Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe?

In preparation for the upcoming Dark Legion 2 event, hosts Dalton Deschain and Dylan Roth attempt to summarize the entire series as concisely as possible, fuelled by nothing but caffiene and corn nuts. Can the architects of the new Dark Universe retain their sanity long enough to provide an onramp for new listeners? Will any of this make sense? We sure hope so, because in two weeks, the next crossover epic begins! You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Start a FREE 7-day trial today and get access to our Discord server, where we host movie watch parties on weeks when there's no new AYADU episode. Contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Our podcast partner for this episode is No Bad Food, a show about great food and the people who love to make & eat it. Every week, hosts Tom Zalatnal & Teffer Adjemian dig into a different dish, meal, ingredient, cuisine, or piece of food media, exploring the history & culture around it, sharing favorite recipes, and learning from their wonderful guests. The only rule? You've gotta love it. After all, there's no such thing as bad food.

Hot on the heels of Dylan's Dracula Lives, our guest and fellow film critic Dominic Griffin joins us over Skype to pitch a reimagining of Dracula's Daughter, which was a direct sequel to the 1931 Dracula. What makes this lesser-known Universal monster movie a hidden gem, and how much of it do we want to retain for our Dark Universe remake? Will Dom's pitch become adopted into our canon? Our partner podcast this week is Original Podcast Do Not Steal, a weekly show in which every week Devin and Amber Autumn discuss one franchise, intellectual property, or idea, and make an original character within that framework. They recently did an episode pitching a TV spin-off from our own Dark Universe!

You've waited patiently for our Dark Universe to get its first Dracula movie. Now, in the aftermath of The Dark Legion: House of Dracula, the infamous Count has been cursed with a mortal, human life, and must survive a gauntlet of vengeful enemies. Can Dracula endure this unprecedented threat? More importantly, has Dylan FINALLY written a horror script? Find out the our penultimate main line chapter of Phase 2! Our podcast partner for this episode is the sci-fi fantasy book podcast Shit We've Read, in which hosts Laura Benson, Jason Rico, Bella Romero, and the occasional guest review books, interview authors, and occasionally dip into the steamy world of romance novels.

Writer, editor, and podcaster merritt k. visits the studio to pitch her remake of the 1934 Universal classic that's kinda-sorta-not remotely based upon an Edgar Allan Poe story: The Black Cat! It's a film that asks, "What if a house had bad vibes?" as well as a number of other interesting questions that it doesn't have time to answer in its scant 65-minutes runtime Can merritt's new take fulfill the promise of the original? You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Start a FREE 7-day trial today and get access to our Discord server, where we host movie watch parties on weeks when there's no new AYADU episode. Contact us at Twitter, Instagram, or Bluesky @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Our partner podcast this week is past guest Giovanni Colantonio's show Left Trigger Right Trigger, your video game book club where the hosts discuss games centering around a new theme every week.

We might need to subtitle Phase 2 as "The Experimental Era," because once again we've taken a well-known, well-loved Universal monster title and turned it completely on its head. It's time for Dalton's take on The Bride of Frankenstein, and it's not what any one could have possibly expected. Will this be the installment that polarizes the fanbase, The Last Jedi-style, or another entirely hypothetical smash hit? You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Start a FREE 7-day trial today and get access to our Discord server, where we host movie watch parties on weeks when there's no new AYADU episode. Contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Our partner podcast this week is Shit We've Read, a sci-fi/fantasy book podcast. Each month, Laura Benson, Jason Rico, and Bella Romero (with the occasional guest host) will read a new book, then discuss it in an episode.

We've worked through all of the major classic Universal Monsters, but our Dark Universe is still going strong! So, in the tradition of Marvel Studios, we're inviting some of the Internet's keenest creative minds to pitch us new takes on more obscure Universal horror properties. First up, cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky and writer Jaya Saxena attempt to charm us with a requel based on a 1973 snake-centric creature feature, "Sssssss!" (Emphasis ours; This is important.) That's not a typo in the title above — Mattie and Jaya's version is spelled with eight esses and an exclaimation point, rather than the original's seven and no exclaimation point. Find out why in this exciting episode! You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Our podcast partner for this episode is No Bad Food, a show about great food and the people who love to make & eat it. Every week, hosts Tom Zalatnal & Teffer Adjemian dig into a different dish, meal, ingredient, cuisine, or piece of food media, exploring the history & culture around it, sharing favorite recipes, and learning from their wonderful guests. The only rule? You've gotta love it. After all, there's no such thing as bad food.

