These 12 smart and scary horror movies provide an antidote to the Halloween blahs. Forget “Saw II” and try these junkie werewolves, zombie horses, Confederate ghosts, and vampire conspiracies instead.

GINGER SNAPS 1 & 2 (2000, 2004) Canadian sisters hit puberty and turn into werewolves with all the snark, smarts, and heart of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” (Now playing at a video store near you)

JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 (2003) Forget “Jeepers Creepers 1”; this stand-alone sequel is teen horror done right. The football team (plus cheerleaders) are trapped on a broken-down bus while a flying demon picks them off like Satan snacking on a tray of cocktail weenies. (Now playing at a video store near you)

ULTRAVIOLET (1998) This is a downbeat British version of “Law & Order” where the perps are vampires. A depressingly magnificent six-hour miniseries that has all the brains you’d expect from the country that gave us “Masterpiece Theatre.” (Available on DVD)

DEAD BIRDS (2004) A Civil War ghost story that contains genuine chills among its flayed slaves, demon toddlers, and hairless weasel-dogs. (Now playing at a video store near you)

UNINVITED (2003) A somber Korean meditation on ghosts and guilt, containing some of the most shocking (yet bloodless) images ever put on film. (Officially out on DVD in January, but you can surf the Internet, can’t you?)

AUDITION (1999) A middle-aged Japanese widower tries to meet a nice girl. He meets a girl all right, but she’s not very nice. There’s no horror until the last 10 minutes, but then there’s plenty. (Out now on DVD)

PULSE (2001) An unsettling Japanese spookshow involving a viral contagion of poor social skills: Millions get addicted to the Internet, become possessed, and kill themselves. Cue end of the world. (Theatrical release on November 9)

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD/ RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971, 1973) These ’70s Spanish shockers have all the cheap gore, gratuitous nudity, and bad acting you’d expect, but seeing the rotten corpses of blind Templar Knights riding their zombie ponies will make you wet yourself in terror. (Just reissued on DVD) DOG SOLDIERS (2002) Scottish soldiers run into a clan of werewolves while playing weekend war games. A metaphor for bad foreign policy, or just a great monster movie? (Now playing at a video store near you)

FRANKENFISH (2004) So bad it’s good, this made-for-video cheapie is inspiring in its inventive awfulness as monster snakehead fish chew up the Louisiana bayou. (Exclusively available on DVD – where else?)