We caught up with Zak Bagans today to talk a little bit about his upcoming projects, including “Ghost Adventures” Season 11, premiering this weekend; his film The Demon House; and his newly announced Sympathy, Said the Shark, which was accepted into the 2015 Portland Film Festival, running September 1st to the 7th.
Read on for all the details you need.
“I love the whole process of production,” says Bagans of his newest project, Sympathy, Said the Shark, on which he serves as executive producer. “My main thing has always been doing things documentary style. That’s what ‘Ghost Adventures’ is, that’s what The Demon House is… but production is production. It’s awesome when you can bring people’s brains together to work creatively to make something that is incredible. It doesn’t matter what genre it is. My director on this film, Devin Lawrence, has been working with me on ‘Ghost Adventures’ for over five years now, and we’ve been editing together for that long as well. It took me a while to find out that he also writes screenplays, and he’s really good at it. For the longest time he’s been showing me lots of different scripts. When I got the script for Sympathy, Said the Shark, I fell in love with it. I was immediately like, ‘What do you need to make this happen?’ I jumped on board and… man, you know it’s just such a cool thing. You know, I’m a paranormal guy; it’s who I am and what I do as a documentary filmmaker and host. My anatomy is designed to do what I do in the paranormal. I am a sensitive and an empath, and that’s something which nobody could ever take away. I love what I do, man, but I always love to explore other creative venues, especially and ONLY if I can do so with people whom I truly care about as friends.”
Bagans continues, “I came aboard because Devin is a truly talented and gifted person. We’re a lot alike in that we’ve both worked together so very long and we’re both very creative guys who love production. He likes to do more traditional narrative stuff and I’m the documentary guy, but once I came aboard… wow, it was just such a fun experience. We started casting and holding auditions out in Los Angeles and brought in all these different actors. I have to admit I was a little nervous at times because we were bringing in people who I’ve seen on things like ‘Dexter,’ but then things started getting really serious. This was as real as it was fun.”
“Devin and our producer, Matt Mourgides, it was like we were judges on ‘American Idol’ or something,” Bagans said with a smile and laugh. “We would start arguing over who we liked, and it took a little while to finally narrow down the final cast. We chose each role for specific purposes (i.e., how the actors would emote given certain sets of circumstances, etc.) It was just great, man. Such an experience and moreover something I hadn’t really had the opportunity to do before. As soon as I got involved in it, I was hooked! I was there for a good chunk of the production, and I can tell you these guys killed themselves for this film! They were working 14-hour days and Devin was able to handle the pressure like a champ, a true professional. That’s why I think he’s great… he has the same ability to handle things on the set of a film as I do when we’re filming ‘Ghost Adventures’ and things are going crazy and there’s a ton of shit to have to keep track of. I see a lot of myself in him and vice versa. He did an amazing job directing this film… he just killed it!”
“We had a lot of innovative ideas on this project,” said Bagans of the film’s production. “I give the actors all the credit in the world. They literally were filming super long scenes themselves while staying in character and wearing this special camera rig which was designed by Devin and the director of photography, Mark LaFleur. Everything, including the entire set, was lit with practical lighting, but it looks so cinematic. The movie literally looks like a multi-million-dollar film. This was a joint effort by everyone involved… every single person was dedicated and soldiered through a very intensive and laborious production, and I’m just blown away by the end result. I hope you guys will be too!”
Fans of Bagans’ album Necrofusion (review) will be happy to hear that some of the music from that ended up in the film as well. “Yes, some tracks from Necrofusion will be included in the film, and that’s very cool,” said Zak. “It really complemented some of the tracks composed by Carson Aune, who scored the film. I really couldn’t be more excited about this. This is just the beginning of a partnership between Devin and I making films together. In fact we’re already working on the next project, which is going to be bigger! The bottom line here is that if you can find people who are great, loyal, and creative, you can work together on projects that turn out great… projects that will hopefully have a great impact on the audience. If you can do that, put those pieces together, that means that you’re living life the right way. This was a huge effort that Devin lead valiantly. It just turned out great.”
For more information follow Sympathy, Said the Shark on Twitter @SSTSmovie.
Zak Talks The Demon House on the Next Page!
“We’re working on The Demon House documentary every single day,” said Bagans, updating us on the project. “Literally, producers and editors around the United States are working tirelessly, and I’m doing my best to maintain direction so that we successfully hit our deadline. We hope to have everything done about two months from now. It’s really hard to close the story on this project because every time that we do, something else happens that is nothing short of, ‘Oh my god, what the f? Holy cow, I cannot believe this stuff just happened.’ It’s as if this saga does NOT want to end. This is truly an incredible story, and I’m so happy that I got a chance to investigate it for a full year and a half instead of just the usual four days that we do on ‘Ghost Adventures.’ This was a chance for me to really study the anatomy of demons and the demonic. It’s sparked a new chapter in demonology in my life. This will certainly add to my legacy in the paranormal.”
