Midsummer Scream 2023 - Highlights

Welcome foolish mortals to Midsummer Scream 2023! This event was held on July 28th-30th at the Long Beach Convention Center. Every year, the vendors, entertainment, experiences and cosplayers step up their game and this year was no different. From endless shopping in their massive vendor hall to panels about upcoming films like Saw X and The Haunted Mansion. There was even an After Party with special appearances by an inflatable T-Rex, Teen Wolf, Pennywise and other fun and spooky cosplayers.

Vendor Haul

This was the first year I attended as a Gold Bat (VIP), so I had early access to the vendor floor which came in handy because I got to shop without all of the crowds. One thing I noticed right off the bat was how elaborate some of these vendor booths were. A lot of them had sets that were built and decorated to fit their theme. I’m not even talking about the large vendors who can afford to build elaborate sets but the smaller ones. Every booth was “show ready” and it was fun to see how each person decorated and displayed their items. There were so many things I saw there that I wanted to buy and did buy, like a light up Stab shadow box, a cute Fall decorated glass tumbler, vintage looking Halloween socks, pins and keychains, a black light Halloweentown poster and a Final Girl shirt. Halloween time is my favorite time of year to shop, so I was in heaven. I follow some of these vendors on Instagram, so it was nice seeing them in-person like Small Town Weirdo, Cats Intuition, and Konjure Kreations. It’s always fun shopping in a place where the owners of the shops are just as obsessed with Halloween as you are. I bought a tote bag from Caffeinated Coven Co. The tote bag caught my eye because it said “I met Matthew Lillard and all I got was this lousy tote bag” and it made me snort laugh. Then I noticed she had Stab tote bags and pins shaped like hearts with Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard on them. I was like, who is this person? I need to meet them. I chatted with her a little bit and we swapped our Matthew Lillard stories. She was showing me pictures on her phone of the time she met him. I literally can’t go anywhere now without him showing up and I’m not mad about it. My sister, who was with me, bought an Evil Dead shirt from Discount Cemetery. The people who worked there were also very nice. 

Mystic Museum

In the vendor hall they also had the Mystic Museum who brought in some of their old sets from when they had their shop transformed into scenes from Scream, The Shining and A Nightmare on Elm St. These were fun free photo ops. I was so excited they had these sets brought in because I never got to see the Scream one when they had it at the museum. The Los Angeles Ghostbusters brought in some of their cool vehicles and props to share with people. Another area of the vendor hall were the autograph signings. Some of these guests included Jason Patric, Billy Wirth, and G Tom Mac from The Lost Boys, Marley Shelton from Scream 4 and 5, Linda Blair from The Exorcist, Dead Meat, and many more. There was a wide array of talent to meet from actors to podcasters and authors. I know YouTuber Justin Scarred had his own elaborate booth and was taking free photos with fans. I ended up meeting Marley Shelton who was very sweet. She played Deputy Judy Hicks alongside Deputy/Sheriff Dewey. I had her sign in my horror notebook which had the rest of the Scream cast in it. Before signing I told her she could pick any color pen. She asked me, “What color do you think Judy would pick?” I said, “I think light blue.” She said, “I think she would pick that too.” She wrote my favorite quote of hers in it.  We took a photo together afterward. My sister wanted to meet Naomi Grossman who played Pepper in American Horror Story. She got her autograph and they took a cute photo together. The both of us wanted to meet Kimberly J. Brown and Daniel Kountz now that I had my new Halloweentown poster. I met Kimberly in 2019 at Midsummer Scream and we took a photo together, but I never got her autograph. It was fun talking to her and Daniel. They’re so cute together and the two of them are so sweet and down to earth. They’re one of those people you see at conventions and you always make it a point to get in their line just to say “Hi” because they’re that friendly and welcoming. Harvey Guillen from What We Do in the Shadows was also in attendance. I met him in 2019 also, so I didn’t feel the need to say hi. He was really sweet too and fun to talk to. He was quite popular this weekend, so I wanted to give other fans a chance to meet him. He looked like he was having a great time talking to fans. I don’t normally comment on people’s appearances, but that man was GLOWING. I was obsessed with his spooky chic sparkling outfit. Nandor would approve of the “glitter”. I also loved the new banner above his booth. 

