Gearing Up for Fright Night : Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm go all out on Halloween with attractions like Creepy Crawly Pet Show and Queen of Darkness.

What’s cooking at Magic Mountain for Halloween?

Roadkill Stew--a savory blend of dead rats, flattened cats, dog intestines and a smidgen of pigeon, whipped up in just 10 minutes by renown chef Ghoulia Child.

“We put everything in a giant cooking pot, and we stir it up,” says Jeff Bugbee, director of Roadkill Kitchen, a satirical take on television cooking shows. “People will have an opportunity to taste our mix.”

Roadkill Kitchen is one of a dozen special events that make up Fright Fest, Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Halloween “Spooktacular.”

The festivities begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and run for three weekends. They are included in the price of admission, $28 for adults and $15 for kids under 4 feet tall.

The gruesome Roadkill show and an elaborate haunted mansion aren’t intended for young children, but most of the other Fright Fest events are suitable for even the most timid little ones.

“They’re fairy-tale-based, not horror-based,” said Scott Sterner, the Valencia theme park’s manager of entertainment.

At Jack & Jill’s Enchanted Caverns, children will encounter talking rocks, trees and animals. At the Creepy Crawly Pet Show, four friendly witches will introduce the audience to creepy live critters, including tarantulas, snakes, a raven and a wolf.

The centerpiece of Fright Fest is “Tales From the Tomb.”

The 25-minute musical tells the story of Bob and Betty, an innocent couple who happen upon Dracula’s castle. Inside the castle they are hounded by a dozen ghouls, including a rather horrifying prom queen and her surfer boyfriend, who isn’t exactly a dream date himself.

Sterner said Magic Mountain sought to create a family-oriented Halloween program to distinguish it from the adult events of the park’s competition. Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park has become Knott’s Scary Farm every Halloween since 1972, retooling its rides to generate as much terror as possible, according to Knott’s spokesman Bob Ochsner.

Knott’s 1993 Halloween Haunt, which begins tonight and continues through Halloween, features such attractions as Nightmares where visitors will encounter the wretched Dream Weaver, Queen of the Darkness, who lures people into a three-dimensional afterworld of frightening lights and sounds; a demented toy maker and his evil elves who have turned the Log Ride into Santa Claws Mountain, and the new House of Maniacs where guests will be besieged by “dangerous inbreeds with seemingly no regard for human life,” according to Ochsner.

The Halloween spirit will be felt as well throughout Magic Mountain, which will be decorated with 10 miles of cobweb material, 300 ghosts, 100 corpses and a blanket of fog. A 40-foot inflatable spider entangled in a giant web will greet visitors as they enter the park, and a variety of entertainers--stilt walkers, mimes, scarecrows and tumblers--will roam the grounds.

WHERE AND WHEN

* What: Magic Mountain’s Halloween “Spooktacular.”

* Location: Magic Mountain Parkway, Golden State Freeway near Valencia.

* Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Oct. 23, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 24, 30 and 31.

* Price: $28 for adults, $15 for children under 48 inches, $18 for seniors 55 and older. Kids 2 years and younger are free.

* Call: (818) 367-5965 or (805) 255-4111 for general park information. (805) 255-4849 for Fright Fest information.