Midsummer Scream 2022: Entertainment & Halloween Museum
Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA
We’ll finish our 2022 Midsummer Scream coverage one day… if all this Halloween season breaking news doesn’t keep getting in the way! Today, we’re looking at some of the many different shows and entertainment features that guests could take in at this year’s Midsummer Scream. Because as if all the panels, presentations, workshops, and the Hall of Shadows wasn’t enough, there was also a plethora of performances of all types and for all ages (and some for only certain ages) throughout the weekend! We’ve also got a look at the neat Halloween Museum that guests could enjoy, showing off some fantastic artwork and the biggest vintage Halloween collection we’ve ever seen! Today’s update won’t be as wordy as the others, but there are plenty of photos and videos for your enjoyment!
Decayed Brigade Slider Shows
Decayed Brigade, the premiere haunt monster sliding troupe in Southern California, has been putting on sliding exhibitions for a pretty good while now. Their shows originated from the old, unofficial “Slider Olympics” type performances that monsters at Knott’s Berry Farm used to hold, which have since made their way to other haunts as well. On the Halloween convention circuit, Decayed Brigade has been thrilling the audience since the days of Scare L.A., and each year, they get better and better at the complexity, production value, and coordination of their shows.
Decayed Brigade was once again at their sliding excellence selves at Midsummer Scream.
This year’s shows were more athletic and flexible than ever.
This year, Decayed Brigade once again performed three different acts on both Saturday and Sunday of the convention. Each show featured a different theme, different tricks, and different experiences, but all of them were action packed and high on energy, with the crowd throwing it back to the performers to push them even harder.
Tricks like slides that balance on feet edges require strong muscles and the right centering to avoid injury!
It’s interesting to track how these shows have evolved, moving from “simple” sliding and jumping expositions to carefully crafted, acrobatic and athletic feats that almost border on contortion in some instances. As the Decayed Brigade roster continues to evolve, incoming new members have brought their own evolutions to tricks that previous members have performed, and some have even introduced new moves entirely. Beyond long jumps, there are flips, spins, complex balancing moves, impressive bends, and slides utilizing different parts of the body.
The ol’ surfboard slide is always a hit.
Of course, they also did long jumps—a staple of DB shows.
The shows have also become more frenetic, with monsters sliding from multiple directions—often at the same time—and crossing over, under, and near missing each other. The level of coordination and timing is critical in these exchanges, since one missed beat could result in a collision or a missed interaction. The sliders come from either end of the runway and angled entry points, creating controlled chaos out of their moves.
The group certainly brought with them a sense of RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!
The production values have also soared as the sliders have, with Decayed Brigade bringing in their own lights, time-coded soundtracks and theatrical illumination, and performing to specific moments. This imparts a growing sense of legitimacy in this form of athleticism, and while sliding may never actually become a true sport, it’s clear from the show and presentation that these are talented, passionate, hard-working, and physically demanding athletes who love what they are doing!
A partial group photo of Decayed Brigade.
It’s always a fun challenge to try to photograph these shows, given the low light and quick moving action. Here’s a giant photo gallery of some of the moments of action, levity, and camaraderie from the two days of exciting Decayed Brigade action!
The frantic and kinetic nature of the show is better understood on video (though on video, there really needs to be multiple angles to capture everything that’s going on). So here are some recordings of the Decayed Brigade Shows that took place across the weekend! (Not sure why the audio was off in sporadic parts in some of these videos—the speakers must have overwhelmed the phone.)
Saturday - Show 1
Saturday - Show 2
Saturday - Show 3
Sunday - Show 2
Sunday - Show 3
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre presents Urban Death
Though Decayed Brigade is our favorite entertainment at Midsummer Scream, it’s not the only offering. Once again, Zombie Joe gave Midsummer Scream guests a taste of his twisted, demented, shocking Urban Death series. A show definitely for mature audiences, Urban Death is a series of disconnected vignettes exploring various facettes of horror. Using psychological, sexual, visceral, and comedic manipulation, the performers enact various scenes that delve from the disturbing to the absurd but they always leave a lasting impact on guests.
The Midsummer Scream show featured a mix of new and familiar skits, ranging from the classic axe murderer closer to an inappropriate clown committing worse and worse atrocities with each reappearance (a seeming callback to the “bad elf” in Cabaret Macabre Christmas) to a lingerie-clad dominatrix leading three fully nude male subs with a long rope tied around each of the gentlemen’s… manhoods… If that image doesn’t sear into memory, nothing will, but that’s the point of Zombie Joe—to make the audience feel something and take their own interpretations and reactions from each show.
Urban Death: Tour of Terror returns this fall, and Urban Death, Midsummer Scream edition gave guests a glimpse of what to expect! Also, for ZJU fans, get a punch card for 5 shows for $69! …Nice!
Force of Nature Production’s Midsummer Estates Glee Club
Force of Nature Productions also provided a summertime version of their Seasons Screamings a capella performers with the Midsummer Estates Glee Club. While their Christmas time “scarolers” sang Christmas carols with substituted morbid lyrics, the Glee Club offered secular tunes… but also with substituted morbid and sometimes gory lyrics. The singsong and gentle melodies offered a hilarious ironic juxtaposition, though, and the pop-up performances were a delightful surprise for guests.
The Midsummer Estates Glee Club was charming and hilarious with their surprisingly violent tunes.
This was far from the only entertainment at Midsummer Scream. We were not able to see the Friday Cabaret Macabre performances from Zombie Joe’s Underground, and we also miss Bob Baker’s Hallowe’en Spooktacular, a preview of Force of Nature’s Tales from Tomorrow: Origins, the kid-friendly Buster Balloon performance, several magicians’ performances on the show floor, and more! There simply wasn’t enough time to take in anywhere close to everything, but the good news is that there was something for every guest’s tastes at Midsummer!
Halloween Museum
In the non-performing arts, the Halloween Museum also offered a chance to enjoy some terrific Halloween art—both 2D and 3D—and a look at a uniquely large collection of vintage Halloween souvenirs, games, costumes, and collectibles. One one half, paints, sculptures, and models showcased a variety of ways artists expressed their love of Halloween, from spooky scenes to sinister creatures to architecturally complex miniatures. The vintage Halloween display was for show, not for sale, but it was still a visual treasure trove for anyone who enjoys this aesthetic!
Just a bit of the artwork on display at the Halloween Museum.
On the other side… so much vintage Halloween!
The Halloween Museum offered a nice break and calmness away from the action of the rest of the convention. We appreciated this addition to the Halloween convention as a whole!
That concludes this part of our Midsummer Scream coverage. We have one more, closing out the 2022 look with an appreciation for the passionate guests who attended, a look at the Saturday night afterparty, Deadly Disco, and a general recap of the exhibition floor. The Halloween season is fast approaching, and it’s shaping up to be another exciting and fantastic one!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
