Strange Deranged Beyond Insane
Everything paranormal and unexplained. History of buildings old hospitals any haunted locations along with personal experiences. Famous murders in Michigan. Ufo and extraterrestrial. Urban legends of Michigan. Folklores witches and tribal tales. Horror movies and unexplained curses and deaths on set.
Strange Deranged Beyond Insane
Into the Horrorverse: Welcome to Derry Anticipation, Doctor Sleep's Dark Psychic Journey, and Mike Flanagan's Cinematic Masterpieces
Have you ever wondered what it takes to keep the eerie magic of Stephen King's universe alive? Join me, Melissa, as I share my excitement and the emotional rollercoaster of waiting for the much-anticipated HBO Max series "Welcome to Derry." After navigating through the maze of production delays and misinformation, the official trailer has finally hit the screens, setting the stage for what promises to be a chilling winter release in 2025. As I pour my heart into crafting each podcast episode outline, I draw inspiration from re-watching horror classics like "Doctor Sleep" and "The Shining." These films not only enhance my collection but also reignite the thrill of experiencing them in stunning 4K quality on the big screen.
As the episode unfolds, we venture into the haunting narrative of "Doctor Sleep," where Dan Torrance must confront his past and forge a powerful psychic alliance with young Abra Stone. Together, they face the sinister True Knot, immortal psychic nomads in pursuit of Abra's extraordinary powers. With Mike Flanagan at the helm, "Doctor Sleep" both honors the legacy of "The Shining" and stakes its own claim in the horror genre. I also take a moment to appreciate Flanagan's other masterpieces, like "The Haunting of Hill House" and "Midnight Mass," before setting the mood for a spine-tingling watch of "The Watchers" during the witching hour. Get ready for a thrilling episode filled with horror reflections and the anticipation of stepping once more into the twisted world of Derry.
Hello everyone, welcome back to Strange, strange Beyond, insane, and this is your host, melissa Alright. So today I want to talk about one of the most anticipated shows that everyone, including myself, have been waiting to come out, and when I say waiting, I mean Jesus Christ. I've waited probably three years, and then the reason why it didn't come out on time was because, of course, the Holly Weird Strikes, there was a lot of misinformation and there was like fake release dates. I'm sorry, but this show is Welcome to Derry and this will air on HBO Max. It will be a series Again. It is a series, a pre-sequel to it, and you know the original it, which I happen to love, and you know the two newer it movies too, and it's supposed to go into depth, like the history, and explain how Derry became so haunted with this clown. All right, so I cannot wait for this show Again, I will say that, but I mostly cannot wait to watch it.
Speaker 1:In the basement, Of course, you know we have surround sound down here with the big TV, so I can't wait to feel the rumbling and the shrieking of the screams and just the airiness. I think it will definitely add to that. So we definitely have a official trailer and I watched it. I thought that there were many trailers, but there's only one, the real trailer, and I've probably watched it four or five times the other night. I just I'm literally so excited. So 2025, they said it's going to be released. I'm hoping it's like right in January or February when it's still cold out. Knowing our luck, it probably won't be till the spring, but I'm hoping it's sooner. So try not to be Debbie Downer about it, all right.
Speaker 1:So let me mention when I was writing this outline the other night, I was just like so into this because I am a big movie freak, I love shows, documentaries, and when I was writing all this my eyes were closed and which sounds crazy. But I do get. I do get a little, um, kind of like outside body experience. When I'm down here typing, I have like a typewriter, like keyboard, and I was just overwhelmed in joy that this is, you know, finally coming out. So I often find myself typing like a mad woman too, and I feel that when I type an outline before I talk about a podcast, it just leads up to more excitement to do it. You know, a lot of times I do things on the fly, sometimes I write outlines. Sometimes I handwrite outlines, like I did for the documentary Room 237 in just a recent episode, and you know, I have my little notebook, you know, which is writing like a madwoman as I'm watching this documentary. But it reminded me the other night. It's funny because I was like pounding on the typewriter keyboard and I felt like Jack from the Shining, right when he's like angrily and passionately striking his typewriter, trying to write his new book. So I just found that funny I wanted to share with you guys.
