Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe?

• The Invisible Woman w/Stella Sacco

  In 1940, Universal cashed in on the success of their Invisible Man films with a spin-off, The Invisible Woman, which was very much not a horror movie! Instead, we got an extremely slight and forgettable screwball comedy. Now, in 2025, our guest writer/video game narrative designer Stella Sacco has been tasked with creating a new darker, scarier and (if you can believe it) gayer version of The Invisible Woman for our Dark Universe! Our podcast partner for this episode is 52 Pickup, a show about the most important comic of the 21st century, and the greatest series you’ve never heard of. Each week Journalist Gita Jackson and DC Historian Alex Jaffe read and explore an issue of 52, a 2006 exploration of the DC universe by a legendary team of talent that shaped everything that came after it. TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Start 00:01:37 - Welcome Stella Sacco! 00:13:17 - Choosing The Invisible Woman 00:23:08 - Plot Summary 00:50:30 - Stella’s Abandoned First Draft 00:53:25 - Stella’s Pitch 01:41:16 - Stella’s Plugs

  --------  

  1:45:08
• Mystery Men

  Hell has broken loose in the Dark Universe, and we could really use some levity — both there and in the real world! Fear not, for our heroes may be dead, but at least there's, uh, these guys. Time to meet Dark Universe MYSTERY MEN! For the first time, the Didactic Mr. Dylan has (mostly) stepped off his political soapbox to deliver a pure action-adventure romp whose primary objective is to show the fans at home a good time. Hear how Dylan took his mission to create some frivilous fan-service way too seriously and wrote a massive tome that had to be cut almost in half to make it to air. PLUS: A clip from our latest bonus episode, in which D&D workshop a Dark Universe version of Sondheim's "Into the Woods." TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Start 00:06:03 - Fan Expectations 00:14:24 - Act One 00:40:13 - Discussion 00:45:11 - Act Two Part One 01:07:54 - Discussion 01:13:41 - Act Two Part Two 01:29:37 - Discussion 01:37:07 - Act Three 02:10:56 - Mid-Credits Scene 02:12:27 - Post-Credits Scene 02:13:44 - Discussion

  --------  

  2:21:21
• The Covenant w/Lindsey Kelk

  Author, journalist, and co-host of the wrestling podcast Tights and Fights Lindsey Kelk joins Dylan & Dalton to revisit a cringey teen-targeted dark fantasy from 2006 — The Covenant, starring current Oscar-nominee Sebastian Stan! What makes this film so memorably bad, and how will Lindsey reimagine it into something worthy of our Dark Universe? Plus: Lindsey tells us about her latest novel, The Bell Witches, a YA/crossover fantasy with some very interesting (and entirely accidental) parallels to this week's movie!  AND THAT'S NOT ALL! Before we sign off for this week, Dylan's prepared a special teaser for his next canon pitch, Mystery Men! Our podcast partner for this episode is not a podcast, but a novel, written by AYADU cast member Ella Dawson! Check out her new romance novel, But How Are You Really? available now in print, e-book, and audio formats. TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Intro and meeting our guest, Lindsey Kelk! 00:05:42 - Breaking The Covenant (2006) 00:40:59 - Quick break for Ella Dawson to talk about But How Are You Really? 00:41:49 - Workshopping Lindsey's pitch for a prestige TV reboot of The Covenant 01:35:15 - Lindsey Kelk tells us about The Bell Witches 01:41:31 - A teaser for our next episode, Mystery Men

  --------  

  1:48:09
• The Old Dark House

  2025 kicks off Big, Old, and Dark with Dalton's first solo pitch of the season! It's a modern twist on gothic horror, based on a 1928 novel by J.B. Priestley and a James Whale Universal horror classic that was almost lost forever. How will Dalton reimagine this spooky tale to fit into the HELL ON EARTH era of our ongoing Dark Universe? We'll be real with you - this is a heavy episode, so we've included a trigger warning section that you can skip to before proceeding to the script reading. Listeners sensitive to depictions of sexual assault or trans characters in mortal peril may want to visit the timestamp below before proceeding into the episode. 02:15:26 - Trigger Warnings (SPOILERS!) This week's episode is brought to you by our Patreon, where we've posted the uninterrupted and unabridged reading of Dalton's script, which was just too plain long to keep in this episode. Also, this month on Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? we pitched a Dark Universe take on the Disney classic The Parent Trap! Enjoy a peek during this episode's intermission and start a 7-day free trial at Patreon.com/DarkUniversePod.  TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Start 00:06:43 - Fan Expectations 00:10:05 - Dalton’s Approach 00:15:54 - Trigger Warning Warning 00:17:21 - Episode Format 00:19:04 - Director Choice 00:20:55 - Act One 00:53:19 - Discussion 01:04:24 - Act Two Part One 01:28:11 - Discussion 01:38:09 - Act Two Part Two 01:52:48 - Discussion 01:57:36 - Act Three 02:15:26 - Trigger Warnings (SPOILERS!) 02:17:09 - Discussion

  --------  

  2:44:19
• Another Dark Universe Holiday Special

  ED. NOTE: At 5:04 in this episode, Dylan says that National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is "not good" and that he "watched it for Dalton," only laughing "one time." However, if you check Dylan's Letterboxd review from last year, he ADMITS he only watched the first half hour before tapping out. That, in this reporter's opinion, does not count as watching the film and I move that his comments be stricken from the record. -Dalton It's that time of year again, the time when we take a break from punishing our beloved characters and let them enjoy a nice, low-stakes holiday adventure. What do we have in store for the Dark Legion this time? Will they face another mythical Christmas creature? Will we riff on another time-honored holiday classic? You'll never guess. Special thanks to our voice cast: Kendra Wells, Ella Dawson, Patrick Gill, Gita Jackson, Jo Kroger, Rachel Millman, Branson Reese, Steph Salo, and Joe Stando. This episode is brought to you by the new EP from Dalton's insane side-project, The B-69s, and their new EP brat but it's in the style of the B-52s so it's not, available for free on BandCamp and wherever you stream music! TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Start 00:07:18 - Fan Expectations 00:18:23 - Another Dark Universe Holiday Special 01:14:45 - Discussion 01:43:52 - Fireside 01:47:16 - This Christmas Is Yours

  --------  

  1:51:33

Weitere TV und Film Podcasts

Trending TV und Film Podcasts

Über Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe?