When Midsummer Scream, the world’s largest Halloween and horror convention, returns to the Long Beach Convention Center from July 28 to 30, its centerpiece will be the Hall of Shadows. This massive dark zone features a stunning array of haunted attractions, interactive photo ops, and live entertainment as creatures lurk and screams flow from the swirling fog. A staple of Midsummer Scream, 2023 marks the first year that the Hall of Shadows will be open all three days of the event.
“As we celebrate horror games of all types this year at Midsummer Scream, the theme of this year’s Hall of Shadows is ‘Dungeons & Demons,’ which pays homage to the OG ‘monster’ game that we all grew up with and still love to this day: Dungeons & Dragons,” says Rick West, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Midsummer Scream. “We’ve invited our haunters this year to let their imaginations run wild and where possible, to incorporate some kind of gamification or interactive element into their Hall of Shadows creations. Everyone is excited and hard at work to bring fans the most epic Hall of Shadows yet!”
Guests will enter this year’s Hall of Shadows through ancient ruins filled with traps, treasure, and classic D&D monsters, thanks to the talent of the always amazing CalHauntS team. Roll for initiative and step lively into the darkness ahead — guests who linger too long are in danger of becoming a permanent fixture of this ancient dungeon!
Emerging into the foggy expanse of the Hall of Shadows, guests can explore and engage more than a dozen spooky attractions, elaborate displays, and frightening photo ops at will, created by some of the best haunters in Southern California… and beyond. Among them:
- Popular cosplay photographer Rawl of the Dead will be on hand throughout the weekend, taking complementary pictures of guests as they fight to survive a zombie apocalypse;
- Straite to Hale Productions invites fans to seek out spirits within their Winchester Mystery House-inspired walk-through experience, which is sponsored by the world-famous mansion in San Jose;
- The Pizza Planet Truck and Art’s Sideshow are joining forces to create a Disney-inspired display that’s been taken over by Chucky, resulting in anything but a fairytale ending for the delivery driver;
- The Dreich Society will take guests on a terror trip through the Fifth Dimension with their Twilight Zone-inspired haunt;
- Derry’s very own Mr. Floats will taunt and haunt visitors playing games of chance in his CarnEVIL Games zone, along with an assorted crew of nightmarish characters;
- The Ghostwood Manor home haunt will present Pharaoh’s Hall, an Egyptian-themed walk-through that will have visitors crying for their mummies;
- The Haunt With No Name… Yet returns with its elaborate Celtic cemetery “yard display” that remains a decades-old home haunt fixture in Los Angeles each Halloween;
- Santa Ana Haunt will initiate visitors into the terrifying cult world of Kormos and their blood-crazed rituals;
- The Haunted Harvest makes its Hall of Shadows debut as they introduce fans to the Notflix Killer in an after-hours encounter inside a closed Hauntbuster Video store;
- Tunnel of Terror, SoCal’s favorite haunted car wash, will treat fans to a 360-degree photo booth experience filled with terrifying monsters;
- Coble Haunter will be on hand with an all-new attraction, daring fans to take a stroll through their old-school haunted house where evil dwells;
- Fear Farm, who hold the title of tallest Hall of Shadows façade ever (24.5 feet in 2022) returns this year with a brand-new castle-themed attraction, creeping with evil creatures — and a built-in tavern that will be accessible to all guests 21 years and older;
- And for the first time, Hall of Shadows plays host to an out-of-state haunt — Wicker Manor — who are bringing the terror from Colorado to Long Beach for everyone to enjoy!
In addition, the Decayed Brigade will present three shows daily both Saturday and Sunday on their massive Hall of Shadows “runway,” as they thrill hundreds of onlookers with high-energy sliding maneuvers and pulse-pounding stunts in a slider exhibition like none other!
All of that and more will be waiting in the darkness of the Hall of Shadows for fans when the doors to Midsummer Scream 2023 creak open the evening of Friday, July 28, in Long Beach. All passes for Midsummer Scream include admission to every attraction within the Hall of Shadows. One- and three-day passes to Midsummer Scream are available now at www.MidsummerScream.org. Additionally, guests holding the Gold Bat VIP pass will receive “fast lane” access to most attractions within the Hall of Shadows, bypassing general admission standby queues.