Speaker 1:So, speaking of the Shining and also reminiscing about this previous episode, the documentary Room 237, last week I finally re-watched Doctor Sleep. Now that is the third time I've seen that movie. The first time I seen it, I think it came out in 2019. I liked it, but I kept kind of like falling asleep. And then the second time I watched it, I thought, wow, this is pretty, this is pretty cool that Mike Flanagan did this Kind of like an add on to the Shining and shows him as an adult Danny. But I liked it so much I gave my husband the idea and I said, you know, because he's always trying to find like stocking stuffers for me, no, vice versa, me too for him. So I ordered him Lord of the Rings, director's cut. Okay, um, and that was. I gave it to him early, of course. So he ordered me Dr Sleep and the Shining, both in 4k. Dr Sleep arrived the next day.
Speaker 1:The Shining I have to wait for, I think, another week or two, um, but we're I'm super excited about that. He said he is gonna watch the Shining with me on the big screen down here, so it will be like a little mini marathon. So I cannot. I'm very anxious for that to get here. So I'm, I'm hoping that you know, we hear more news about Welcome to Derry exactly when it will be released, knowing they probably won't give you exact until it's like right about to come out. And then you know I have these movies now to rewatch Again. I've never seen the Shining on 4K, so I'm super stoked about that.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about, too, how crazy it is, at least for me, like when you watch certain documentaries and then you go back and you re-watch the actual movie, like your brain unleashes more knowledge and understanding. Right, there's just certain movies, documentaries and shows that you have to re-watch to like fully understand. So I do want to talk about Dr Sleep. So one clue that really jumped out at me in this movie is the young girl in the movie Abra, the house that she lived in. They showed the address. I want to say it was pretty early in on the movie. I want to say like the first 45 minutes and the address is 1980, which in fact is fucking fantastic and brilliant because the movie the Shining was made in 1980.
Speaker 1:All right, so basically, following the events of the Shining, after receiving a settlement from the owners of the Overlook Hotel, danny Torrens remains psychologically traumatized as his mother, wendy, slowly recovers from her injuries. The two are living in Florida, but angry ghosts from the overlook, including Mrs Macy, the woman in the room 237, still wants to find Danny and eventually consume his phenomenal shining power. And if you guys don't, don't remember to recap on this again, the shining, like when you shine, it's a paranormal gift that he had. He can see the past, the present and the future. Dick Holleran, the Overlook's former chef, teaches Danny to create mental lockboxes to contain the ghost. Chef teaches Danny to create mental lock boxes to contain the ghost, including that of former Overlook owner Horace Durant.
Speaker 1:As an adult Danny now going by, dan takes up his father's legacy of anger and alcoholism. Dan spends years drifting across the United States, but he eventually makes his way to New Hampshire and decides to give up drinking. He settles in the small town of Frayser on a psychic hunch, working first for the Frayser Municipal Department and then at the local hospice and attending alcoholic synonymous meetings. His psychic abilities, long suppressed by his drinking, reemerge and follow him I'm sorryge and allow him to provide comfort to dying patients, aided by a cat, az, that can sense when someone is about to die, dan acquires the nickname Dr Sleep.
Speaker 1:Abra Stone, a baby girl born in 2001, begins to manifest psychic powers of her own when she seemingly predicts the 9-11 attacks. She slowly and unintentionally establishes a telepathic bond with Dan through Tony, dan's childhood imaginary friend. As she grows, the contact becomes more conscious and voluntary and her shining grows stronger than even his. One night, abra psychically witnesses the ritual torture and murder of a young boy, bradley Trevor, by the True Knot, a group of immortal. By the True Knot, a group of immortal nomads who possess their own psychic abilities. The True Knot members wander across the United States and periodically feed on steam, a psychic essence produced when people who possess the Shining die in pain. They refer to their victims as rubes. The True Knot's leader, rose the Hat, becomes aware of Abra's existence and formulates a plan to kidnap Abra and keep her alive, making her produce a limitless supply of steam. The True Knot begin to die off from measles contracted from Bradley Trevor. They believe that Abra's steam can cure them.
