Dagger Cast

It's a wrap and what a year it has been. We couldn't think of a better way to bring in the new year than with our old friend and co-founder of Dagger Cast, Brian Kirst! If you're a new listener, we highly recommend checking out some older episodes with Brian hosting, they are available on Youtube as well as Apple Podcasts! He is a human encyclopedia of film knowledge and brings us his picks of 2024! Lindsey also has her year end list! This episode is a joyous conversation that also gets very deep and personal. We would like to give a TRIGGER WARNING, for there is a discussion about child abuse. We understand this subject can be personal and upsetting to some but we feel it is so important to address it and are very grateful to Brian for opening this discussion for others to be heard. Brian is a torch bearer and he has had quite the year being published in the brand new and super beautiful book, Queer Horror, A Film Guide.... a deep dive into the history of Queer genre films with an article written by yours truly! Go order yourself a copy, reading is good for all of us! We watch too many movies!! We hope you enjoy our last episode of the year, go see all the films Brian and Lindsey suggest. Wishing you all warmth and comfort heading into the new year! xoxo - Lindsey and Jared

****If you or someone you know has been abused, help is available at the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 800-422-4453

Happy Halloween friends! We have another episode for you this week featuring Woodstock, IL. musician Tony Young, also known as Top 40 Tony! Listen in on the episode to find out why!! Tony gives some great song suggestions for us, digging deep into his knowledge of 60's Halloween Garage Rock songs. Lindsey gives her annual Halloween new movie suggestions and she discusses the classics with Tony as well as some pretty great dot connections between the Horror and music worlds. Tony is a Woodstock, IL. legend in his own right, he is so incredibly heartfelt and knowledgeable about film and music and an outstanding bass player that you can jam with every other Wednesday night at Liquid Blues on the Woodstock square (ummm you know, where they filmed Groundhog Day, so you can also nerd out on some locations...anyways...)! He's a hell of a guy and we are honored to have him for our Halloween guest this year. We hope you enjoy! Stay strange and VOTE!!!

Hello fellow witches and warlocks!.... it's been a bit but you knew we would pull through with some Halloween episodes. This week we have Kevin Roach! Not only is his voice as smooth as butter he also has a super impressive IMDB page, check it out and follow what he does! We continue our worship of everything Mike Flanagan, Lindsey weighs in on Longlegs, and much much more. We continue to spread our love for our favorite genre and appreciate your support. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube, and Soundcloud. Have comments, suggestions, or would like to be on our show? Send us a message here or to [email protected]. We would love to hear from you! Stay weird, stay freaky, take a deep breath cause this election season is one of the scariest things we have ever seen. Oof! Time for another FICTIONAL Horror film. Love you all, thanks for listening.

Happy Spring fellow Dagger Cast witches and warlocks! For our new episode we have Lilly Choi from Chicago darlings Chicken Happen ! Lilly and Lindsey discuss Asian representation in Horror as well as what movies shook Lilly as a kid. This is a fun conversation between two very talented singer/songwriters about our favorite genre. You can see both of them perform alongside Bleach Party and NITE SMOKE on June 13th at The Empty Bottle! See you there? Awesome!!! ****We would like to dedicate this episode to Steve Albini for our music scene in Chicago would be ordinary and boring without your existence. We hope to see your ghost on a late night walk through the NW side, your spirit as restless as ever. Gone too soon. RIP. 🖤. #chicago #band #podcast #representation #film #horror #punk #rock #piano #trio #chicken #happen #chickenhappen

It's April? Ok! Hope you're all stoked for this episode cause we have the one and only "Front Entity" from Chicago's new-wave-loving indie darlings The Baby Magic! If you've ever seen Mary Beth perform you will know that she is full of surprises and she certainly kept Lindsey on her toes throughout this discussion. She talks about her love of pacing in films and my goodness that is incredibly important! Mary Beth lives and breathes art and is one of Chicago's most interesting and eccentric performance artists. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we had making it! Go buy the new Baby Magic Vinyl at their band camp page and FREAK OUT!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's me, Jared, your DC producer who writes these wonderful captions and runs the socials. I was honored to be asked by Lindsey to come on my own show and talk about my love of gateway Horror movies and little monsters. I have always aimed for Dagger Cast to be raw and real, and it was very cool to actually sit in the guest chair and experience a conversation with our wonderful host. We also talk about how our podcast started as well as the music supervision work I did on Departing Seniors with my production company, Nite Smoke (which is begins streaming and showing in select theaters on February 2nd)! This is very much a Dagger Cast alumni film and we are so excited for everyone aboard. We have a lot of great ideas for guests this year and love making our little show. We hope you enjoy this little meta episode to start off the year! Stay cool, stay scary, stay weird, friends.

Happy December! This wild and crazy year is about to come to an end and we have a very special Folk Horror episode for you! No matter which spiritual monster you worship, there is something for everyone..... after all, Folk stories were meant to scare little children into behaving. Nothing more terrifying than a strange man coming down your chimney and eating your food. Our holidays are steeped in Pagan traditions, strange rituals, and terrifying snowy nights. Joining us, we have the charismatic Folk Horror fanatic and Babes with Blades artistic director Hayley Rice! If you don't know Babes with Blades, we highly suggest going to their website and booking yourself a ticket for their Spring 2024 show titled "The S Paradox", which was directed by Dagger Cast Alumni, Morgan Manasa! We hope you light some candles and enjoy this month's discussion! If you'd like to be a guest in 2024, send us a message at [email protected] or on Instagram. No matter your situation, we hope the holidays bring you peace and togetherness.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We couldn't think of a more appropriate guest than the one and only Shannon Candy! This one is a real treat, so grab that old pillow case it and fill it up with this wonderful interview! Shannon is not only an amazing musician (check out her latest release, So Long, on your preferred service or go buy it on bandcamp, it rules!!!), she is also a lover of our favorite genre AND a librarian! It was great catching up with her and talking about Talk to Me as well as a great conversation about musician burnout! Lindsey discusses some great Halloween movie suggestions as well. We hope you enjoy! Stay scary, friends!

Happy August? It is certainly the summer of our discontent but we are super excited for this new episode with actor/ninja Maisie Merlock!!! We believe the youth will save us all one day, please?!?! Maisie may play younger characters but she has no shortage of maturity. As our youngest guest yet, she is incredibly well spoken, poised, and full of positive energy! She has two independent Horror films rounding the festival circuit right now, one called Black Mold and the other is our beloved Departing Seniors (which is premiering at London Fright Fest next week!) Look them up on IMDB, follow them, be the first to know! In solidarity with the writers/actors strike we refrained from discussing her equally amazing television resume. We were honored Maisie took the time to talk with us about her love of old black and white Horror films (and the bloopers), as well as how important it is to have the right director in order to perform incredibly emotional/intense scenes comfortably. She is quite a talent and we are so excited to see what the future has in store for Miss Maisie Merlock. Enjoy!

Hello fellow Dagger Cast Horror freaks and rockers!.... this month we have Fern and David Arias of Chicago band Avantist joining us for a discussion on why dad's love The Exorcist, how older brothers have a tendency to recommend an overwhelming amount of movies/music to their younger siblings. as well as what Horror films are appropriate to show your kids. This episode was a blast to record and we hope you laugh as much as we did. Lindsey also discusses the Grimace shake phenomenon because yeah, it's weird and we like that kind of shit. Enjoy and stay scary friends! Let the cringe unite us all!