Midsummer Scream 2022 General Wrap-Up

Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, CA

After three long and Earth-changing years, Midsummer Scream finally returned this past weekend to celebrate its belated 5-year anniversary with a sprawling and bountiful convention that delighted guests. Six years ago, when Midsummer Scream kicked off its first-ever run, the world was a very different place. It was two Olympics ago. TikTok didn’t yet exist. And the concept of a reality show star becoming President of the United States still seemed [kind of] far-fetched. Back then, Midsummer Scream occupied only a portion of the Long Beach Convention Center. But as the event has grown, so has its footprint, and this year, it once again occupied the entire convention center floor!

This year also marked the first three-day iteration of Midsummer Scream (if you ignore last year’s Midsummer Scream-like/lite “pop-up” event, Awaken the Spirits), though two and a half might be more accurate. Friday was only an evening affair from 6-10pm, with only a small number of panels and shows and no access to the Hall of Shadows yet. Instead, Fridays offered guests who wanted first dibs to the exhibitor hall the opportunity to purchase crafts, souvenirs, and spooky goodies before most other guests who would be attending the all-day weekend dates.

The exhibition floor may have been busy, but it didn’t feel uncomfortably packed. And guests on Friday could enjoy a much less crowded experience through the vendor space if they chose!

The two-year, pandemic-induced hiatus seemed to have built up a pressure-packed kettle pot of excited horror and haunt enthusiasts, who lined up early each day to maximize their time. The pent-up demand of two postponements—plus the general popularity of the event and Southern California haunt scene in general, meant that crowds were quite plentiful at this year’s Midsummer Scream.

Inside, this rarely presented much of an issue with congestion, given the enormous amounts of space and mostly wide circulation paths for guests navigating the vendor floor or the Hall of Shadows or the connecting spaces. But outside, lines to enter could be extremely long, making the VIP Gold Bat passes invaluable for anyone looking to make the most of their day. But kudos to the Midsummer Scream volunteers; the staff took initiative and made their way down the lines to “pre-check” guests as much as they could. The use of the newer generation security scanners that did not require emptying of pockets or physical bag check also helped expedite entry.

Long lines were definitely sprawling on both Saturday and Sunday of Midsummer Scream.

Some guests did take over an hour to get in, even after doors opened.

Parking continued to be a challenge for later arrivals, but that’s a function of the Convention Center infrastructure. Pro tip: park at the Landmark Square Tower (Wells Fargo Building) for just-as-convenient access at a cheaper price ($12 all day on weekends vs $15 Convention Center parking this year) and less traffic.

We will, of course, dive into more detail into the different components of Midsummer Scream in separate posts, but as usual, there were plenty of presentation panels, classes and workshops for aspiring haunters, a massive show floor for vendors, the ever-popular Hall of Shadows, a plethora of entertainment options, and plenty of excited, elaborately dressed guests this year. They were even more prominent at the Saturday evening “Deadly Disco” after-party, which ran from 8pm to midnight.

As with every Midsummer Scream, there were plenty of superbly costumed guests.

The Deadly Disco was a great place to catch them, especially since there was a costume contest!

Some were incredibly elaborate!

This year’s panels provided a wealth of news, even if some traditional haunted attraction mainstays like Knott’s Scary Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest were missing (or in the case of Dark Harbor, no longer existent). Nevertheless, those haunted attractions that were present still provided exciting announcements.

John Murdy thrilled the audience straight from the start of his Saturday headlining presentation by announcing a new and original (borrowed from Orlando), non-IP maze called Scarecrow: The Reaping, coming to this year’s Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood. Set in the Dust Bowl during the 1930s, this maze will put guests into a barren wasteland where crows and scarecrows have entered a supernatural and insidious pact to terrify and transform those poor unfortunate souls left behind. Then he teased another… something… (maze? scare zone? Terror Tram theme?) involving a Hollywood ghost story, a cursed hotel, and a suspected mass murderer. And if that wasn’t enough, he brought in a special guest in Slash to have a retrospective on the music the acclaimed Guns ‘n’ Roses guitarist has created for HHN mazes and also deep dive into the upcoming Universal Monsters: Legends Collide maze!

Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood Creative Director John Murdy chats it up with rock legend, Slash.

