TEEN AGE; `SCREAM,' `BUFFY,' FIONA AND MORE TAP GROWING UNDER-20 MARKET.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Staff Writer

Today's teens are on a horror trip, but there's nothing to be afraid of. In fact, moviemakers, music producers and clothing designers are embracing a generation whose numbers are growing at roughly twice the rate of any other age group.

Imagine the Blob expanding rapidly after scientists douse the thing in radiation. Or simply look in your own teen's bedroom. Bet you didn't think you had a heavy-duty cultural arbiter under your roof.

But that's just how America's 30 million teens are viewed by industry analysts and practically everyone else in the entertainment business looking to land on the cusp of the next hot trend. After all, these kids spend an estimated $100 billion a year on clothes, CDs, movie tickets and other things.

For even more proof, check out the corner newsstand, where a teen version of People was launched last week. The 18-year-old cover model, Jennifer Love Hewitt of TV's hit ``Party of Five'' and the teen stalker flick ``I Know What You Did Last Summer,'' talks of happily sharing a Burbank apartment with a best friend - her mom.

If you have one of the species around the house, you've already heard the soundtrack - Fiona Apple, No Doubt, Days of the New, Puff Daddy, Mase, Missy ``Misdemeanor'' Elliott, all acts teens are credited with propelling to the top of the charts.

Oh, and then there was that jaw-dropping $32.9 million pulled in during opening weekend of the witty teen-magnet slasher flick ``Scream 2.'' Using such high-profile TV actors as Courteney Cox, Jada Pinkett, Neve Campbell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Omar Epps and Tori Spelling in either starring roles or cameos, Wes Craven's smasheroo spoofed horror-movie sequels and other conventions of the genre.

``It's just a blast to watch,'' said Tarzana teen Laurie Ray. ``There aren't a lot of movies that make you scream, then laugh again a few second later. I saw the first `Scream' like five times on video, and me and my friends are already talking about seeing `Scream 2' again next weekend.''

Adds 17-year-old Brian Peterson: ``This is our generation's movie.''

Baby boom's loud echo

Outside the theater, nobody's laughing. Figures show the offspring of the baby-boom generation could hit 32 million by 2010, the largest number of teen-agers in U.S. history. That's a lot of weird-colored nail polish. For parents, the nightmares - and room cleanups - may be just beginning.

``Teen-agers are a triple threat right now in economics, buying power and cultural power in deciding who the new celebrities are in movies and music,'' said Christina Ferrari, managing editor of Teen People. ``It's a new heyday for teens. They're accomplishing so much more at an early age than any time before in history. I think it's so exciting to see how teens are driving popular media.''

Of course, teen-agers have always been a powerful force. Kids packed drive-ins during the '50s to watch giant monsters terrorize Tokyo, and they fueled the rise of Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Much later, though, Hollywood's gaggle of hard-partying '80s Brat Packers always seemed so much older than their teen audience.

``Today, you're seeing actors in their teens playing teen-agers,'' explained David Davis, entertainment analyst at the L.A. investment banking firm Houlihan, Lokey, Howard and Zukin. ``That's the biggest change. Teens are attracted to teens, and they go see movies that use actual teens as teen-agers. It allows the demographic to identify more precisely.''

Even smarter, filmmakers are casting young TV stars like Hewitt and ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' star Gellar in high-profile roles. This week, ``Buffy'' moves to 8 p.m. Tuesday on KTLA (Channel 5), where it will be paired at 9 with the sexy new teen drama ``Dawson's Creek,'' penned by beyond-hot writer-producer Kevin Williamson (``Scream,'' ``I Know What You Did Last Summer,'' ``Scream 2'').

``Anything he touches turns to gold,'' said 19-year-old British university student Lee Kelleher. ``Kevin Williamson has the magic touch right now.''

For her part, Gellar says her role as Buffy comes with a hidden message: ``It's OK to be different and be who you are. Nobody can be happy with you unless you're happy with yourself.''