Me Being Frozen with Fear

After spending all of our money, we headed into the Hall of Shadows. The Hall of Shadows houses a bunch of horror mazes from local haunts. They aren’t the full mazes but a taste of what their mazes will be like. My sister and I were tricked with the Hauntbuster one. It was a Blockbuster building with racks of horror VHS’s inside. I thought you just walked around in the little store to take pictures and that was it but nope. They have you go into the back room of the Hauntbuster and now all of a sudden you realize it’s a horror maze and monsters pop out at you. I really enjoyed that surprise element. I loved Blockbuster as a kid and I’ve never seen a haunted maze themed after one, so that was really cool. Another stand out maze to me was the Winchester Mystery House Unhinged maze. The facade of this maze was pretty large. It looked just like the Winchester Mystery House. You stepped inside and were greeted by Sarah Winchesters coming down a set of stairs to spook you. This maze was so clever in how they tried to scare you by using simple effects like shooting loud air at you, having boxes look like they’re going to fall on your head, and a fog effect that looked like water as you walked through it. Hidden under the fog water was a scare actor. They also had scare actors in a harness lunge down at you from the ceiling. There was a scene where a semi truck comes barreling at you with its high beams on and it’s genuinely frightening. At this moment, they take your picture. When exiting the maze, the staff shows you your picture and it’s hilarious. We had no idea our picture was being taken. I wish all horror attractions did that. There were other fun mazes that weren’t as stressful like the Twilight Zone maze. That one felt interactive. There was an Egyptian themed maze and a Western themed maze that was more of a walkthrough so you could see all of the details that went into creating these lifelike sets and rooms. In the Hall of Shadows they also have the Decayed Brigade which is a team of sliders who perform a stunt show for people. This year, it was like a stunt show combined with theatrics and dance which I really liked. As much as I avoid them at theme parks (because they scare me every time), their shows are entertaining and fun to watch. There was a mini carnival inside the Hall of Shadows and Pennywise is there with his red balloons waiting for his next victim. The clown’s name is actually Mr. Floats. This cosplayer was so popular at past conventions that he got his own space to take photos with fans. I had seen him all over Instagram and YouTube but had never met him, so it was fun meeting him and putting him on camera. I have a slight fear of clowns, but for some reason Mr. Floats passes my vibe check. 

After all the walking we had been doing, we decided to rest our feet and go see a show. Midsummer Scream offered a bunch of different shows and experiences. They had Cabaret Macabre, the Boulet Brothers, Black Cat Lounge, the Boogeyman Experience among others. The show we went to was Urban Death. Urban Death is essentially a theatrical horror experience. Actors showed off their horror acting chops. For example, there’s a scene where a mother is brushing her daughter’s hair and she reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out a gun. She puts it to the daughter’s head, hesitates, reaches up and puts it in her own mouth before the lights turn off and everything goes black. There’s a scene where there’s a pile of dead bodies and they all rise from the dead like zombies. Not every scene was super dark and unsettling. There was a funny one where the lights turn on and there’s a guy standing there naked holding a pumpkin in front of his private parts and in a scared almost childlike voice goes, “Mom? Are you there?” The look of terror in his eyes being naked with nothing but a pumpkin. All of the actors did a really great job. You don’t realize how difficult acting is until you see people doing really simple tasks but doing them in a way that makes you feel uneasy or sad or sympathetic. There was a scene where a group of people were shivering from being cold and I started to get cold and started shivering just by looking at them. My sister really wanted to see the Caberet Macabre, but unfortunately we couldn’t stay in the room after because people were already queuing up outside for it. The Black Cat Lounge line was consistently long all weekend, so we never got to go in. That’s probably a good thing though that they were so busy because I hope some of those kitties got adopted. The Black Cat Lounge is a place where you can hang out with rescued kittens and/or adopt them. 

