SCARY MOVIE: BEHIND-THE-SCREAMS Collector's Magazine The Original 1991 Halloween Thriller The Austin Horror-Blast Starring John Hawkes Generic Movies, Ltd., Copyright 2023 Measures 9" x 12" with 20 pages of color photos and movie credits. For 11 months out of the year, a barn sits empty. The first day of October then rolls around and with the tearing of the calendar comes the change of the leaves, the wing-beat of owls lighting from bare trees and the whistling wind bearing the tinge of winter from an infinite dark. Pick-up trucks arrive with barrels of hardware, crates full of tools, cans sloshing with paint. Men climb out and get to work. By the 31st, everything is in place: skeletons hang from ceilings, racks buckle under the weight of false limbs and severed papier-mache heads. And then, ready to endure its frights, to suspend disbelief and store up memories to recall on dark nights until next year, the people arrive and stand in line. Daniel Erickson's Scary Movie (1991) is mostly set here, in a never-ending queue, where we find our protagonist, the gangly, buttoned-up Warren (no last name given, simply "Warren" and played by John Hawkes) waiting with ever-growing terror to enter the house of horrors. The townspeople wear fake masks, outrageous costumes and garish makeup. Warren trembles in khaki pants and a collared shirt buttoned to the neck. As people laugh and joke, he sweats and shakes. This is his personal hell. Erickson was 22 when he directed his feature film about an anxious young man who believes an escaped mental patient is loose in a fake haunted house. It was a project into which he poured blood, sweat and tears, and one which perfectly captures the feel and atmosphere of Halloween. There's true love on display here. An Austin-based production, Scary Movie (1991) emerged just as the Texas-based independent scene was in full swing (Richard Linklater's Slacker had come out the year before). The city was a trove for creatives, and Erickson pulled performers and specialists from his community to round out the cast and crew. One was the aspiring actor-carpenter-musician John Hawkes, a sharp-jawed and thin young man with eyes on Hollywood and a fantastic career in his cards. The magazine is complete and in EXCELLENT condition.