It's Dylan's turn to pitch a movie, and he's unmasking a new take on The Phantom of the Opera! One of the most unlikely Universal Monsters is also one of the oldest, dating back to a 1925 silent film starring Lon Cheney, Sr. But can any modern retelling of the Gaston Leroux novel escape the gravity of Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical adaptation? Should it? Oh, have we got some surprises in store for you this week... Our podcast partner for this episode is The Mirror Universe Star Trek Podcast, a thoughtful program in which an Australian and a Canadian have a conversation about Star Trek: what we think it is, how it's evolved over the years, and how it reflects our culture...like a mirror. Dylan has become a regular panelist on this show, so if you're not tired of hearing this guy talk, here's where you can find some more. You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Special thanks to Ella Dawson, Izzy Hodnett, Steph Salo, and Joe Stando for their contributions to this episode.

Wrestling columnist Nick Bond phones into the show (against former co-worker Dylan's objections) to pitch a WWE match incorporating characters from our Dark Universe! Which WWE Superstars will be entering the AYADU canon? Which of our famous movie monsters will be taking a Canadian Destroyer off of a hotel staircase? All this plus the listener mail bag in this electrifying new episode. Today's partner podcast is Comics-Coffee-Metal, a conversation with creatives about and around Comics, Coffee, and Heavy Metal music. Hosted by Don Cardenas. Check out Dalton's appearance in Episode #93, available wherever you stream Are You Afraid of the Dark Universe. You can support Dylan & Dalton's creative pursuits by subscribing to their Patreon, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬!

Brace yourself as we dive into Dalton’s bold and unexpected new take on another Universal classic, simply titled: The Black Lagoon. What are the essential ingredients to an aquatic creature feature? What’s the difference between art and pop? How does one escape the shadow of The Shape of Water? Those answers and more in the latest chapter in our ongoing Dark Universe.  Plus, a major announcement: Dylan & Dalton are launching a Patreon! Please consider joining their Discord and supporting their new creative podcast, Are You Afraid of Dylan & Dalton? Find more details towards the end of this episode, or at patreon.com/dylananddalton Our partner podcast for this episode is What Mad Universe?!?, a podcast about genre pulp and the origins of SF and fantasy! Every two weeks we read a book or book series, suggested by either Adam Prosser or Philip Rice, the hosts, and look at its place in pop culture history.  TIMESTAMPS Start: 0:00:00 Fan Expectations: 0:04:20 Dylan’s Expectations: 0:12:10 Dalton’s Process: 0:13:02 Cold Open: 0:17:58 Cold Open Reaction: 0:24:51 Act 1: 0:27:06 Act 1 Reaction: 0:57:53 Act 2: 1:03:00 Act 2 Mid Point Discussion: 1:18:30 Act 2 Continues: 1:25:20 Act 2 Discussion: 1:33 :34 Act 3: 1:35:29 Mid Credits Scene: 1:50:22 Post Credits Scene: 1:51:20 Post Pitch Breakdown: 1:52:13 Housekeeping: 2:00:50 Special thanks to Callie for marking this episode's timestamps!

The success of our revived Dark Universe is bound to spark competition, and that means someone's bound to reboot The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! As a form of opposition research, the studio has assigned Calvin Kasulke, author of the novel Several People are Typing, to pitch a requel to the 2003 flop based on the Alan Moore/Kevin O'Neill comic. It's our rowdiest episode yet! Starting this week, not only can you contact us at Twitter or Instagram @DarkUniversePod or email us at darkuniversepod@gmail.com, you can also leave us a voicemail at US ‪(917) 819-2574‬! Our partner podcast this week is Finding Monster Right, where hosts Adam and Allie answer questions you've never asked about monsters from folklore, pop culture, and our own world.