What to Know
- Long Beach Convention Center
- Aug. 3 and 4, 2019
- $38 Saturday; $33 Sunday; $55 weekend
When do you start counting down to Halloween?
Does it happen on July 5, just as you stow the final Independence Day decorations? Or when the first Friday the 13th of the year arrives, whenever that may be?
Or is it always November 1, just past midnight, for you?
There's a convention with your name on it, if that's the case, though it understandingly embraces all levels of Halloween-themed fandom.
It's Midsummer Scream, "the world's largest Halloween & horror convention," and it will lurk, like some chain-rattling ghost, around the Long Beach Convention Center over the first weekend of August.
Which is, yes, oh scream, less than a frightful fortnight away.
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
As for what monster mavens and phantom fanatics can expect?
Well, "everything" seems like a slightly preposterous but pretty accurate word, but specifically you'll want to see out the huge Hall of Shadows, a low-lit space boasting "over a dozen haunted attractions and installations" as well as super-impressive slider shows and the Drunken Devil Creepy Tiki Bar.
Appearances by the haunting who's who of the genre's brightest, or, erm, shadowiest luminaries will also fill the wicked roster. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark'll be in the house, as will John Kassir, the ultra-famous voice actor behind the gigglingly ghoulish Crypt Keeper of "Tales of the Crypt."
Panels, including a hinge-creaking collaboration devoted to the Haunted Mansion's 50th anniversary, and the eveningtime Grim Grinning Gala are also on the eeky, cheeky schedule.
And, as is terrifying tradition, the theme parks, major haunt purveyors, and yard haunt masters'll be out to provide previews and sneak peeks as to what's to come.
So you started looking forward to Oct. 31 when last Oct. 31 had only ended hours before? You're not alone, nor weird, nor offbeat.
Well, you're definitely not alone, anyhow. And hurrah to celebrating the strange and offbeat side of our characters.
That's what Halloween welcomes us to do, and for those who love the holiday, an early-August affair only jumpstarts the joy, fun, and expression found in the eeriest of all occasions.
