After the destruction of his school, and the deaths of his friends and teachers, a wizard detective seeks revenge on those who wronged him, in the new fantasy/sci-fi/horror series STRANGE. The show, written by James Manzo (RAW HEAT) and directed by Nick Fiore, stars Manzo as Crames Manticore, a wizard who sets out to bring to justice those who cost him his school, his friends and his teachers, while he tries to rebuild his own life. Fiore co-stars as Manticore’s teacher and mentor, Bumbleclock. The show’s first season is set for 6-9 episodes with the premiere episode debuting on Sunday (July 14). In addition, two trailers for the show’s first episode have already been filmed (now on Youtube), along with the pilot. An IndieGoGo campaign for production of further episodes is also set to launch in the near future.

Manzo developed the idea for STRANGE several years ago. Originally, he added some of the characters from his other show, RAW HEAT, but decided to take a different direction with his new show. After the show was developed, Fiore joined the production team. “James presented the idea for STRANGE to me in early 2012, and I guess once I heard about it, the idea sounded really appealing to me. It sounded like something we could do a lot of different things with. It was literally just like, whenever we’d hang out, we would talk about it and brainstorm. As it got more serious, headed towards production, James began writing and would send me different pieces of the script. The first step was making a trailer to show a taste of what the show would be like. The first production process of STRANGE was filming all these scenes, specifically for a trailer. The trailer went online in September of 2012. We were shooting it during the summer, and then we put it online in September, and started prepping for the actual episode.”

Influenced by popular films such as BLADE RUNNER, the HARRY POTTER series, and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, STRANGE sets itself apart from many other web series by mixing various different genres, thus creating a unique show that will entertain not only fans of horror and sci-fi, but also those who enjoy fantasy, comedy, and action.

“With STRANGE, we’re like taking so many different genre influences, and trying to mash them together. Just finding an aesthetic that supports all these different styles and influences is the real goal. When you see it, it can move from these incredibly gory moments, to humorous moments, to fantasy moments, and it all kind of flows and makes sense. We’ve done a lot of storyboarding for scenes, and some interesting lighting. Just creating this unique aesthetic that represents this genre blending that we’re trying to do here, and maybe creates a new genre in and of itself is the goal,” according to Fiore.

Fiore also created a one-of-a-kind setting for the show, along with equally memorable characters. “It’s like building a unique world, with unique characters, and sort of a unique society, and something that stands out. I feel like a lot of the times you see web series online that are horror (and) fantasy, and they want to be within a certain kind of pre-established world, or they’ll be like a spinoff of some popular intellectual property. We just want to create something totally new, and really pay off on all the different elements we’re trying to bring, as far as CG effects, makeup, cinematography, sound work.”

STRANGE is not only a story of revenge, but also a story about learning to start over, and to fight on, even after the worst happens. Says Fiore: “With STRANGE, if you look at the main character, we start off with him basically at a place where he’s lost everything that’s important to him. He’s kind of hit rock bottom. When we first meet him, he’s clawing his way out of that. The message is having the ability to persevere and to have strength in moments of absolute darkness and hopelessness, and overcoming those moments. In the first few episodes, it’s a matter of making sense of the chaos, and trying to figure out what’s happened, and what’s going to happen.”

YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/watchstrange

VIMEO: www.vimeo.com/strangetv

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/strangeseries

TUMBLR: http://strangetv.tumblr.com