Midsummer Scream: Bigger and Better for its Second Year
When it comes to haunts in Long beach, most people think of the Queen Mary and for good reason; the ship is said to have spirits that still walk the corridors, but there is one place that eclipses the elegant ship with roaming ghosts and monsters, at least for one weekend in the summer, and that’s Midsummer Scream at the Long Beach Convention Center. This, the second year for the Halloween festival, was bigger and better than its debut season and has quickly become a mainstay in the horror and haunter community with attractions to excite any horror enthusiast.
This year featured The Hall of Shadows, a section of the convention hall that’s shrouded in darkness and had 13 mini-haunts and featured, fan favorite, the Decayed Brigade sliders. The entrance way, built by CalHaunts, was a cemetery inspired by Sleepy Hallow was a fun homage with a humorous, squawking, raven and a large, Spooky Headless Horseman. The haunts, put on by both Professional and home haunters, varied by themes ranging from Lovecraftian The Maritime Horror to Gorelesque: Peep Show, a horror themed burlesque. The crowds lined up to go in to each, and while small, the haunts still packed a scare that was just a hint of what’s to come in a few months for Halloween.
Signings were held upstairs by horror celebrities, and downstairs, the show floor was packed with vendors who sold everything from premium make-up and masks to vendors who are selling one of a kind, vintage horror memorabilia. If that wasn’t enough there are classes and panels peppered throughout the convention and weekend, where one can learn from some of the top haunter’s around the world. Then there was the Screaming Room, a screening area, where the horror film enthusiast could catch showings of some of the latest horror films presented by the filmmakers.
If I haven’t sold it enough, now for the bad news- it’s over this year, but it will return next year and I expect the trend to continue and the show will get even better.
Stay tuned here to 52 Weeks of horror and when we know when the next convention happens, we will be sure to let you know. Midsummer Scream is not a convention to miss.
