David Arquette is bringing Deputy Dewey Riley back to Austin next Wednesday, October 28, for a screening and on-stage conversation marking 30 years since Scream first hit theaters. The event lands at the University of Texas's Bass Concert Hall as part of Arquette's multi-city anniversary tour, giving local horror fans a rare chance to revisit the 1996 slasher alongside one of its original cast members.
Arquette recently joined the local program We Are Austin to share details about the event, which the station describes as an opportunity for fans to revisit Scream and celebrate its impact with an original cast member, according to KEYE / CBS Austin. The Austin stop is one leg of a much larger run: Arquette's “Behind the Scream” tour spans 14 North American cities throughout October, opening October 8 in Roanoke, Virginia, and wrapping up October 31 in Torrington, Connecticut, as reported by Consequence.
A Local Partnership Born From Renovation
The Austin screening is co-presented by Texas Performing Arts and the Paramount Theatre as part of the Paramount's “Panic at the Paramount” horror series, which has relocated to alternative venues while the Paramount's historic Congress Avenue auditorium undergoes major renovations. The pairing fills a programming gap for the Paramount's annual seasonal lineup while giving Bass Concert Hall a splashy addition to its own fall calendar.
Bass Concert Hall, located on the UT Austin campus, opened in 1981 and serves as Texas Performing Arts' flagship venue, with 2,900 seats making it the largest indoor performing arts theater in the city. The hall also offers food, beverage, and merchandise for purchase, a detail worth noting for anyone planning a concessions run before the show.
Doors, Screening Time, and the Q&A
The Austin schedule opens doors at 5:30 p.m. ahead of a 7 p.m. screening of the original film, which runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, followed immediately by an on-stage interview and audience Q&A with Arquette. Tickets for Behind the Scream are available through Texas Performing Arts, with public sales having opened July 31 following an earlier presale window for Paramount members.
A limited VIP ticket tier for the broader tour offers fans premium seats plus an official post-show photo opportunity with Arquette, with digital photos downloadable within 48 hours. Personal autographs and selfies are prohibited under the tour's venue guidelines, a policy Hoodline previously detailed in its coverage of the Lowell, Massachusetts stop on the same tour.
Why Dewey Riley Lived to See This Tour
Arquette is best known for playing Dewey Riley, a Woodsboro deputy who became one of the franchise's most enduring characters. Dewey was initially written to die, a detail that gives the Austin Q&A some of its sharpest storytelling potential. That reprieve allowed Arquette to reprise the role across six total entries in the franchise, a detail that gives the Austin Q&A some of its sharpest storytelling potential.
Scream, directed by Craven, introduced Ghostface and reshaped the slasher genre by blending suspense, mystery, humor, and memorable characters into something that felt new to audiences in 1996. The original film earned more than $173 million worldwide against a $15 million budget, per The-Numbers, launching a franchise that has since grossed more than $1.1 billion globally across seven feature films.
The Franchise Is Still Going
That staying power is still playing out in theaters. Scream 7 hit theaters in February 2026 under original screenwriter Kevin Williamson's direction, marking his directorial debut in the main film series. The anniversary year has also brought a wave of physical-media releases tied to the original film, including a July vinyl reissue of composer Marco Beltrami's 1996 score, following earlier 4K Steelbook and limited-edition VHS releases of Scream 4, as noted by the same Consequence report on the tour.
Austin's horror calendar has been busy all month beyond the Bass Concert Hall date. East Austin cocktail lounge King Bee hosted its “Black Lagoon” Halloween pop-up throughout October, one of 34 venues across North America selected for the immersive event, serving a non-alcoholic “Scream Queen” mocktail in a collectible bone mug, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the pop-up. Arquette's Austin stop adds another entry to a season already stacked with horror programming across the city, from screenings to themed pop-ups drawing fans eager to mark the genre's milestones.
