Standard Deviations

Welcome to a generic Halloween.

It’s not like the 1970s, when Darth Vader costumes hit the streets quicker than you could say “May the force be with you.” Or the early 1990s, when “Aladdin”-derived Princess Jasmines were in vogue.

This year has seen a return to more traditional ghoulish get-ups.

So says Bruce Gold, manager of the seasonal “Spirit, the Halloween superstore” in Oxnard.

And with 250 latex masks and about 1,000 costumes stuffed into the 15,000-square-foot house of horrors, Gold should know.

“This year is a big year for standard costumes--your witches, your Grim Reapers,” said the 25-year veteran of the party goods industry. “We’re selling a lot of generic costumes this year because nothing is really hot.”

Sure, there will be a few “Titanic” passengers wandering Ventura County in fruitless search of a fashion lifeboat.

And Moorpark’s Costume Annex, which boasts 7,000 different sets of outfits, has rented all four of its foppish 1960s secret agent duds based on last year’s Mike Myers farce “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.”

And there are plenty among the pre-teen set insisting that what they want, what they really really want, is to be a Spice Girl this year.

Despite such passe possibilities, Halloween will likely remain a barometer of popular taste--or distaste, as the case may be.

Dashing squads of masked Zorros, whose popularity stems from the Antonio Banderas hit summer movie, can be expected to be cavorting at parties or trolling the streets for candy.

Fuzzy Teletubbies, the foursome of nonsensical plush toys that are the latest infatuation of the toddler set, are gurgling their way out of costume-store doors.

And Gold predicts that every group of youngsters knocking on your front door Saturday will have at least one miniature version of the masked killer from “Scream.”

Unlike three years ago, when Gold said Mighty Morphine Power Ranger costumes were outselling all others in a big way, there is no big seller this year.

Living proof of the trend toward the traditional: 15-year-old Haley Henderson of Oxnard, who was shopping for devil’s horns and a forked tail with her mother. Total cost: a mere $5.99. Total preparation time: very little.

“It’s easy,” said the Ventura College student by way of explaining her choice of outfit.

Sarah Halstead, 22, of Oxnard, was taking a slightly more elaborate route this year. Bored with being a costumed angel, genie or flower--”simple stuff,” she said dismissively--the aerobics instructor is opting for a devilish-warrior-queen look.

“It’s either that or Gumby,” she said. “My boyfriend’s going to be a cupcake--he’s going to be a cupcake baked by the devil.”

Indeed, expressions of tackiness are still alive and well this Halloween in the post-O.J. Simpson era.

White House intern costumes--complete with beret, special presidential access passes, pearl necklace and fake lips--are still available.

And equal-opportunity satirists will be pleased to know $24.99 “Wild Bill” masks, that include a lolling presidential tongue (blow-up saxophone and fake cigar cost extra), remain on the shelves.

“I think people are tired of this,” Gold he said of the Clinton sex scandal.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean a sudden gust of political correctness has descended on this most irreverent of nights out.

Earlier this week, Kyle Fraas, 32, was doing what he called a little last-minute shopping for the annual haunted house he runs with a neighbor at their Goleta homes.

Fraas operates an Oxnard appliance parts store, but on this day he was stocking up on faux body parts, including small eyeballs for the “light eater” at his Jeffrey Dahmer cafe.

He also was mulling the aesthetic merits of the fake severed leg tucked under his arm.

“I like the blood pattern on this,” explained the gore connoisseur.

For those who prefer a more elegant celebration, The Beadiak in Thousand Oaks offers imported Italian papier-mache masks perfect for that upscale masquerade party. Cost: as much as $600.

“Let a magnificent mask be your statement for the evening,” said owner Anne Karam. “It’s not necessary to buy plastic costumes.”

Still, people appear to be getting into the Halloween spirit a little too literally for Karam’s liking. Business in the Thousands Oaks strip mall has been “absolutely dead,” she said.

Meanwhile, over at the bustling Spirit superstore in Oxnard, things are quite un-dead. Gold’s Halloween costume of choice this year?

“A tired salesperson,” he said.

Times Community News reporter Jennifer Hamm contributed to this story.