Never the Twins Shall Meet

50 - Cautionary Tales About Evil Basements

It may be winter holiday season, but we are still firmly in Halloween mode! Coming a mere month and a half late, it’s our spooky season round-up of all the bloody, bone-chilling, or unnerving books and movies we immersed ourselves in for the month of October. Topics of discussion include how to put a fresh spin on classic horror tropes, the overwhelming number of Stephen King adaptations out this year, and, of course, the perils of evil basements.

 

Media Mentioned

• Peter Hujar’s Day dir. Ira Sachs
• Predator: Badlands dir. Dan Trachtenberg
• Prey dir. Dan Trachtenberg
• When Among Crows & To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth
• On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
• On Swift Horses dir. Daniel Minahan
• Down Cemetery Road (TV show)
• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
• Near Dark dir. Kathryn Bigelow
• Raging Grace dir. Paris Zarcilla
• Caveat dir. Damian McCarthy
• Oddity dir. Damian McCarthy
• The Long Walk dir. Francis Lawrence
• The Hunger Games dir. Francis Lawrence
• On Writing by Stephen King
• Rye Lane dir. Raine Allen-Miller
• Alien: Romulus dir. Fede Álvarez
• Late Night With the Devil Colin and Cameron Cairnes
• Murderbot (TV show)
• Fréwaka dir. Aislinn Clarke
• The Witch dir. Robert Eggers
• Ready or Not dir. Matt Bettinelli and Tyler Gillett
• Ready or Not: Here I Come dir. Matt Bettinelli and Tyler Gillett
• Enola Holmes & Enola Holmes 2 dir. Harry Bradbeer
• Now You See Me: Now You Don’t dir. Ruben Fleischer
• The Monkey dir. Osgood Perkins
• Life of Chuck dir. Mike Flanagan
• It: Welcome to Derry (TV show)
• The Running Man dir. Edgar Wright
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Black Phone 2 dir. Scott Derrickson
• Abraham’s Boys dir. Natasha Kermani
• Longlegs dir. Osgood Perkins
• The Silence of the Lambs dir. Jonathan Demme
• Keeper dir. Osgood Perkins
• Nope dir. Jordan Peele
• Get Out dir. Jordan Peele
• Us dir. Jordan Peele
• Hustlers dir. Lorene Scafaria
• His House dir. Remi Weekes
• Frankenstein dir.  Guillermo del Toro
• Pan’s Labyrinth dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Crimson Peak dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Pacific Rim dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Hellboy dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Wuthering Heights dir. Emerald Fennell
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• Boys, Beasts, and Men by Sam J. Miller
• Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio
• Hot Wax by M.L. Rio
• Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews
• The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum
• The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
• Knock Knock Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
• Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella
• Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Motheater by Linda Codega
• Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle
• My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
• Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz
• Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti
• Halifax Hellions by Alexandra Vasti
• Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

 

Content warnings: discussions of murder, death, COVID-19, anti-Asian hate crimes

49 – Summer Cinema Round-Up

In this episode, we discuss our summer in terms of movie-going, from big superhero blockbusters to contemplative indie dramas. Topics include our evolving taste in films, the benefit of cheap afternoon matinee tickets, and our weakness for cute animals sidekicks.

Content warnings: mentions of violence and death, racism, alcoholism, sexual assault, and homophobia.

Media Mentioned:

• Episode 48 – 28 Zombies Later
• The Pitt (TV show)
• Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy
• A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace by Emily Skrutskie
• Catwoman: Lonely City by Cliff Chiang
• 28 Years Later dir. Danny Boyle
• Superman dir. James Gunn
• X-Men: First Class dir. Matthew Vaughn
• Guardians of the Galaxy dir. James Gunn
• The Suicide Squad dir. James Gunn
• Upright (TV show)
• KPop Demon Hunters dir. Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans
• The Life of Chuck dir. Mike Flanagan
• On Writing by Stephen King
• The Phoenician Scheme dir. Wes Anderson
• Strictly Ballroom dir. Baz Luhrmann
• Rushmore dir. Wes Anderson
• Moonrise Kingdom dir. Wes Anderson
• Asteroid City dir. Wes Anderson
• A Quiet Place: Day One dir. Michael Sarnoski
• Fantastic Four: First Steps dir. Matt Shakman
• Gladiator II dir. Ridley Scott
• Episode 41 – There’s No Place Like Rome
• Wakanda Forever dir. Ryan Coogler
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
• Furiosa dir. George Miller
• Fantastic Four (2015) dir. Josh Trank
• Fantastic Four by Ryan North
• Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman
• Lord of Misrule dir. William Brent Bell
• Near Dark dir. Kathryn Bigelow
• In the Summers dir. Alessandra Lacorazza
• Dune (1984) dir. David Lynch
• Honey, Don’t! dir. Ethan Coen
• Drive Away Dolls dir. Ethan Coen
• Fargo dir. Joel and Ethan Coen
• Knives Out dir. Rian Johnson
• Jurassic Park dir. Steven Spielberg
• The Dark Knight dir. Christopher Nolan

48 – 28 Zombies Later

In a shocking departure from our vampire-obsessed podcast, this week we’re talking about zombies! Revisiting Danny Boyle’s cult-class film 28 Days Later, its awful sequel 28 Weeks Later, and the tonally surprising third installment 28 Years Later, we discuss the evolution of zombie media, social commentary in apocalyptic settings, and child protagonists in horror. 

 

Media mentioned:

• Silvercloak by L.K. Steven
• The Order dir. Justin Kurzel
• Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
• The Deviant by James Tynion IV
• On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl
• Say Nothing (TV show)
• Unearthed (documentary)
• Near Dark dir. Kathryn Bigelow
• Wildhood dir. Bretten Hannam
• Doctor Who
• True Detective: Night Country
• The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
• Anna and the Apocalypse dir. John McPhail
• Oppenheimer dir. Christopher Nolan
• Pacific Rim dir. Guillermo del Toro
• Once Upon a Time (TV show)
• A Quiet Place: Day One dir. Michael Sarnoski
• Romeo + Juliet dir. Baz Luhrmann
• Nosferatu dir. Robert Eggers
• The Suicide Squad dir. James Gunn
• Mad Max dir. George Miller
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler
• 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple dir. Nia DaCosta
• The Marvels dir. Nia DaCosta
• Ex Machina dir. Alex Garland
• Warfare dir. Ray Mendoza
• Annihilation dir. Alex Garland

Content warnings: discussions of disease, violence, death, suicide, slavery, attempted sexual assault and forced pregnancy, parental abuse, cancer, terminal illness.

47 – Literary Death Match Recap

In this follow-up episode to our previously announced literary death match competition, we discuss how our month of reading played out. Who won the competition? What were our favorite reads? Will we ever recover from the air of paranoia and competition that infiltrated our household? The answer to these questions and more await!

 

Media Mentioned:

• Careme (TV show)
• The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
• The Pitt (TV show)
• Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• Evocation by S.T. Gibson
• A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
• Enter, Ghost by Isabella Hammad
• The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes Hallett
• Cracked Spines podcast
• An African History of Africa by Zeinad Badawi
• The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
• Longbourn by Jo Baker
• The Rooster House by Victoria Belim
• Raised by Wolves anthology
• Eyes Guts Throats Bones by Moira Fowley
• This Love Lotte Jeffs
• One Day by David Nicholls
• Here, the World Entire by Anwen Kya Hayward
• Here by Wislawa Szymborska
• The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by KJ Charles
• The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles
• Maurice by E.M Forster
• Any Other City by Hazel Jane Plante
• Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
• Triple Sec by T.J. Alexander
• The Ninety-Ninth Bride by Catherine Faris King
• Last Seen Online by Wren James
• The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
• How to Gut a Fish by Sheila Armstrong
• In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O’Regan and Patrick Kane
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• That’s What She Said by Eleanor Pilcher
• Passing Strange by Ellen KlagesPeach Pit: Sixteen Stories of Unsavory Women edited by Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley
• Mint and Melancholy Nazik Adam
• Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill
• Let the Dead by Dylan Brennan
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver
• Passing by Nella Larsen
• Tha Vanishing Half by Britt Bennet
• Sixteen Souls by Rosie Talbot
• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart by GennaRose Nethercott
• Love in Color by Bolu Babalola
• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans
• The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
• Sleepless Volume 1 by Sarah Vaughn and Leila del Duca