13th Floor Entertainment opened up Sunday with their marquee presentation of their three events being produced in Southern California this year. Delusion announced this year’s story: Valley of Hollows, set in the 1970s where guests play the role of “deprogrammers” trying to rescue people from cults. While most Delusion stories have been set in the World War era (with The Blue Blade’s modern-day story the only exception), this will be Jon Braver’s first foray into the 70’s era. The event will return to the Phillips Mansion in Pomona—just like last year’s Reaper’s Remorse production—this fall! The L.A. Haunted Hayride returns again to Griffith Park with the headlining hayride attraction plus three mazes, including the fan-favorite Trick or Treat, the modified Midnight Mortuary: Evil Earth, and the brand-new Laughterhouse maze that replaces last year’s debuting Dead End Diner. It’s interesting to see a maze replaced after only one year, but the other two are fixtures of the event. Finally, 13th Floor CEO Chris Stafford unveiled details around Shaqtoberfest, a new and family-oriented Halloween festival coming to the Queen Mary grounds this September, with a mix of whole trick or treating trails and entertainment during the day and more frightening options come nightfall. With six themed areas and at least three trails, plus live entertainment and food and drink, this new event aims to fill the more barren all-ages Halloween attraction niche that is not as prominent in Southern California.

This poster was up in the Midsummer Scream entry even before the name of this year’s Delusion was officially announced on Saturday.

The 13th Floor Entertainment Group crew had a plethora of news to share about Delusion, the L.A. Haunted Hayride, and Shaqtoberfest.

Best. Halloween concept art. Ever.

Beyond the heavy hitters, Midsummer Scream also showcased a few of the smaller independent haunts and their offerings this upcoming autumn. At Alesmith Brewing Company down in San Diego, Scareventures will once again produce a Fright Nights experience that combines boos with booze on select nights starting Friday, October 14th. Castle Dark at Castle Park has a new creative team and will unleash three new mazes—Jinxx’s Funhouse of Terror, The House Next Door, and Morgana’s Revenge—to interact with two reconfigured scare zones. One exciting detail was the promise that maze monsters and scare zone monsters might flow back and forth between each domain, increasing the interactivity and scares! Fear Farm spoke about some of the under-the-radar great work they’ve been doing out in Phelan, which is in the Victorville / Apple Valley area. And they showed it too with the most massively impressive, towering mini-haunt facade in the Hall of Shadows. Meanwhile, up in the Santa Clarita Valley, the all-stars behind The Farm Haunt, Beware the Dark Realm, and Restless Souls Manor are teaming up to produce a brand new haunted attraction for the L.A. County Sheriffs Department Museum called Bones’ Gulch. The Farm Haunt’s Tim Fowler showed off some construction photos of their builds in the blistering heat of Castaic and discussed a bit about the Western ghost town guests will be experiencing.

The Second Stage showcased some of this fall’s most anticipated independent SoCal pro haunts.

Two other prominent Southern California haunt favorites also had retrospectives on their evolution to where they stand today. Thousand Oak’s incredible Reign of Terror looked back on a decade of being the most detailed and unending independent haunt in all of SoCal. Meanwhile, Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre celebrated thirty years of shocking, thrilling, disturbing, and entertaining guests with its unique and visceral and explicit brand of horror presentation.

Bruce Stanton covered his personal and professional history as a haunter at the Reign of Terror Panel.

Norm from Horror Buzz moderated the Zombie Joe panel.

Rounding out the haunted attraction panels, The 17th Door showed fans a look at their upcoming documentary series and reality show, Spookshow 17, which debuts next month on a variety of streaming platforms. The 17th Door Team might have had the most entertainingly WTF presentation, as their preview of how some of their rooms and scares are conceived, designed, and installed and their discussion of the interesting stories and drama within the operation of a highly synchronized and highly physical haunted attraction operation was interspersed with a yeti tossing out ice cream sandwiches (and occasional chucking them or middle fingers at the stage)! In addition, the Winchester Mystery House announced their Halloween attraction for this year, Unhinged: Nightshade’s Curse. A mysterious Madame Nightshade, owner of a travelling carnival, has set up residence at the Winchester Mystery House. But her band of carnies may be more than what they appear, and Madame Nighshade's connections to the supernatural in combination with the house's spirited history may very well unearth new terrors!

The 17th Door team preview their upcoming documentary, Spookshow 17.

There were other panels unrelated to haunted attractions too. One of the most anticipated was Saturday’s Original Monster Kids discussion, moderated by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett and featuring Boris Karloff’s daughter, Sara, Lon Chaney’s grandson and Lon Chaney Jr.’s son, Ron, and Bela Lugosi’s daughter, Lynne Legosi Sparks. This hour and a half panel recounted incredible and touching stories of growing up in the glowing shadow of Universal’s classic monster legacy, and each of the guests had so many touching, hilarious, and wonderful stories to relay.

