Once you reach college, you have two options when it comes to Halloween: go out or stay in. (Unless you are chaperoning children, you’re probably a little too old to go trick-or-treating.) Let’s consider what you can do:

Go out

• Party/club hopping — a safe choice. It would be like any other weekend, but with costumes — unless it really is like any other weekend.
• Haunted house hopping — a better choice. As seen in last week’s Wildlife, you have several horror hotspots to choose from. The challenge at each location is to see who can out-scare each other: you and your friends or the monsters.

Stay in

• Monster Bash — you can show off your handiwork at concocting Halloween-inspired drinks and food. For music, don’t play “”Monster Mash”” by Bobby “”Boris”” Pickett more than once … please.
• Murder Mystery Theatre — This is like a dinner party with a show, but you and your friends are the performers. Given the holiday, everyone can dress however they like as they try to figure out who the murderer is. Imagine: Zombie Chewbacca teams up with Sailor Moon to be the next Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. You can buy premade kits starting at $12, or you can create the mystery and character backstories yourself.
• Movie/TV scare-a-thon — We are blessed (or is it cursed?) with a cornucopia of movies and TV shows that range from silly parodies to a personal education on special effects.

Consider the following:

• “”Tales from the Crypt”” — an underrated TV classic. Based on stories published by EC Comics, these half-hour episodes were not only filled with tales of murder, deceit and horror, but they were also flavored with irony, gallows humor and gruesome puns. John Kassir brings it all together as the voice of the Crypt Keeper. MUST WATCH: “”What’s Cookin'”” with Christopher Reeve, Judd Nelson and Bess Armstrong who turn a failing squid restaurant into a success with a secret recipe.
• “”Night Gallery”” or “”The Twilight Zone”” — the first is in color, the second is in black and white. Both feature excellent stories, many of which were written by host Rod Serling.
• Asian horror films vs. American horror films – “”Saw”” vs. “”Audition,”” anyone? How about “”Ringu”” vs. “”The Ring?””