rewarded with a Monde Osé CD compilation (vol. 2), and the best dressed will be awarded $500 in Il Bolero gift certificates.

Ever find yourself and a few friends stranded in a mysterious mansion overnight? As of 8 p.m., shuttle buses will start leaving Boccacinos on the West Island (3800 St-Jean) to deliver those who dare to Mansion Madness, a mega-party in a 70,000 square-foot estate just outside the city. Fully staffed and decorated, with a buffet, prize giveaways and an open bar all night, not to mention DJs Praiz and Killa Jewel spinning ’80s, ’90s and classic house in one room and hip hop, R&B and old school in another, this is a steal at $65, and $2 from each ticket goes to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation. Tickets are available at Boccacinos, Rockaberrys and Capsule Sportive on the West Island, and at Toxic in the Eaton Centre downtown.

If you think your costume can’t be beat, get thee to Foufounes Electriques (9 p.m., $8), where the best dressed will receive $500, $200 and $100 cash. All partygoers are promised door prizes, candy, horrific projections and access to local artist Jean-Michel Cholette’s ungodly Holodome.

Café Campus may slay the competition with la Boucherie (at 8:30 p.m., for $5), a meat lover’s delight featuring hip hop, R&B, rock, pop, reggae and dance with resident DJs Shank et la Grange (Weekend XL), topped with a costume contest.

For something a little more swanky, Old Montreal’s Hotel le St-James (355 St-Jacques W.) presents Dangerous Liasons: Discretion Advised (10 p.m.), with DJ Geneviève Borne of MusiquePlus, TVA and Radio Énergie fame, and décor by Dick Walsh. RSVP 841-5031 for tickets ($100).

Make Passeport your destination on Tuesday, Oct. 31 (at 9 p.m., for $4), when DJs Mr. Black and Uriel will stamp your Passport to Terror! Revel in deep, dark EBM, gothic, industrial, synthpop, alternative, electro and new wave.

They live

There’s a deadly Halloween bash going down at Main Hall on Friday, Oct. 27 (9 p.m. sharp, for $13, $15 at the door) featuring the fiendish Besnard Lakes, Royal Mountain Band, Sunday Sinners and the Exchanges. Also on Friday, up the street at Pharmacie Esperanza (9:30 p.m.), Lake of Stew will rip ol’ time country a new one amid their pumpkin-smashing, bear-riding, dancin’, hollerin’ fans.

For faster, more fearsome sounds, the Subhumans, Evil Boy From Hell and the Ventilators play Playhouse’s Cruella-sponsored punk party (for $8), where prizes will be doled out to the best dressed. If that’s not enough tonnage for your tender eardrums, Apocalypse Halloween Métal presents Vesperian Sorrow, Gotherfall and Cryptik Howlyng, plus a spine-tingling performance by Miss Calamity and inter-band heaviosity courtesy of DJ Ostrogoth. It all unfolds at Saphir, as of 8 p.m., for $8, with $500 in costume prizes.

Meanwhile, MC Gilles hosts Trash Ton Halloween at Divan Orange, with les Abrigradationnistes, Pedo Pedro and International Congnen (at 10 p.m., for $10). Costumes are mandatory at le National, where Anik Jean, Nitrosonique and surprise guests play at 8:30 p.m. For tickets ($20), call 790-1245. Hip hop heads are invited to haunt the Studio Juste Pour Rire for the sixth annual Shiver Show, featuring Eye2Eye and guests. Advance tickets cost $10, contact 991-3937 or pr@islandcitymonsters.com for info.

Terror reigns on Tuesday, Oct. 31, when local venues will be crawling with rockers and punks like Truth or Scare, Dutch Oven and Road Bones at Café Chaos, 9 p.m., or Malcolm Bauld, the Expectorated Sequence, Greg Cocaine, Statues, the Lost Sound and Puke Slippers at Playhouse, 9:30 p.m., for $5, or $7 for those with no costume. But they’re going up against the primal synthrock rage of les Georges Leningrad and Zom Zoms, promising a violent Halloween at Zoobizarre, for $10, costumes mandatory. But there’s stiff competition in the psychedelic drone of Austin’s Black Angels, with the Tyde and Receivers at la Sala Rossa, 8:30 p.m., $10 now or $12 at the door.

