For Amee Flipin, Long Beach’s annual Midsummer Scream gives her that same “cozy” feeling that Halloween did when she was a child.
“The creepy things that go bump in the night,” Flipin, a Bluff Heights resident, told the Post. “It gives you that delicious feeling.”
Flipin and her husband were among thousands of horror fans who gathered in and around the Long Beach Convention Center on Saturday for the three-day fright fest. Despite the 80-plus degree weather, droves of horror fans came dressed as monsters, creepy clowns, gory freaks, demons, witches and more—much more.

Flipin, dressed as a 1950s pinup girl, said she’s been attending the annual Halloween convention since 2016, its inaugural year.
“At first, it was more of an underground sort of industry-specific thing and it was more word of mouth,” she said. “And then it blew up.”

Over the weekend, some 40,000 were expected to attend the horror fest, but its actual attendance came in around 45,000, a spokesperson for Midsummer Scream said on Saturday. It has become one of the biggest Halloween celebrations in Southern California.

The beloved niche celebration returned last year after a two-year COVID-induced hiatus. During the sixth annual event weekend, scare fans indulged in haunted mazes, panels on popular movies such as “Saw,” sneak peaks of other horror events, celebrity meet-and-greets and live performances. On the showroom floor, thousands of vendors offered photo and shopping opportunities.

Many fans were particularly excited to enter the Hall of Shadows, a large area inside the convention center that was transformed into an immersive horror experience with mazes, haunted houses and performances. If you’ve ever been to Knott’s Scary Farm, this is a mini-version of that Halloween event.

Just before 1 p.m., hundreds scrambled into the Hall of Shadows to pick a spot to watch the Decayed Brigade Southern California Sliders. Fans delighted in watching the rag-tag group as they skidded across the floor, leaping over each other, mock-fighting and heaving themselves perilously close to one another—in full ghoulish character, of course.
Since the theme this year is Ghoulish Games, Los Angeles resident Simone Rochelle came dressed as “Gore Candyland.”
For her, Midsummer Scream is really about “seeing everybody’s creativity come to life.”




