This past weekend marked the official start of the Halloween season with the first annual Midsummer Scream Halloween festival in Long Beach, Ca. The new show, created by the talented minds behind ScareLA, welcomed in the season with a host of panels, presentations and shows.

There were a lot of fun touches like Captured Aural Phantasy Theater presents “Tales from the Crypt” – Live!, these vignettes were performed in between featured presentations and guaranteed that there was never a dull or horror free moment.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre brought its special brand of live theater to the mix with Urban Death. If you haven’t seen that show then you haven’t witnessed unsafe live theater.

Not only did it have great presentations during show hours, but the party Saturday night was hard to beat with Noche de los Muertos, a costume party with a live band. But wait…what band? Oingo Boingo Dance Party! That’s right. You got to ring in the season with members of the original Halloween band!

As for the dealers floor, there were tons of awesome stuff to empty your pockets. From shirts and jewelry, to Halloween nick knacks and coffin shelves. You could also run into some horror favorites like David Naughton (An American Werewolf In London), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp) and Najarra Townsend (Contracted).

And when you were done shopping, there were haunts for you to visit. Yes. A ton of haunts were available to get your scare on early. These were mini versions of course but packed a punch and made for a creepy diversion.

So in short, the was a hella way to kick off the season. Something for everyone and I look forward to next year’s event. If you are out of town, it is worth the travel!