`Fast Times' lesson

Hollywood, of course, didn't suddenly sit up, get happy and take notice overnight. Back in 1982, when the witty ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' put a Southern California high school under the microscope, nobody expected lines outside of movie houses on opening night.

``People were saying there's no teen market, kids don't go to the movies anymore,'' recalled ``Jerry McGuire'' writer Cameron Crowe, who wrote the book ``Ridgemont High'' was based on. ``We barely got the thing released, and it was only released regionally in the West because they thought nobody back East would know what surfers were.''

Crowe said on opening weekend, theaters were packed and kids were already wearing Vans tennis shoes in honor of Sean Penn's stoned surfer character.

``We realized we were onto something,'' Crowe said. ``The most important thing in making a movie for a young audience is truth. At that age, you don't have a lot of layers of life, and world weariness hasn't set in yet. So the highest premium should be placed on telling something that's true. If you're sitting in an office, trying to come up with something you think the teen audience will buy, you're dead.''

That's apparently true the world over. During a quick search for ``Scream'' on the Internet, we came across several colorful Web sites devoted to the fright flick, each created by teens in England, Australia and throughout the United States.

`` `Scream' has horror, comedy and thrills, and it was put together really good,'' said site creator Jayde Kennedy, 15, of Tecoma, Australia. ``It wasn't scary, but it was still edge-of-the-seat stuff. It's, like, the only movie about teen-agers that's sort of real, not like monsters and junk. I loved it so much, I wanted to make a Web site so fans could have somewhere to go.''

Peterson, who lives in Baltimore, opined that the ``Scream'' films are ``smartly written'' by Williamson and ``don't talk down to teen-agers.'' He added that the high opening numbers of ``Scream 2'' were probably the result of word-of-mouth among kids like himself who lined up to see it the very first weekend.

``Most kids are aware that horror movies stink,'' said Peterson, 17, who also runs a ``Scream'' site. ``But then people who saw `Scream' said, `No, this movie's smart. ... See it!' And they did. People these days rely on their friends before they go see something.''

From Liverpool, England, student Kelleher sums up the movie's appeal and hints at the sense of immortality all teens feel.

``The story is always the same: Killer stalks teens, teens must survive,'' the ``Scream'' site creator said. ``The fear of the unknown draws people to a movie; with `Scream' it worked on so many different levels.''

`90s like '80s ... only different

They've done the '70s, and the '60s might as well be the Stone Age, but for today's teens, the guilt-free '80s is the nostalgia decade of the moment. The proof is right there in the streets: in the clothes, music and TV reruns that influence so much of what's hot in the '90s.

'80s roots '90s heat

TV catch phrase Who shot J.R.? Who killed Kenny?

Scary flick ``Nightmare on Elm

Street'' ``Scream 2''

Cool look Underwear as

outerwear Underwear-inspired outerwear

TV show ``Miami Vice'' ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer''

Shoes Candies Candies

Band The Replacements Days of the New

Actress Molly Ringwald Jennifer Love Hewitt

Cool movie ``The Breakfast

Club'' ``Pulp Fiction''

Street look Bare shoulders Bare tummies

Pastime Surfing Surfing the Net

CAPTION(S):

8 Photos, Box

Photo: TEEN INVASION

Their numbers are growing - and so is their clout in Hollywood

(1--Cover--Color) (Sarah Michelle Gellar)

(2--Cover--Color) (Neve Campbell & Denise Richards)

(3--Cover--Color) (Leonardo DiCaprio)

(4--Cover--Color) (Jennifer Love Hewitt)

(5) Time Inc. is aiming for a new market with its latest magazine, Teen People.

(6) David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar star in the WB's ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'' a show aimed squarely at teen viewers.

(7) Skeet Ulrich, left, Jamie Kennedy and Matthew Lillard in ``Scream,'' what one teen calls ``our generation's movie.''

(8) ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982), starring Judge Reinhold and Phoebe Cates, showed the earning power of movies that don't talk down to their target audience.

Box: `90s like '80s ... only different (See Text)