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett had a delightful conversation with the children and grandchildren of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney.

Earlier in the day, Ted Dougherty and Lisa Morton offered a fantastic history lesson on the holiday and celebrations of Halloween, from its early practices and inspirations in the Old World to today’s multi-million dollar haunted attraction enterprises. The Second Stage also saw one of the most packed rooms of the weekend for Night of the Living Drag, a full-blown drag show presented to much cheer, excitement, and rowdiness. Midsummer Scream co-producer Claire Dunlap engaged a fascinatingly Curious Conversation with Christine McConnell, the artist known for her morbid and macabre artworks and food creations and Muppet interactions. Closing to Sunday, the Composers of the Apocalypse panel brought forth some of horror’s most famous soundtrackers, like Harry Manfredini, John Massari, Alan Howarth, Christopher Young, and more, to discuss their craft and approaches and successes.

Ted Dougherty and Lisa Morton talk about the origins and history of Halloween and its celebrations.

The house was PACKED with standing room only for Night of the Living Drag!

Christine and Claire share a curious conversation.

And there was so much more we didn’t even get to cover.

Then there was the plethora of entertainment options available throughout Midsummer Scream. The Decayed Brigade slider group thrilled the Hall of Shadows with three new and unique shows on both Saturday and Sunday, crafting complex, synchronized, athletic maneuvers that showed an increasing level of skill and complexity and controlled chaos. Zombie Joe gave brave guests and twisted fan a peak of their annual Urban Death performance on site at the Long Beach Convention Center. Though it sounds like a broken record, this year was their most shocking and deranged performance yet! Force of Nature Productions repeated a Seasons Screaming’s offering with a non-holiday twist by having their Midsummer Estates glee club punctuate moments throughout the convention with happy, chirpy a musical performances with distinctively dark and morbid lyrics—all deliciously and sardonically amusing!

Decayed Brigade did what they do best—jump fiends. And also spin and slide and flip and twirl.

The FON Productions-backed Midsummer Estates Glee Club provided quite a soundtrack.

There were also performances of Caberet Macabre, Bob Baker marionette spectaculars, Buster Balloon’s whimsical spook show act, multiple magicians, and so much more. Truly, it would be impossible to experience anywhere close to everything Midsummer Scream had to offer just on a live entertainment level.

That doesn’t even get to the heart and unique highlight of Midsummer Scream among the big cons out there: the Hall of Shadows. Although this year’s Hall featured a slight reduction in number of attractions, from 17 to 14 (plus the Decayed Brigade), and there seemed to be less walk-through mazes than the 2019 iteration, the attractions that were present were larger and more elaborate than ever! Once upon a time, the Hall of Shadows was a “mini-haunt” experience, constraining each haunt to a 12 ft by 12 ft area. That square footage has grown over time, but this year, many of the mazes might as well have been full size!

It all started with yet another spooktacular entryway by CalHauntS, this year entitled Midsummer Estates and offering a colorful, vibrant, spooky lane with interesting characters, free candy, and a Cemetery Lane / L.A. Haunted Hayride Trick or Treat atmosphere. This area was almost too well done for its own good! The amazing facades and natural photo opportunities prompted many guests to stop and obstruct traffic with their selfies and posed photos. But besides that minor annoyance, this introduction into the Hall of Shadows was once again CalHauntS’ most amazing creation yet for Midsummer Scream! Of course, given the talented members of this home haunter community, it’s no surprise the caliber was so high!

The Midsummer Estates entryway to the Hall of Shadows featured a series of facades by some of the best CalHauntS creators and also included this tribute to the Santa Clarita Valley home haunt, Clown Town, and memorial to its creator, Javier Cano, who sadly passed away due to illness earlier this year.

Realm of Shadow, Corona Haunt, Santa Ana Haunt, and Straite to Hale Productions each brought back slightly reduced versions of their 2021 fall haunted productions—Hamre Manor, Tales of Halloween, Shades of Hell, and Casket Creek, respectively. Those who weren’t able to make it to these fine haunts last October had the ability to experience these excellent favorites last season!

Realm of Shadow returned guests to Hamre Manor.

Tales of Halloween returned for one last run for the Corona Haunt.

The Santa Ana Haunt brought back Shades of Hell and this impressive church facade.

Straite to Hale Productions also crafted a spooky ghost town in the Hall of Shadows with Casket Creek.

Casa Calaveras produced yet another Día de los Muertos art walkthrough, similar to what they had the Seasons Screamings’ Hall of Yuletide Spirits last December. Reichland Asylum was back once more with their zany sanitarium. It was kind of funny that, for the first time, their facade was not the most towering of them all in the Hall of Shadows!