46 – Just Eat the Darn Garlic

This week, we’re back to discuss Ryan Coogler’s musical horror film, Sinners. Following a pair of gangster brothers in the 1930s who return home to rural Mississippi to open a juke joint and find themselves facing down a supernatural horror. Blending horror, history, and blues music, it’s a rich and complex film that we also had an absolute blast watching. Topics of discussion include the film’s use of music, its historical setting, use of vampire lore, and recommendations for similar media. 

 

Content warnings: discussions of segregation, racism, murder, lynching, forced religious conversion

 

Media Mentioned

• Episode 44 – Literary Death Match
• Slow Horses (TV show)
• Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman
• Any Other City by Hazel Jane Plante
• Little Blue Encyclopedia (For Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante
• Bonus Track dir. Julia Jackman
• Sing Street dir. John Carney
• The 100 Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg
• Black Panther dir. Ryan Coogler
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dir. Ryan Coogler
• Creed dir. Ryan Coogler
• Queen of Katwe dir. Mira Nair
• Fruitvale Station dir. Ryan Coogler
• Robert Johnson (musician)
• “Me & the Devil” by Soap & Skin
• West Side Story (movie/musical)
• Anna and the Apocalypse dir. John MCPhail
• How to Blow Up a Pipeline dir. Daniel Goldhaber
• Mickey-17 dir, Bong Joon Ho
• “Doubling Up: How ‘Sinners’ and Other Movies Multiply One Actor” by Esther Zuckerman for the New York Times
• Anora dir. Sean Baker
• Poor Things dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
• This Film Is Not Yet Rated dir. Kirby Dick
• Nickel Boys dir. RaMell Ross
• “Ryan Coogler’s Road to Sinners” by Jelani Cobb for the New Yorker
• “Ryan Coogler Didn’t Want to Hide Anymore” by David Sims for the Atlantic
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish dir. Joel Crawford
• The Vourdalak dir. Adrien Beau
• The Last Voyage of the Demeter dir. André Øvredal
• AMC’s Interview With the Vampire
• Blue Eye Samurai (TV show)
• Geeshie Wiley (musician) 
• “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie” by John Jeremiah Sullivan for the New York Times
• Rhiannon Giddens (musician)
• A Complete Unknown dir. James Mangold
• Get Out dir. Jordan Peele
• Oddity dir. Damian McCarthy
• “Let’s Talk About the Irish Music in Sinners” by Leah Schnelbach for Reactor 
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• This is England dir. Shane Meadows
• Lord of the Rings: Return of the King dir. Peter Jackson
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
• The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
• American Ghoul by Michelle McGill-Vargas
• The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings
• Lovers Rock dir. Steve McQueen
• Artie and the Wolf Moon by Olivia Stephens
• Abbott by Saladin Ahmed
• Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
• Daughters of Jubilation by Kara Lee Corthron
• The Diviners by Libba Bray
• My Heart Struck Sorrow by John Honor Jacobs published in A Lush and Seething Hell
• Castlevania: Nocturne
• Lone Women by Victor LaValle
• Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

45 – He’s Gotta Die Ten More Times!

This week, we’re back to talk about Bong Joon Ho’s recent science fiction dark comedy, Mickey-17. It stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes, a disposable employee sent on a space expedition where he dies and is recloned again and again. Topics of discussion include the film’s satirical commentary on capitalism, some fascinating acting choices from the cast, and ugly-cute aliens. Lulu also tries not to bring up Twilight a lot and kind of fails.

