Watch The Hills Have Eyes From a Desert Hot Spring at Scream Screen's One-of-a-Kind Event

"It's a very magical and intimate place," says Theresa Mercado, host and creator of horror series Scream Screen. "There's coyotes howling in the distance, there's owls hooting...a lot of creepy sounds to get in your head."

We're discussing Desert Reef Hot Springs, the recently renovated pool complex near Florence that will host Mercado's next film presentation, "Scream and Soak," on Sunday, April 23. Secluded and desolately beautiful, the location will provide a one-of-a-kind setting for the latest incarnation of her long-running Scream Screen series. "This is actually a very new thing [for Scream Screen]," Mercado says, "and I couldn't have dreamed of a better environment; I think this is really going to be cool."

Well, maybe "cool" isn't quite the right word: Film-goers will relax in toasty mineral water pools while enjoying the surrounding desert; after the sun sets, there will be a screening of Wes Craven's 1977 classic The Hills Have Eyes (which also takes place in a spooky desert). A food truck will be on site, and the screen will be positioned so that the film can be watched comfortably without leaving the water, which flows from a thousand feet beneath the ground and is kept at around 100 degrees.

The unique pairing came courtesy of Chris McLaughlin, who assumed ownership of Desert Reef in 2021. The springs was established as a rustic getaway by a group of friends in 1985 and operated for many years as a private club. McLaughlin was initially introduced to "the Reef," as members call it, by friends from Howard and Cotopaxi. He's eager to protect it as an oasis from the outside world, and accordingly, Scream and Soak will be somewhat exclusive: Only ticket holders will be admitted, with a fifty-person cap.

"The property is kind of unique," he says. "We're on 77 acres, but we're an island in the center of our neighbor's land. They have I don't know how many square miles, so it feels super private. ... More than half the folks that come here are regulars. We have some people who have been coming every week since 1985." He envisions a compromise between preserving the retreat that these loyal members have enjoyed and slowly starting to share the springs with a (slightly) wider audience.

"It's still a club today, and we have special days that are only for club members so that those folks can still experience it in the way that they did," McLaughlin notes. "But we're opening it a little more to the public, and we're looking to create meaningful small events."

Emphasizing quality over quantity is a feature of operations at Desert Reef, he continues: "I think in general, we're different than other hot springs in that we're looking to keep capacity low, because nobody likes a crowded pool. We're trying to do that with events, as well, [whether it's] film or music or art here that people can experience; it may just be forty or fifty people and that's it. We'd rather do something small and special."

While brainstorming event ideas, McLaughlin happened to notice an online posting for Scream Screen and thought it seemed like a great fit. He reached out to veteran programmer Mercado to partner with; she had never held an outdoor event and jumped at the chance to get involved. "I have wanted for years to do some screenings outdoors in remote locations," she says, "locations that people can't leave for the night, so that they have to think, 'Yeah, I'd just rather stay here because it's so cool!' — and this is the perfect place for that."

When McLaughlin and Mercado met on site for the first time to discuss possible screening selections, The Hills Have Eyes was at the top of both their lists: The high desert environment surrounding McLaughlin's getaway spot eerily resembles the California locations where the film was shot. In Craven's influential tale, a family traveling through the middle of nowhere in a camper takes a wrong turn in a remote desert area and ends up at the mercy of a violent clan of wilderness dwellers.
"We've gotten the Hills Have Eyes reference so many times," chuckles McLaughlin, "we thought we may as well just own it." Unsurprisingly, horror aficionado Mercado had a similar reaction. "When I took a trip down to check out the hot springs and get some inspiration and see the space, it was definitely one of the films that crossed my mind because of the natural landscape," she recalls. "Then Chris said so many customers have mentioned when they're out there that it reminds them of that environment, so I think that's a perfect film to start with."

The harrowing film is one of her favorites. "I love early Wes Craven," she says. "The thought of going on a family trip, you don't listen to the guy at the gas station and you ended up stranded in the middle of the nowhere. ... There's some cannibals running around in the hills and there's nothing about it you can do...it's a terrifying scenario." Providing a uniquely spooky, even mesmerizing, experience is her goal for the event. "I really want it to be relaxing, yet terrifying," she says. "I guess those probably don't go hand in hand [for most], but I want this to be a really immersive event where people can lose themselves in the film and the environment."

For those interested in full immersion, Desert Reef offers accommodation in the form of refurbished AirStream trailers as well as custom built Tiny Homes, which Mercado describes as "pretty posh." Despite being comfortable on the inside, the tiny home setups have an industrial appearance that matches the arid surroundings. "They've rusted and merged well with the desert," says McLaughlin. "They kind of look like a retirement community for Slayer fans." Anyone who reserves lodging for the evening gets a ticket included to the event with their stay, and will also be invited to stick around and soak the next day.

If staying the night in a tiny trailer in the middle of the desert after watching horror flicks doesn't sound freaky enough, Mercado says there's more: "We definitely want people to take advantage of the full experience by staying there, because in classic Scream Screen fashion there will be surprises in store. There will be some stuff that you'll just have to wait to find out about night-of, and some cool surprise stuff for anybody spending the night there."

Providing that little extra touch to the film-going experience has been baked into Scream Screen from its inception. When Mercado began the series in January 2015, she had already been playing crazy films for years in bars and small venues around Denver as an independent programmer and wanted to do something a little different. "My motto has always been [having] some kind of supplemental entertainment to make it a more experiential thing, be that live music with a band, a special guest, a director or actor," she explains. "Or sometimes just local weirdos who might have something to say about the subject matter of the film."

In eight years, she's provided a platform for dozens of local bands (and a few great local weirdos, like clown-obsessive Andrew Novick) and welcomed plenty of horror-world luminaries including scholar and author Kier-La Janisse, director Brian Trenchard-Smith and actress Felissa Rose. She designs and engineers her own themed costumes, which are always inventive and impressive. The screening out at Desert Reef will be her hundreth feature as Scream Screen.
In short, she's a master at creating her own little worlds, which might make her a perfect fit for the soothing, slightly spooky bubble that is Desert Reef. And if the team-up goes well, she has plans for more. "I had a few films in mind that I thought would work from a few different perspectives, and I'll keep those to myself, because hopefully this will be the first of many events out there," she says.

Separately, both McLaughlin and Mercado are teasing secretive event developments for the warmer months, which seems very in character. Scream Screen will be at the Sie FilmCenter May 20 for an as-yet unannounced screening, and Desert Reef is plotting a summer of shows. "We're not ready to say who's playing, but we're pretty excited about it," says McLaughlin, "kind of in the line of creating really special, unique performances."

"Scream and Soak" is 7 p.m., Sunday, April 23, Desert Reef Hot Springs, 1194 County Rd 100, Florence. Admission is $40; get tickets here.