Casa Calaveras’ splendid and colorful displays delighted at Midsummer Scream.

Reichland Asylum lost its title as the tallest mini-haunt facade at Midsummer Scream. Its patients didn’t take that too well.

For the first time that I’ve seen at Midsummer Scream, The Dreich Society did not have a cinema-centric haunt, having completed their trilogy of movie-themed mazes. Instead, this summer’s production was entitled “Nightmare” and delved into the world of Japanese mythology and lore surrounding its spirits and demons. Oh, and perhaps the most spectacular Hall of Shadows resident of them all? Fear Farm’s unnamed, jungle-themed haunted walkthrough featured both a preview of a haunted house they’ll be incorporating later this fall and the tallest facade in Midsummer Scream history, reaching almost to the bottom of the trusses supporting the floor above, over two stories tall!

The Dreich Society indulged a Japanese-inspired haunt.

Fear Farm literally reached toward the rafters with their incredible facade and creative maze!

There were also haunted displays and games attractions. Bones’ Gulch had a compacted version of The Farm Haunt’s facade to promote their upcoming event this October. The Haunt with No Name…Yet also provided a non-Christmas version of what they presented during Seasons Screamings—a beautifully and exquisitely lit, eerie graveyard scene, lovingly crafted. In a similar vein, The Witching Auer presented their ode to Halloween with a facade recreating the Myers house, with projections showing iconic scenes from the movie in silhouette. The Quail Run Carnival offered a lighter affair, with little games for candy prizes.

Fans of The Farm Haunt would recognize this display for Bones’ Gulch.

The Haunt with No Name…Yet crafted another beautiful cemetery display.

The Witching Auer presented Halloween in terrific fashion.

The Qual Run Carnival was less spooks and more fun and games.

Then there was Exquisite Corpse Horror presentation of Redwater Vol. 1. At first glance, this seemed like just a haunted display, with a ramshackle structure representing “Big Joey’s Bait & Tackle Shop” and a projected comic book cover to the side. But well-timing guests who happened to walk by when the action started could witness a five-minute act that provided a prelude to the story that Exquisite Corpse looks to continue to tell this fall. Combining theater with jump scares, this excellently executed teaser hinted at supernatural forces coming to terrorize a backwoods enclave that seemingly has no idea of the terror for which it’s in store.

Though it was a display when not active, Exquisite Corpse Horror also came alive from time to time with its portrayal of Redwater Vol. 1!

Outside of the Hall of Shadows, the Museum of Halloween offered up this year’s Midsummer Scream version of a haunted art gallery, featuring macabre paintings and sculptures and models on one half and an extensive collection of vintage Halloween souvenirs and collectibles like board games, records, posters, toys, and decorations in the other half. This was a pretty impressive line-up of mementos and a treasure trove for those who really enjoy this particular aesthetic.

The Halloween Museum featured some cool works of art.

And one helluva collectibles display!

As you can see, the amount of content and activities at this year’s Midsummer Scream was almost overwhelming, and there were plenty of things we weren’t able to see or experience. But above all, Midsummer Scream—as the semi-official kickoff to the Southern California Halloween season, served as a family reunion of the haunter, haunt enthusiast, and horror community. It was great to see so many familiar faces and talented friends who produce fear as their passion—be they monsters or designers or artists or other. And that is ultimately the cold, dark heart of this event. It’s a celebration of all things spooky and scary and twisted, but done with love and care and enthusiasm. This might seem like a dichotomy, but it’s exactly what makes the haunt community a [generally—of course every fandom has its negative exceptions] welcoming, accepting, and embracing group of individuals.

Midsummer Scream is a grand Halloween reunion.

If you didn’t make it to Midsummer Scream this year, you missed out. But there will be other events produced by the team or members of the team, including the return of Cemetery Lane this late October, the expectation of another Seasons Screamings holiday haunted convention in December, and even next year’s Spooky Swap Meet dates already announced—April 29th and 30th at the Heritage Square Museum Los Angeles. And if none of those work out, there’s always next year’s Midsummer Scream in late July! And yes, I know we pitched the ensuing year’s MSS the last time we covered the event, in 2019, but hopefully, we won’t see another once-in-a-lifetime, everything-altering pandemic again!

We’ll continue our Midsummer Scream coverage with more detailed updates on the panels and presentations; Hall of Shadows; entertainment offerings; and the Museum of Halloween, exhibition hall, and people-watching.

Congrats on a belated but well achieved five years, Midsummer Scream!