Acrobatic feats combine with horror imagery in Vampire Circus, which comes to Powers Auditorium the day before Halloween.

The touring show was created by Francisco Santos, who comes from a long line of entertainers and circus performers. And he grew up watching B&W horror movies with his grandmother on weekends. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was the first one that made a lasting impression on him.

“I’m a fanatic and crazy fan of horror stories and movies, and with my circus background, I wanted to bring both things together,” Santos said during a telephone interview.

While the show has horror elements, Santos said it’s more spooky than gory and described it as family friendly with Santos in clown makeup serving as the show’s emcee.

“It’s a really funny show,” he said. “We try to keep this spookiness. We have all the tension moments with the transitions and other things that happen in the show, but the clown breaks the rhythm and breaks the pace of the show every time it comes on stage … People need to laugh.”

Vampire Circus made its debut in 2010. While the basic structure remains the same, Santos said he tries to add new elements every year, especially since the tour is making return appearances in many markets.

As a performer, Santos excelled at the Icarian Games, a form of acrobatics where performers use their feet to juggle and launch other performers into the air. He collaborated with Cirque du Soleil on the Icarian Games elements of its production “Varekai,” and he brought some of the lessons he learned working with that organization to Vampire Circus.

“The thing that impressed me the most is how to transition from one act to the other without noticing you moving a big prop or setting up something,” Santos said. “There is always a scene, there’s always something happening that attracts your attention, and you’re not focusing on what actually is happening on stage.”

He also puts a premium on costuming and makeup. Instead of having the performers do their own makeup, which is the norm for a show of this type, Vampire Circus travels with a makeup artist.

The cast of 15 performers needs to be trained in different circus arts, but he looks for more than physical skills for the production.

“I look mainly for the character of the person,” he said. “You can have great skills, but maybe on stage you don’t give what you really have. It has to have a really good combination of being able to act a character through the acrobatic skills you have.”

If you go …

WHAT: Vampire Circus

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30

WHERE: Powers Auditorium, 260 W. Federal St., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Tickets range from $24.75 to $79.45 and are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.