Screams on stage and screen

The Halloween edition of the monthly Meow Mix parties invites dykes and friends to witness One-Freak Show by Tribe 8 singer, author and actress Lynne Breedlove, “a work on trans body issues, feminism, community and family” (endorsed by Jello Biafra and Annie Sprinkle!) at la Sala Rossa on Friday, Oct. 27, 9:30, for $10. Expect some bonus burlesque by Wendy Babybitch from Paris, and the petrifying selections of DJs Mim and Lynnee to cap the soirée. And “an imaginative genderfuckt outfit” would be appreciated.

If glam rock and electro is your bag of tricks, treat yourself to a side-show musical called Super Freaks, featuring Electro Hoe, the Sugar Twins, Rush Ro & the Virtuous Villains, Many Mental Mistakes and Arielista, on display at Club Soda as of 7 p.m., for $20–$23, all ages.

Fifth anniversaries call for gifts of wood, but driving a stake through the Spasm festival just won’t kill it. This year’s edition, from Oct. 28–Nov. 4, kicks off with a party called Stigmata at Café Cléopatre, 9 p.m., $10, costume required (suggestion: Jesus?). Go to spasm.ca for the full film schedule, which promises horror by the hearse-load.

If your favourite pastimes include watching movies, wearing your mom’s clothes and throwing shit, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is your time to shine. Hosted by the one and only Plastik Patrik, the (allegedly) biggest Rocky Horror event in North America pitches its glam-tranny tent at the Dollar Cinema from Oct. 27–28 at 9 and 11:30 p.m., and at the Imperial on Oct. 31 at 8 and 11 p.m. Advance tickets ($13.95) are available at Cruella, Footnotes bookstore and the two theatres, where tickets will cost $15.95 on the big nights. Don’t forget your pitching material: toilet paper, rice, toast and a water pistol, plus newspaper, which, unless you’re reading this online, is already covered.

Anaïs Nin, in describing the orgasm as “little death,” suggested a link between getting one’s rocks off and kicking the bucket, but where to next, heaven or hell? Cirque Boudoir proposes a bit of both at their Black Mass, an evening of “avant-garde” circus, fetish and burlesque performances by the likes of Marianne Cheesecake, Rubber Johnny and the Slaughter Daughters. The audience has the option to join in or be a voyeur, but all are required to dress to impress in leather, PVC, latex, drag, sexy, formal or goth. An electroclash, new wave, IDM, industrial and ’80s soundtrack will be provided by DNA Records’ Davide and Jacob Asher, with “sultry sax” by L.A.’s John Juster, and mouth-watering treats and bedeviled bevvies to boot. Buy tickets ($20–$40) at Cuir Northbound or clubzone.com. The show gets underway at 10 p.m., at a secret location with a smoking terrasse and a view of a church. Visit cirquedeboudoir.com for more.

Studio Loco presents Phantom Masquerade, a 14-hour pagan blowout at Centre Fractal (10 p.m.) with dance and circus performances, live sitar and tribal percussion, body painting and massages, VJs and DJs Semira, Neerav and more. Tickets cost $15 (at the door or at Psychonaut), or $10 after 4 a.m. See studioloco.qc.ca/halloween/ for details.

By far the biggest Halloween event in town, the third annual Grand Masquerade just may have something for everyone. From Oct. 27–29, after 8 p.m., storytellers, dancers, DJs, VJs and the damned will roam Old Montreal’s Place Jacques-Cartier Square, lighting up the night sky with tunes, tales and terrifying sights (including pyro!). Guest artists include DJ Mini, VJ ThisIsNotDesign, bands Howling Syn, Assemblage 23 and Jean-Marc of the Box. For more information on all Grand Masquerade programming, including the Shed 16 Labyrinth and the Halloween Hunt for the ghosts of Old Montreal, go to grandemascarade.com.

The indoor program includes gatherings at intimate haunts such as le Pierrot, with DJ Nuclear Ramjet on Friday, Oct. 27, or Pub St-Paul on Saturday with DJs Kaotik and Mr. Black, both at 11 p.m., $8 (ticketpro.ca ) or $12 at the door.

But the Masquerade’s monster party happens at le Medley. Invocations is a banquet of dark sights and sounds, with DJs Faith, Nihil and Miss Lydie, and VJ Athanore. Doors open at 10:30 p.m., mysterious performances begin at midnight, and tickets cost $19.99 (ticketpro.ca, or at Cruella or Sexe Cité, clubsin.ca for more details). Add $2 for access to Dr. Demento’s Clinic, otherwise open for consultation from 7–11 p.m. on Oct. 27–29 in the Medley’s crypt. Yes, the Medley has a crypt.

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