On the night before Halloween, Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff turned City Hall's commission chambers into a cinema -- drawing more than 100 moviegoers lured by free seats and popcorn.

Those who came -- a mixture of city bureaucrats and area residents -- were in for a scare -- not from ghouls and goblins, but from a sea of blood-curdling pie charts, exploding debt estimates and federal spending gone mad.

On the big screen: I.O.U.S.A., a documentary that seeks to explain the reasons behind the rapidly rising national debt, and to warn of the dire consequences if the trend continues.

Wall Street's recent financial meltdown has heightened the public's interest in economic issues, and in his welcoming remarks to the crowd, Sarnoff said the movie had in some sense predicted the current economic crisis.

''Listen carefully,'' Sarnoff said. ``It's a sobering time for all of us.''

The documentary has primarily been screened at colleges. Miami leaders said Thursday's showing was the first local-government screening.

-- MICHAEL VASQUEZ

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