Speaker 1:Abra asks for Dan's help and when he reveals his connection with Abra to her, her father, david, and their family doctor, john Dalton, though angry and skeptical, david agrees to go along with Dan's plan to save Abra. With the help of Billy Freeman, a friend of Dan, who also possesses a small Shining, they foil and kill a raiding party led by Crow Daddy, rose's second in command. However, dan realizes that Rose will relentlessly hunt Abra for revenge. He visits Abra's great-grandmother, concetta, who is dying of cancer at the Fraser Hospice, and telepathically learns from her that he and Abra's mother, lucy, are half-siblings with the same father, jack Torrance. As I'm sorry, with the same father as Jack Torrance. As Consetta dies, dan takes her diseased theme into himself.
Speaker 1:Meanwhile, among the true, not along with Rose's obsession with Abra, it leads to the group splitting up, leaving Rose with even fewer followers. Following another kidnapping attempt that Abra foils with Dan's telepathic help, she baits Rose into confronting her at the location where the Overlook Hotel once stood in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, now home to a campsite owned by the True Knot now home to a campsite owned by the True Knot. Dan and Billy travel to the site, while Abra helps them by using her astral projection. Waiting Dan releases the steam collected from Consetta to the remaining group of True Knot members and then killing all of them. He also frees the ghost of Horace Durant to kill the last member, silent Sari, waiting to ambush him, and Abra and the two fight Rose in a long psychic struggle. With help from Billy and the ghost of Dan's father, jack Torrance. They push Rose off an observation platform so she falls to the ground, breaking her neck and dying.
Speaker 1:Before leaving the campsite, dan sees his father wave goodbye, having finally found peace. So, finally, dan celebrates 15 years of sobriety and attends Ava's 15th birthday party. He tells her about the patterns of alcoholism and violent behavior that run in his family and warns her not to repeat them by starting to drink or submitting to rage. Abra agrees that she will behave, but before they can finish a conversation, dan is called back to his hospice. But before they can finish a conversation, dan is called back to his hospice where he confronts a dying colleague who had antagonized him in the past.
Speaker 1:So Mike Flanagan again is brilliant in every way. I mean he's a great director and a writer and he made that movie, directed that movie, and I think it's a great take on the Shining and it's a lot different to not try to be too much like it, you know what I mean, because you can never do a movie like that again, like the original one. All right, and if you guys are not familiar with some of Mike Flanagan's movies or shows, I kind of want to do a recap on that. So he did direct the Haunting of Bly Manor, the Haunting of Hill House, midnight Mass, the Midnight Club, the Fall of the House of Usher, doctor Sleep and Oculus. Now, these are just some of my favorites.
Speaker 1:Okay, when I first watched the Haunting of Hill House, that sucked me right into the storyline like right off the rip. I thought it was just terrifying and so good and you just wanted to see more, right. And then the Haunting of Bly Manor was right there with it, very captivating, and it still caught my interest. So the Midnight Mass was entirely eerie to me because it reminded me a lot of like Mackinac Island or even Put-in-Bay, ohio, you know. I just thought how terrifying to think, you know, wow, this could really happen and you would be stuck on an island with no place to go, with all that happening. So I thought that was terrifying because it could happen. Right, I want to mention that a movie that I was finally able to watch and I've been wanting to watch this and I woke up I don't know if this was like two weeks ago at 3 am, of course, witching hour and I thought well, it's a perfect movie to watch.
Speaker 1:And that movie is called the Watchers with Dakota Fanning. So this film opens with a man in a forest. He gets lost and appears to be killed when he is dragged underground. So at a pet shop in Galway, an American named Mina which is Dakota Fanning is asked to deliver a golden conure parrot to a zoo near Belfast. Her car breaks down in a forest. As she tries to find her way, she encounters a bunker and a woman who tells her to get inside if she wants to live. The woman, madeline, is living in the coop with Sierra and Daniel. Shortly after nightfall they all assemble in front of the coop's mirrored window for the watchers. Madeline tells Mina that the watchers will enjoy meeting her and that she will be safe if she follows the rules.
Speaker 1:The watchers kill anyone outside the coop at night. Nobody must enter the burrows, the underground tunnels where the watchers retreat during the day because of their aversion to the sunlight. So the group has been stranded in the forest for several months. Sierra's husband, john, left the coop days earlier but has not returned. Daniel helps Mina explore a burrow where she unearths several items like a camcorder and a bicycle, and she just escaped a watcher. And that was actually really terrifying. I think they did a great job with how those cryptids looked All right.