The Haunted Mansion Panel

One of the big draws for this convention are the panels. The panels this year consisted of Saw X, The Haunted Mansion, and haunted attractions such as Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios and Knott’s Scary Farm. The Lost Boys had a panel too I believe. We only had time to do one, so we chose The Haunted Mansion panel. We secured 2nd row seats and for an hour listened to Phillip Bartell (Editor) and Jonathan Eirich (Producer) speak to The Boo Crew Podcast about their behind the scenes stories and the making of the 2023 film. They discussed some of the inspiration for the set design and how during the pandemic in 2020 they were allowed to walk through the entire ride at Disneyland with the lights on and off and were shown how some of the practical fx in the ride were done. I learned that the director of the film, Justin Simien, used to be a Disney cast member and he lived in New Orleans so he was already familiar with the look and feel of that area as well as with ghosts. My favorite answer to a question was by Phillip when he was asked “What was your favorite scene to work on?” and he went, “The scene with the least amount of changes.” As an editor myself, this resonated so much with me. Everyone thought he was joking but I sat there like, I see you. You never see Editors doing interviews or panels so I was really happy he was there. They showed short clips from the movie and afterward Phillip said that he enjoyed watching all of us reacting to the scenes. He’s never done that before and he said it was cool to see. As an editor, you really don’t get to see audience reactions to your edit so I believed him when he said that. Not to make this all about Phillip, but Jonathan was great to listen to as well. He was very knowledgeable and I love that he is also a big horror nerd at heart. He said being there at Midsummer Scream felt like he was with his people. 

The moment we had all been waiting for, the Midsummer Scream After Party. The theme this year was Slumber Party and you were encouraged to come dressed in your pajamas or spooky attire. I would say about 30% of people participated in the pajamas but it’s okay. I enjoyed being cozy. I wore my boo-jamas that had ghosts all over them. My sister wore her Evil Dead pajamas and brought her Ashy Slashy Evil Dead puppet. Before we headed into the party, there was a Slumber Party Seance Experience so we did that first. You go inside of a room that looks like you set foot inside of a 90’s nickelodeon tv show set. It was a teenage girl’s bedroom with posters of Jonathan Taylor Thomas on the wall and other iconic 90’s decor items. There were sleeping bags on the floor and pillows on the floor for us to sit on. The experience consisted of 3 teenage girls at a slumber party and 1 of them got out the Ouija Board. They started to play it but got cold feet and set it aside. Another girl grabbed the Mystery Date board game and started setting it up only to realize her brother stole the game board. They decided to use the Ouija board as the board and set the phone that comes with the Mystery Date game on top of it. As they are playing the phone suddenly becomes possessed and things start moving around in their bedroom. The curtains begin to blow and the inflatable chair in the corner rolls away by itself. One of the girls goes into the closet and disappears. The friend reappears and then they get a call from the mom saying she’s on her way home. The Mystery Date phone rings again and they find out this has all been a prank. It was a cute little show they put on. It made me want to watch Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark. I think my favorite part was sitting on the pillows and feeling like we were all part of this friend group. When they originally brought out the Ouija board everyone went “Oooo” and when things started moving around in the bedroom we all gasped. It was funny. I hope they do something like this next year. Now it was time for the party. The DJ was playing some fun hits from the 80’s and 90’s and threw in some other electronic beats. Everyone was dancing and having a great time. I saw a lot of people dressed up in cosplay. There was an Edward Scissorhands dancing with an inflatable T-Rex, a Ghostface dancing with a Batman, and Chucky and his bride dancing in the air together. I saw characters from Thirteen Ghosts, Teen Wolf, Pennywise, a guy with a Jack in the Box head and a girl dressed as the Wendy’s girl. Together they were Jack and Wendy from The Shining. There was a girl dressed as a bloody Ronald McDonald inside of a happy meal. My sister was excited when she spotted Mothman. Every 2 feet there was somebody dressed up as a character from something. The party was a blast. I had no voice by the end of the night. They had a costume contest judged by some notable people in the horror and film industry. There were so many great costumes that the final 2 contestants were tied for the winner. They both ended up getting $500 which was well deserved.

To wrap up my time at Midsummer Scream, I had such a fun time reuniting with friends, making new ones and filming the entire weekend. Shout out to all of the cosplayers who let me put them on camera. You were my favorite part of this experience. Midsummer Scream always feels like Summer Camp being amongst the horror community and sharing that love and enthusiasm with people who accept you for who you are. I already miss it and look forward to next year’s convention. If you’d like to hear and see even more about my experience at Midsummer Scream, go check out my video below!