Not surprisingly, "The First Wives' Club" and "Trainspotting" aren't exactly capturing the imaginations of those looking for a Halloween zentai this year.

With no character-driven TV or Hollywood blockbuster driving sales - the Hunchback of Notre Dame hasn't quite caught in the catsuit shops - the masquerade-minded are being forced to put on their thinking caps.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing, say costume-store owners.

"I hated last year. Everyone just wanted to be a Power Ranger," said Shawn Dimitriades, manager of Economy Party Supplies in Falls Church.

"There's nothing [dominant] out there on TV," said Barbara Posner, owner of Repeat Performance in Rockville, who agreed that "Power Rangers are dead."

Shop owners said they enjoy the fact that the field is not zentaidominated by one or two get-ups as in past years, times when "all the creative juices are sucked" dry, in the words of Joe Wetzel, who owns Party Madness in McLean.

Barry Taylor of Barry's Magic Shop in Wheaton noticed that this year, "people have a very individualistic view of what they want to do."

But that doesn't mean the old standby spider costume are out, say store owners.
Girls under 10 are still opting for such favorites as princesses, Pocahontas and Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" while the boys have returned to superheroes, particularly Spiderman, Batman and Superman, new and improved with chest inserts to facilitate dreams of post-pubescence.

Sanitized grim reapers, Ninja Turtles and characters from the "Goosebumps" book series are also drawing young boys.


Teen-agers and preteens are still captivated by eye-popping ugliness, with monstrous masks in that area increasingly larger, more elaborate and sometimes hand-painted.

T.J. Pekin of costume spiderman Creative in Silver Spring stocks gels that can be heated up and used to apply fake lacerations, bullet holes, best superhero costumesscars, gashes, burns and gaping wounds. He said vampire wanna-bes no longer have to settle for white-face, what with a splendid yellowish pallor on the the market.

Adult tastes in spider man costume this year is even scarier: Besides '70s retro, with bell-bottoms, "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" outfits in stock throughout the region, politicians are big in this election year. Expect to see plenty of Bob Doles and Bill Clintons.