Talking Strange Paranormal Show

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

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Talking Dead Mall Horror Comic Aug 18, 2023

Show notes

In the Dark Horse Comics title Dead Mall, available now as a trade paperback, five teens explore an abandoned shopping mall, only to discover that not only is the mall not empty, it’s driven by an evil force, and populated by strange creatures — and everything seems quite hungry. Written by Adam Cesare with art by David Stoll, Dead Mall is a supernatural cosmic horror and fresh entry to the mall horror subgenre that calls to mind The Shining, Hellraiser, and the works of Lovecraft. Cesare and Stoll join host Aaron Sagers to talk about what makes malls scary, the new kind of haunted houses in America, and the urban legends/Internet folklore of modern Americana.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Last Voyage of the Demeter with Director André Øvredal Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

The Last Voyage of the Demeter, in theaters now, is Based on a single chilling chapter from Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula. It tells the terrifying story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo—fifty unmarked wooden crates—from Carpathia to London.

The film stars Corey Hawkins (In the Heights, Straight Outta Compton) as Clemens, a doctor who joins the Demeter crew, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones, The Nightingale) as an unwitting stowaway, Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Clash of the Titans) as the ship’s captain and David Dastmalchian (Dune, the Ant-Man franchise) as the Demeter’s first mate.

Director André Øvredal also directed Trollhunter, Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark, Autopsy of Jane Doe, and Mortal. Andre joined Talking Strange's Aaron Sagers to talk about this missing tale of the Dracula lore, what makes Dracula an enduring movie monster, and what other scary stories André wants to tell in the dark. AND whether he'd prefer to face off against vampires or trolls.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking with 'Talk To Me' Directors Michael and Danny Philippou Aug 05, 2023

Show notes

The new A24 horror movie Talk To Me is creating a lot of buzz, critical acclaim, and making a ton of money — and it has a lot to say about the paranormal, and is creepy as hell. To discuss the hit and the lore behind the movie (and tease out some ideas about the rules of ghosts), twin brother directors Michael and Danny Philippou join Aaron Sagers for a bonus episode of Talking Strange. The brothers also discuss creepy stories from their home in Australia and one encounter with a very disturbing human.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking with Jamie Lee Curtis, and David Dastmalchian Returns! Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis is an icon whose career has spanned every genre, even though she is still best known for her work in horror. Now, she has a new graphic novel out Aug. 8 called Mother Nature, which is an eco-horror about supernatural forces, a young woman, and oil company's domination of a town. Co-written by Russell Goldman with art by Karl Stevens, the book is already set to become a Blumhouse Productions movie with Curtis set to direct. (Curtis could not discuss her role in Haunted Mansion as Madame Leota due to the SAG-AFTRA actor's strike to secure better working conditions).

Then David Dastmalchian returns to Talking Strange for a third time to gives us an update on his Count Crowley comic with Dark Horse Comics, as well as discuss the new Count Crowley fright mask, and tease his comic Knights vs. Samurai with legend Todd McFarlane. David generally also dips into the world of monsters and other stuff he wants to geek out about. (David Dastmalchian currently stars in Oppenheimer and in The Last Voyage of the Demeter vampire horror movie. He was not able to discuss these films due to the SAG-AFTRA strike).

_______________________________________________________________

Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Small Talk: ‘Talk To Me’ Meaning & Ending Explained Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

Spoilers: This mini-sode contains spoilers about the ending of the horror film Talk To Me.

In the new paranormal pop culture film Talk To Me, which opened on July 28, a group of Australian teens discover a new kind of high in communing with the dead, by briefly allowing possession of their bodies via an embalmed hand of mysterious origin that serves as a gateway. There are rules to be followed with the spirit communication, and when those are broken, the character Mia (Sophie Wilde) learns the dead are not content with a temporary pass into the realm of the living.

Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou, the A24 film pays homage to cinematic tropes, and real-world rituals, culminating in a finale that warrants further examination. Host Aaron Sagers investigates the paranormal aspect of Talk to Me, as well as the larger psychological subtexts hidden in its bleak ending.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Haunted Mansion with Director Justin Simien Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

"Haunted Mansion" director Justin Simien joined host Aaron Sagers in the Den of Geek Studios at San Diego Comic Con 2023 to discuss the new movie, which opens July 28. In the following conversation, Simien talks about the life and death of New Orleans, and why it became the setting for the film. He also reveals his own Haunted Mansion origin story, and his favorite ghosts. Simien likewise discusses the magic of "scary fun" for families and how to be spooky without terrifying kids.

Inspired by the classic theme park attraction, “Haunted Mansion” is about a woman and her son who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters. The film is set in New Orleans at the Gracey Manor we know from Disneyland, and stars LaKeith Stanfield as a scientist with paranormal tech, Tiffany Haddish as a medium, Owen Wilson as a priest, Danny DeVito as a historian, Rosario Dawson as the mom, and the excellent newcomer Chase W. Dillon as her son, as well as Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota, and Jared Leto as the hat box ghost.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Third Eye with Felicia Day, Jonah Ray Rodrigues, London Hughes Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

In the new Audible fantasy-supernatural-comedy series "Third Eye," Felicia Day plays Laurel, a failed Chosen One wizard whose life is a hot mess when she encounters a young normie who might have her own abilities. Along the way, Laurel encounters a cast of characters, such as the trainwreck of a fae Sybil (voiced by London Hughes) and other characters voiced by The show boasts a big cast including Sean Astin, Alan Tudyk, Wil Wheaton, Christopher Judge, Larraine Newman, and Neil Gaiman. The series debuts October 5, 2023, but the first chapter is available at audible.com/thirdeye. Creator and writer Felicia Day, director and comedian Jonah Ray Rodrigues, and London Hughes joined host Aaron Sagers at San Diego Comic Con in the Den of Geek studios to discuss the new series.

_______________________________________________________________

Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking Joshua Dairen Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

Joshua Dairen is a researcher whose deep dive into history and the paranormal has led him to become a rising star in both genres. He mainly focuses on the South, but he explores the details around urban legends across the country and the secrets they sometimes hold. He’s become immensely popular in a short amount of time because of his skills as a storyteller, and he has 157 thousand followers and 2.3 million likes on his TikTok Account. (He also owns The Coffee Shop in Opelika, Alabama. One of the few Black-owned coffee shops in Alabama, and in the entire South.) He joins host Aaron Sagers to discuss his origins in a South Black family, raised with religion and aversion to the paranormal, to what intrigued him about legends, and what to do when people want the past buried, and what creeps him out.

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Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers:

(For Q&As, livestreams, cocktail classes, and movie watches)

Until Next Time:

Be Kind.

Stay Spooky.

Keep It Weird.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Talking the Germanic Ghosts of Swillburg Jul 07, 2023

Show notes

It's listener submitted story time on Talking Strange this week as we select two tales to highlight for the main episodes. First up is a story about potential extraterrestrials in a child's bedroom (which look like a either a ghost or reptile?), and a skeptical parent. Then, Rochester, NY, storyteller and comedian Penny Sterling submits her story about a haunted house and a ghost who isn't the greatest musician.

If you have a tale of ghosts, aliens, strange creatures in the woods, a danger sense that saved you from harm, or encounters with humans so bizarre they made your skin crawl, send them in as text or audio files to be shared on a future episode of Talking Strange. Just email: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com.

_______________________________________________________________

Email us with episode ideas, and guest suggestions, or for a chance to have your letter read on a future episode: TalkingStrange@DenOfGeek.com

Follow Host Aaron Sagers: