REVIEW: midsummer scream
August 18, 2025
REVIEW: midsummer scream
This past weekend the world's largest horror convention, Midsummer Scream (MSS), opened its doors once again to welcome cosplayers, haunters, horror fans, and Halloween lovers of all ages. The official start to the upcoming haunt season, MSS hosts hundreds of vendors, performers, celebrity guests, and just about anything you can think of related to horror and Halloween. Taking place within the Long Beach Convention Center, this event lasts three days and is always sold out. We love everything about Midsummer Scream, but what we look forward to the most is experiencing the Hall of Shadows.
The Hall of Shadows is located in the massive space of Exhibition Hall C. This blacked out area contains both DIY and corporate haunters offering previews of upcoming haunts for this Halloween season. Within the walls of Hall C you will see everything from home haunts to displays to the slider shows of The Decayed Brigade. It can feel overwhelming at times as you can look into any direction and see something that draws your attention, and before you know it - you have been there the entire day.
The entrance to the Hall of Shadows featured Mr. Floats, the Pennywise cosplayer, and his sinister ice cream truck which you may have seen in the Hollywood Christmas parade over the past few years. We love anytime we see Mr. Floats, whose inner human is Keith Arem, a musician who hails from the classic age of industrial music. His creative career began as an opener for bands like Nine Inch Nails and Front Line Assembly - a great fun fact that we don't believe most people are aware of!
Within the center of the Hall of Shadows stood an incredible medieval village where dragons of all sizes had taken over. The dragons’ glowing eyes and smokey mouths offered amazing details to take in along with the many interactive features such as skeletons, crows, and the fabled sword in the stone. By far this was our favorite display and it came as no surprise that it was built by CalHaunts - a legendary collective of haunt builders.
The mazes in the Hall of Shadows were all fantastic and included iconic attractions from Fear Farm and Straite to Hale. Fear Farm showcased their infamous superb scares contained within rooms inhabited by farmers and human/animal hybrids running amok. The exterior walls of the structure brought to life a haunted farmhouse of decayed wood infused with eerie reds and blues. A towering windmill stood atop the house, ominously creaking and slowly spinning in the darkness.
Straite to Hale offered a condensed version of their Horrorama/funhouse theme from the 2024 season - complete with one of our favorite rooms - the Mr. Toad inspired 2D moving flats in tribute to the Universal Monsters. As you pass Frankenstein's monster and his Bride - who move out of the way on their motorized tracks - you end up facing Dracula who is operated by a scare actor who jumps out at you.
Honestly, we could talk about Midsummer Scream for days. This event truly has something interesting going on in every nook and cranny from opening until closing. Year after year it's been consistently wonderful and - in the best way possible - completely overwhelming. But most importantly, it’s a place for us all to celebrate our creativity, find inspiration, and share our love of all things Halloween.
We are very excited to see you all in this upcoming season!
VC
August 18, 2025
Hauntsofla.com
#midsummerscream #hauntedhouses #longbeach #hauntedmaze #halloween #losangeles #hauntsofla
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