“Without saying too much, we’ve been working with some of the pioneers of paranormal research. To be at the forefront of a case like this… a case that could be the most well documented in American history because of the level of people involved. Some of the people I have brought in… some of them have done over four to five thousand investigations. Just seeing the ways that this house affects them… the way that the house’s energy affects them… it’s both scary and astounding really. Some of them have literally landed in the hospital. The Ammons House is somewhat of an obsession of mine now. There is far beyond any explanation for this place. It’s incredible to be a part of! It’s all proved to be dangerous in ways that I couldn’t have possibly understood on the outset. I don’t think we’ll ever fully understand it. I truly believe what happened to this family was real. It really did happen. When you see The Demon House…” Zak paused here, seeming quite thoughtful and disturbed. “When you see The Demon House, you will see the unexpected things that happened to so many different people. It’s incredible, it’s special, and it’s just beyond reason. It’s hard to fully explain, and that’s why I love this project so much.”
Zak continues, “Working on this case… like I said, it never ends. There’s just so damned much of it. I do my best now trimming down all of this footage to feature length. I’m trying to button up the story, but when you’re dealing with true accounts of demons and so many credible witnesses, you don’t want to button it up. It’s just too powerful. This story just keeps continuing in the most surprising and frightening ways. This is what I’ve been waiting for, man. ‘Ghost Adventures’ will always be the most prominent and important thing in my life… I love it. I love the investigations and locations. I love the people I meet and the people I work with, but The Demon House… this is what I’ve been waiting for for ten years. This is the big case, the one I wanted to be deeply involved in. This is nothing I chose, it chose me.”
Zak Talks “Ghost Adventures” Season 11 on the Next Page!
“Season 11 of ‘Ghost Adventures’ is one of our best,” said Bagans. “We tackle the Clown Motel, a place that I despise and hate and don’t ever want to go back to, and we also have a two-hour Halloween special in Deadwood. We really penetrated the Native American culture that surrounds the area. While there, I got to interview Sitting Bull’s great-grandson and so much more. We also are using a lot of new technology in this season. Jay, Billy, and Aaron and myself… we’re really super-excited about the chemistry we’ve created between the four of us. The passion and the loyalty behind the whole crew. It’s just a great workplace and a great experience, man. We’re all very lucky to have each other. I promise you a lot of creepy and scary shit has been uncovered for this go-around.”
But… that comes with a price.
“You know, you would think after 11 seasons I would be braver by now and it would be easier for me to go off into the dark and stuff, but it’s actually the exact opposite. It’s been harder for me and some of the other guys to open up as much as we used to in terms of heading into solid darkness. Maybe we have just over-exposed ourselves to it. Speaking for myself, my empath and sensitive side? I’m basically an open mic now for spirits. A magnet. I feel it more when I’m investigating, and it’s been a bit of a challenge for me. I’m starting to connect visually… actually see spirits in my mind right before they speak, or right before I feel them. I can see their faces in ways that I’ve NEVER been able to before. I can see clothing… I’m really trying to understand it more as it’s been happening now for the last couple of years. It’s crazy, man, hard to explain,” says an exasperated Bagans.
“It’s like you sculpt your soul and your sensitivity and you keep working at it. Sooner or later your body starts to calibrate itself to interact better with the spirit dimension and the astral plane. There are times when I’ll find myself slipping into visions and thoughts that are new to me. Things I cannot explain. This all leads to physical manifestations like chills and emotions. There are times when I say to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing to my body?’ Those lockdown hangovers that I’ve described before, they’re just more intense now. Like waves crashing into me.”
Bagans continues, “Me and the guys talk to each other about that now because we’re all getting them. Exposing yourself to these things, especially the negative things, it can put you in the hospital. It is what it is though. For better or worse I’m addicted to it. It’s my escape… my rush. A getaway from this materialistic and repetitious life. Sometimes when I’m on an investigation and I’m in that bubble at a location, all of a sudden I’ll see things like furniture in an abandoned location. All of a sudden I’ll see and hear a radio playing in the corner. I mean, here’s this building that I was once scared to be in, and now I don’t want to leave. I’ll be bombarded with all these images of people… but then as fast as it came on is as fast as it leaves. When it does leave, I find myself exhausted. Barely able to breathe. This feeling lasts for two, sometimes three days. These things are getting worse for me and Aaron because we’ve been doing this so long… every other week for nearly a decade. We’re just hooked into it so much… show, no show, cameras, no cameras, it doesn’t matter anymore. We can only understand each other when we talk about it. It’s deep.”
Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures,” returns for a spine-chilling new season on Saturday, August 22, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
“Ghost Adventures” is produced by MY Entertainment for Travel Channel. For MY Entertainment, the executive producers are Michael Yudin, Joe Townley, and Zak Bagans. For Travel Channel, the executive producer is Daniel A. Schwartz.
For more info visit “Ghost Adventures” on Travel Channel, and “like” “Ghost Adventures” on Facebook. In addition be sure to follow @GhostAdventures, @Zak_Bagans, @JayWasley, @AaronGoodwin and @BillyTolley on Twitter using the hashtag #GhostAdventures.