Traditionally, fall is the most highbrow of the cinematic seasons. As summer’s big blockbusters make their gradual exit, the films being primped and primed for Academy Award glory are unrolled between September and December. Sure, there are normally a few family films that sneak in around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the fare is otherwise adult in nature.

So with six — yes, count ’em, six — major horror films being released, it seems that the studios have all but forgotten the seasonal rules.

The horror flicks, ironically, may prove to be some of the fall’s better releases. “Cabin Fever” will be first out of the gate with a Sept. 12 release date, and its tale of a flesh-eating disease which prompts a “Lord of the Flies”-esque paranoia among a group of campers could be delightfully frightening.

The thriller “Cold Creek Manor” will also be making a Sept. 12 bow and could give “Cabin Fever” some chilly competition. “Leaving Las Vegas” director Mike Figgis seems to be abandoning his artsy roots and is helming this film, which appears to have stolen its premise from the already once-remade “The House on Haunted Hill.”

The major month for horror, though, will be October. Oct. 10 marks the release of “House of the Dead,” followed by a remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” a week later, “Gothika” a week after that, and, on Halloween, the mother of all fright-fests, “Alien,” will be re-released.

For a less conventional scare, look for Bruce Campbell’s “Bubba Ho-Tep,” which will introduce Elvis into the world of horror cinema.

With such a vast panoply of horror films descending on theaters in just two months, some comic relief will be needed to keep the genre in check; look for “Scary Movie 3” in late October. The film promises to be stupid and wildly juvenile, but with even the King making audiences scream, the lowbrow idiocy may be a welcome diversion.

However, the fall will not be without its typically dramatic fare.

Christmas Day will see the release of “The Alamo” and “Cold Mountain,” two historical dramas looking to be the season’s top epics. “The Alamo” has been reported to have a $90 million budget, and “Cold Mountain” appears to be Miramax’s Oscar choice of the year. Viewers should be somewhat wary of “Cold Mountain,” though, as Tom Cruise was originally attached to the project but yanked his name before the cameras rolled.

Instead, Cruise will be appearing in December’s “The Last Samurai,” another war film with Academy Award potential. Details of the picture are as yet sketchy, but it is reported to deal with the Japanese civil war of the late 1800s.

For an Oscar candidate emerging earlier in the season, keep your eyes on “Secondhand Lions” (Sept. 19). Coupling Robert DuVall, Michael Caine and Haley Joel Osment with breathtaking cinematography and a feel-good family story could sweep audiences away.

In terms of gorilla blockbusters, the third “Matrix” movie comes out in early November, the third “Lord of the Rings” film bows in mid-December, Mike Myers’ family-friendly “Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat” makes a late November premiere, and the newest adaptation of “Peter Pan” will hit theaters Christmas Day.

After many years in the works, John Grisham’s “Runaway Jury,” the story of a rigged jury in a gun trial, will hit the silver screen Oct. 17 with a star-studded cast including Dustin Hoffman and John Cusack.

The best cast of the season will belong to Woody Allen, when “Anything Else” bows Sept. 19. A standard Allen film, “Anything Else” deals with a struggling artist, the advice he so badly needs and, of course, a romance.

It will be interesting to see how the Allen film is received, since the filmmaker has received widespread public criticism for becoming the spokesman for France in a series of television advertisements. Oct. 8’s “Mystic River” may face similar backlash with a cast that includes Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, two outspoken critics of the war in Iraq.

Finally, if you want to root for the underdogs this season, look for a trilogy of films all dealing with school shootings. “Home Room,” “Zero Day” and “Elephant” all center on Columbine-like situations and will all do battle for screen time this fall as they attempt to emerge from the highly competitive independent market.

But, then again, audiences will already have their plates full with horror flicks that don’t strike so close to reality.