The 2024 Festival of Monsters has ended! We will be back in 2025.

The 2024 Festival of Monsters opens Oct. 11-12 with a weekend of free pubic events for all ages. Festivities begin 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at the Museum of Art and History (705 Front St., Santa Cruz) with a reading and Q&A with Kiersten White, the New York Times Bestselling author of Hide. White will be reading from her new book Lucy Undying, a dark romantic fantasy novel that explores what happens to Lucy Westenra once she escapes Dracula’s thrall.

At 6 p.m., Chris Zephro of horror design company Trick or Treat Studios will talk about monster masks. Masks and memorabilia will be on display.

At 7 p.m., local company Circus of the Moon will perform Pluto’s Labryinth, a twisted journey of shadows and demons featuring aerialists, acrobats, and ensemble dance.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12,  there will be a free outdoor screening of the silent 1922 F.W. Murnau film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror on the Oakes College upper lawn (231 Oakes Road, Santa Cruz). Professor Emertius H.M. Leicester will introduce the classic vampire film, which stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok.

Events the weekend of Oct. 11-12 are free and first-come, first served.

Visit this page for details about the 2024 Festival of Monsters Academic Conference, Oct. 16-18.

The 2024 Festival of Monsters is grateful for the support of Porter College; Oakes College; The Arts Research Institute; The Humanities Institute; Sigfried and Elizabeth Mignon Puknat Endowment; University of California Humanities Research Institute; the UC Santa Cruz Department of Literature; the UC Santa Cruz Department of Performance, Play and Design; Crown College; Good Times; Trick or Treat Studios; Bookshop Santa Cruz; Atlantis Fantasyworld; James Gunderson and Peter Coha.