Midsummer Scream 2024: A Scary Good Time

Known as the world’s largest Halloween and horror convention, Midsummer Scream unfolded July 26 – 28, 2024, in Long Beach, California. With over 350 spooky vendors, presentations, and previews from SoCal’s biggest Halloween attractions, and a room with over a dozen haunts to experience, the convention is the place to be if you love to be frightened.

The con expected a record attendance of over 50,000 – which considering it was up against San Diego Comic-Con, says quite a bit about the allure of intentionally being scared. Here’s my write-up of the weekend.

On Friday night, I attended the Urban Death performance by Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre. A troupe based in North Hollywood, I’ve been wanting to go to one of their shows for quite some time now, but the timing never seemed to be right. So when I saw that they would be at the con, they were the first thing I made sure to plan. An experimental performance, the production was a series of unnerving vignettes, interspersed with music, giving you just enough of a scene to fill you with dread… only to quickly move on to the next one. Later, I managed to get an interview with Zombie Joe, the head of the group, and will be posting that soon.

I also spent time in the Hall of Shadows. Celebrating ‘Spirits & Legends’, the dark zone had 12 haunted attractions, a pumpkin patch and haunted house from the Magic of the Jack O’ Lantern Los Angeles experience, a couple of photo opportunities, and a place for live entertainment. I hope to write up my thoughts on this area separately, giving a mini-review for each attraction.

My Saturday did not start out well: I was excited to see that Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) was one of the celebrity draws, and I was looking forward to hearing the discussion with the actress. However, about five minutes prior to starting, the fire alarm went off – and, while they told us that it wasn’t anything serious, it continued to stay on for over an hour. They ended up postponing the panel, but by then I was done with the room and headed off to get lunch. (The alarm also made me miss the presentation on the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor experience, returning after a four-year absence. I had attended their press night back in 2018, and fell in love with the attraction, so am disappointed I didn’t get to see what’s on their plate for this year.)

I also had on my schedule a performance of the Leigh Purtill Ballet Company (LPBC)’s Zombie Ballet. A short excerpt of their longer production of the same name, the dance told the story of what happened to Romeo and Juliet after their funeral. (You can see some photos of the ballet on our Instagram.) I managed to get an interview with members of the company on Sunday, and will also be posting that soon.

Also on Sunday, I attended the “Hollywood Graveyard” panel. Described as a virtual journey through the cemeteries of the world and across the centuries, it wasn’t bad – but just felt like an example/plug for the YouTube channel it’s based on.

I then attended “Haunted Offerings on the Queen Mary”. Different from the Dark Harbor preview that was on Saturday, it was a panel presentation of the haunted tours, paranormal investigations, and special events offered year-round at the Queen Mary. The panelists primarily focused on the paranormal ship walk (a tour of the ship’s more haunted areas) and the Grey Ghost Project (where you get to have a hands-on experience of investigating the supernatural), both of which are now on my list of things to do here in Los Angeles.

Finally, the convention ended with Universal Studio’s presentation of this year’s “Halloween Horror Nights” options at the Los Angeles location. Short version: this year’s main haunt will be a Texas Chainsaw Massacre theme, and they are taking a ‘multi-verse’ approach, including all of the movies into one haunt. They also will have a house called ‘Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines (Hollywood)’, which will focus on the female monsters of the Universal catalogue, and a scare zone called ‘Luchadores Monstruosos’, based on the Lucha Libre horror films. I hope to do a full write-up of the presentation soon.

Overall, I enjoyed myself thoroughly, even though I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of horror films (I’m very … particular). There was cosplay aplenty (you can see some of them on The Geekiary’s Instagram), lots of great exhibitors (there seemed to be a plethora of crochet dolls – not that that’s a bad thing), and the attractions were first-rate. Everyone I met was lovely, and the crowd ranged from babies to senior citizens. I would definitely attend again, especially at the prices they charge.

One thing I did NOT like was the app: advertised as an “indispensable tool to help navigate” the con, it was virtually useless. Not only did it continuously insist I turn on notifications, but there was no map or instructions of where to go (outside of a name) for the talks and presentations. There was also no categorization of the exhibitors, meaning unless you knew the name of the company you were looking for, it was a crapshoot to find the types of items you may be searching for. It was not intuitive to use and tended to be more frustrating than helpful. I got more information from the flier I was presented with when I checked in. I also didn’t care much for the website not listing the schedule or exhibitors (or if they did, they weren’t easy to find), meaning if I wanted to see what panels were happening and when, I would HAVE to install the app.

The press release stated that the goal of Midsummer Scream is to “showcase the diversity of Southern California’s haunt and horror community as a welcoming beacon for fans around the world to converge on Los Angeles for a weekend of excitement, networking, and non-stop spooky fun.”

I definitely feel like they succeeded.

The dates for next year’s Midsummer Scream were announced at the end of the con: August 15 – 17, 2025. More information about the event can be found on their website.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.

She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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