Speaker 1:So that night John appears at the coop. Madeline refuses to let him in. She is convinced it is a watcher imitating John. The watchers crack the mirror in anger. Madeline returns items to the burrow to appease them. As the winter falls, the group begin to turn hostile against one another. Daniel locks Mina and Madeline out of the coop one night, forcing them to seek shelter in the forest.
Speaker 1:The coop one night, forcing them to seek shelter in the forest. They witness the watchers, humanoid creatures that imitate the coop's occupants and react angrily to Madeline and Mina's absence. The pair get back into the coop and Madeline explains that the Watchers are shape-shifting fairies attempting to learn how to better mimic a human, mimic humans. The Watchers attack the coop. The group returns through a hidden door to an underground study. Mina uncovers Professor Rory Kilmartin's video diaries. Uncovers Professor Rory Kilmartin's video diaries. Kilmartin had come to the forest to study the fairies. He captured one of them and bonded with it. In his last entry, the professor explains how to escape from the forest and requests that his research be destroyed. He goes upstairs and shoots his captive and then himself. The next day. The group follow the professor's directions to a river at the edge of the forest. Madeline shows them a stone marker where the fairies were imprisoned without their wings after a war with the humans. A watcher mimicking John kills Daniel. The others take the professor's boat back to civilization.
Speaker 1:Okay, so in that part, when they get onto this bus, madeline, mina and Sierra I knew Madeline, like the older lady with like the white hair. She kind of looks witchy in the movie. I knew something was up with her. I'm like there was something up with. Honestly, I thought right off the rip on the bus I'm like she's dead. She's already dead and this is like her spirit that came back. But then I thought, well, maybe they're all dead, you know All right.
Speaker 1:So Mina visits the professor's university office to destroy the professor's notes. She learns humans and fairies once lived in harmony, with some even producing hybrid offspring that could withstand daylight. She is horrified to learn that Madeline looks like the professor's wife who died in 2001. She realizes Madeline is a fairy. At Sierra's they are attacked by Madeline. She explains she was the outcast by the Watchers because she could endure sunlight. Mina convinces Madeline to spare her life by explaining she is half human. Mina implores Madeline to let go of her hatred towards humans and find other hybrids. Madeline sprouts wings and flies away. Mina reconciles with her estranged twin sister and explains that Madeline is now kind of a guardian for her. The film ends on Madeline in the form of a young girl in a crowd.
Speaker 1:I love how this movie kept me on the edge of my couch and, like really made my brain work. It's kind of like one of those fucks your brain picks at your brain movies. I did have anxiety and it sat it kind of like kicked in while I watched these people stuck in a haunted evil forest with no way out. Even worse, uncanny, shape-shifting demons watching their every move and coming out for blood in the middle of the night If they weren't in the safe. I call it the mirrored cube shed. Again, I thought that was a great movie. So, yeah, so we have. Welcome to Derry. We have two movies to watch on 4K. Watch this movie finally.
Speaker 1:I forget when this movie came out. Let's look it up, the Watchers. Oh, it did come out this past year, 2024. Okay, yeah. So every time I've seen it on On Demand before it was free, I was like God. That you know, because I love Dakota Fanning.
Speaker 1:I think she's a great actress, and the lady that plays Madeline Alwyn Fiora, I think her name is um. She's a great actress too. She was in the movie oh, that's another movie too. I wanted to talk about um tarot. That was a great movie. Um, it was a little corny, but I remember her playing in that too. She's like the oh. It doesn't show her in here though. Oh, yeah, right here. Olwen Fuhrer, I don't know if I'm I'm probably not saying her name right. I always fuck up the names, but yeah, so you know, on this podcast we do talk about movies, shows, documentaries.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite episodes that we've done was Haunted Movie Sets. Those are some great documentaries. If you guys ever get into that, that's a rabbit hole too. So I do kind of try to explore a little bit of everything on here. Now, if you guys have any movies or shows or documentaries to add, please email us. Again, that's GhostSisters2124 at gmail. Ghostsisters2124 at gmail. You can find us on Facebook under Macomb Paranormal Research Society. You can find us on TikTok. You can find this podcast on YouTube, twitter, of course, TikTok and this podcast does play on all platforms. So again, you guys, I always want to hear from you and let me know what your favorite movies, shows and or documentaries are. Thank you guys for listening. Tune in for more.
