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What's frightful and horrific remains totally subjective. So with Halloween looming and with the belief that one person's prospective nightmare is another's chuckle, here's a look at some recently released DVDs for viewers of varying ages and tastes.

FOR KIDS (AND SOME GROWN-UPS)

The haunted house is a staple of scary lore for kids, and this past summer's animated "Monster House" successfully tapped into the spookiness. Out on DVD this week (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, $28.95, rated PG), it's the story of two young boys who discover that their cantankerous neighbor and his large, creepy-looking house are more frightening than they ever imagined.

For younger kids, check out two oldies but goodies from Paramount Home Entertainment. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" ($16.99, not rated) is the 1966 half-hour TV show in which Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown gets invited to a Halloween party and Snoopy battles the Red Baron. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Trick or Treason" ($14.99, not rated) features for the first time on DVD five episodes from the 1980s, including "Babysitter Fright Night" and "Nightmare on Seville Street."

For ages 2 to 5, there's "Clifford's Big Halloween" (Lionsgate, $14.98, not rated), eight episodes from the "Clifford the Big Red Dog" PBS series.

And for parents and kids alike, two lighthearted TV series from the 1960s are out in new DVD packages: "The Munsters: Two-Movie Fright Fest" (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $19.98, not rated) brings together "Munster, Go Home!" (1966) and "The Munsters' Revenge" (1981), two feature-length movies starring original cast members Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo and Al Lewis that were made after the TV series left the air.

The other creepy TV comedy from the '60s, "The Addams Family," starring John Astin as Gomez and Carolyn Jones as Morticia, is out in a Season 1 DVD (MGM Home Entertainment, $29.98, not rated), including all 22 first-season episodes.

Even better, the superior movie versions, 1991's "The Addams Family" and 1993's "Addams Family Values," both starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christina Ricci, have been released together on one DVD (Paramount, $14.99, rated PG-13).

CLASSIC HORROR

Some of the most indelible images of film fright were created more than seven decades ago, in the early days of sound movies. This fall, Universal has released both Tod Browning's "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi as the vampire count, and James Whale's "Frankenstein," starring Boris Karloff as the misunderstood monster, in two-disc 75th-anniversary editions ($26.98 apiece, not rated). Both movies come with digitally remastered pictures and many bonus features.

Also available for fans of vintage horror films: "The Boris Karloff Collection" (three discs, Universal, $29.98, not rated), five more macabre movies starring Karloff from the 1930s and '40s, including "Tower of London" and "The Black Castle"; "Hollywood's Legends of Horror Collection" (three discs, Warner Home Video, $39.92, not rated), six frightful films from the '30s, including ""Mark of the Vampire" and "The Mask of Fu Manchu"; and "Inner Sanctum Mysteries: The Complete Movie Collection" (two discs, Universal, $29.98, not rated), in which Lon Chaney Jr. stars in such chillers from the '40s as "Calling Dr. Death" and "Dead Man's Eyes."

Horror classics of a more recent era are also out in new special editions.

Wes Craven's 1984 "A Nightmare on Elm Street," the film that introduced Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger as the evil man who terrorizes the dreams of teenagers _ including Johnny Depp in his first movie role _ has been released with new audio essays from Craven and Englund, and new documentaries on the making of the film and the subsequent series (New Line Home Entertainment, $26.99, rated R).

"Shock Treatment," out in a 25th-anniversary edition (Fox Home Entertainment, $19.98, rated PG), is the sort-of sequel to 1975's "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," in which the now-married Janet and Brad (Jessica Harper and Brad De Young, replacing the original Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick) find themselves on a strange TV game show. (In addition, "Shock Treatment" is available in a set along with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for $29.98.)

Tobe Hooper's grisly "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the 1974 movie about a psychopath named Leatherface (played by Gunnar Hansen), has recently been released in a two-disc "Ultimate Edition" (Dark Sky Films, $29.98, rated R). It includes a high-definition transfer and remixed Dolby Digital surround sound, plus two feature-length commentaries with Hooper, Hansen and other cast and crew members, several documentary features and deleted scenes.

"Let's Scare Jessica to Death" (Paramount, $14.99, rated PG-13), from 1971, explores the boundaries between madness and sanity as a woman (Zohra Lampert) who has just been released from a mental institution after suffering a nervous breakdown begins encountering people who may actually be dead.

Finally, "The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology" (six discs, Warner, $42.92, rated R) packages the original theatrical version and a new, expanded version of director William Friedkin's famous horror film from 1973, about a girl (Linda Blair) who is possessed by the devil, with its less successful sequels and prequels.

MODERN HORROR

You can't get horror any more up to date than "Feast," which was in theaters for late-night screenings only a few weeks ago. First-time director John Gulager's film, the focus of the third season of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's "Project Greenlight," is about a bar in a small town whose denizens find themselves besieged by vicious creatures who have escaped from a government research facility. The new DVD (Genius Products/Dimension, $28.95, rated R) comes with deleted scenes, outtakes, two documentary features and an audio commentary by Gulager.

Another variation on the people-turn-into-monsters theme is found in "Slither" (Universal, $29.98, rated R), also from earlier this year and also set in a small town. (Moral: Only live in large cities.) A meteorite from outer space brings with it a nasty, slimy, sluglike creature that turns people it comes in contact with into human-flesh eaters. It's written and directed by James Gunn, who wrote 2004's "Dawn of the Dead."

Although it received decidedly mixed reviews, give 2005's "An American Haunting" (Lionsgate, $29.98, unrated and PG-13 versions) credit for its estimable cast (including Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek) and director Courtney Solomon's attempt to tell a different type of ghost story. What differentiates this film from the rest is that it's based on a story that arose in history _ in 1818 Tennessee, to be specific _ about a family that was terrified and attacked by an evil spirit.

Another offbeat horror entry is Tobe Hooper's "Dance of the Dead" (Anchor Bay Entertainment, $16.98, not rated), which aired in 2005 as part of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" anthology series. An attempt to graft some political commentary onto the zombie genre, it's about a post-nuclear-holocaust world inhabited by both human survivors and re-animated corpses.

Whether you're a film student or just a fan of movies about evil children, you could watch both versions of "The Omen." The Gregory Peck-Lee Remick original from 1976 came out in June in a two-disc "Collector's Edition" DVD (Fox, $26.98, rated R), while this year's remake starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles has been released this week (Fox, $29.99, rated R).

For a more literate collection of horror stories, consider Paramount's "The Stephen King Collection" ($44.99, rated R), which packages four chilling movies made from King's stories: "The Dead Zone" (1983), "Silver Bullet" (1985), "Pet Sematary" (1989) and "Graveyard Shift" (1990).

Also from King and released this week on DVD is "Nightmares & Dreamscapes _ From the Stories of Stephen King" (three discs, Warner, $39.98, not rated), the original miniseries that aired this past summer on TNT.

Finally, for the horror fan with a sense of humor, there's "Chucky: The Killer DVD Collection" (Universal, $29.98, rated R), which brings together four films starring our favorite red-haired homicidal doll: "Child's Play 2" (1990); "Child's Play 3" (1991); "Bride of Chucky" (1998); and, of course, "Seed of Chucky" (2004). (For contractual reasons, the original MGM movie featuring the toy hellion, 1988's "Child's Play," is not part of the package.) Extras include two commentaries apiece on "Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky," with the very game actress Jennifer Tilly, who played Tiffany, discussing both.

(Bruce Dancis can be reached at bdancis(at)sacbee.com)

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