Media mentioned:

• The Wheel of Time (TV series)
• The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
• The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton
• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
• The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
• Episode 36 – The Ballad of Cabbages and Coursework
• All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
• Widows dir. Steve McQueen
• Mickey-7 by Edward Ashton
• Snowpiercer dir. Bong Joon Ho
• Parasite dir. Bong Joon Ho
• Mad Max: Fury dir. George Miller
• Fargo dir. Ethan and Joel Coen
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire dir. Mike Newell
• The Boy and the Heron dir. Hayao Miyazaki
• Twilight (film franchise)
• High Life dir. Claire Denis
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dir. JJ Abrams
• Poor Things dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
• The Incredible Hulk dir. Louis Leterrier
• Black Panther dir. Ryan Coogler
• Hereditary dir. Ari Aster
• Hearts Beat Loud dir. Brett Haley
• Minari dir. Isaac Lee Chung
• The Borgias (TV show)
• The Count of Monte Cristo dir. Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière
• A Streetcar Named Desire (2023 production)
• Firebrand dir. Karim Aïnouz
• Severance (TV series)
• Dune 2 dir. Denis Villenueve 
• Okja dir. Bong Joon Ho
• Beowulf
• Blade Runner dir. Ridley Scott
• Fire Island dir. Andrew Ahn
• Episode 27 – More Pride and Less Prejudice

Content warnings: discussions of death, human experimentation, and evil capitalism

44 – Literary Death Match

This week, we’ve decided to be arbitrarily competitive! Tune in to listen to us discuss the literary death match we’ve decided to embark on in the month of May, plus how our reading has gone so far in 2025. Will our podcast survive this competition? Only time will tell!

 

Media Mentioned

• Cracked Spines (podcast)
• Woodworking by Emily St. James
• The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare
• The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko
• Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko
• Metal From Heaven by august clarke
• Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
• Headliners by Lucy Parker
• A Bloomy Head by J. Winifred Butterworth
• Personal Attention Roleplay by H. Felix Chau Bradley
• The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman
• AMC’s Interview With the Vampire
• Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley
• Projections by S.E. Porter
• The Indian Card by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
• I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum
• True Detective
• The Bluestockings by Susanna Gibson
• Shakespeare’s Sisters by Ramie Targoff
• The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck
• The History of Sound dir. Oliver Hermanus (upcoming film)
• Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
• The Hummingbird Killer by Finn Longman
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
• Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
• Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelopee
• Sinners dir. Ryan Coogler
• A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
• Evocation by S.T. Gibson
• A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
• An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
• Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
• What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
• Mexican by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Cosmo Sheldrake (musician)

43 – A Belated Bookish Retrospective

This week, we’re back with a definitely-on-time episode about our favorite books of 2024! Tune in for spine-chilling horror, characters that consume us, compelling nonfiction, and much more. 

For the full list of media mentioned in this episode, visit our website neverthetwinsshallmeet.com

Content warnings:

• Mentions of suicidal ideation (24:30-27:00)
• Mentions of slavery and racism (34:00-39:30)
• Mentions of cancer (1:00:00:30-1:02:00)
• Mentions of murder and slavery (1:03:30-1:08:55)
• Mentions of fascism and transphobia (1:15:30–1:20:35)
• Mentions of Nazi Germany (1:46:33-1:47:30)
• Mentions of antisemitism (1:51:50-1:52:20)

42 – Spooky Season Part 2: A Literary Extravaganza

Coming to you several months late, this week’s episode is a round-up of all the horror and generally spooky literature that we read in the month of October. Topics of discussion include female rage in the gothic genre, the blending of real history and supernatural horror, and how most college campus elevators are probably haunted. 

 

Content warnings: discussions of domestic abuse, serial killers, and the AIDs epidemic

 

Media mentioned

• The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry
• Upright (TV show)
• Woodworking by Emily St. James
• Severance (TV show)
• Episode 40 – Spooky Season Special
• Episode 41 – There’s No Place Like Rome
• Take All of Us by Natalie Leif
• The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
• Love Will Tear Us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
• The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
• Here in the Night by Rebecca Turkewitz
• American Ghoul by Michelle McGill-Vargas
• The September House by Carissa Orlando
• Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
• “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” by Sarah Pinsker
• Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
• “The V*mpire” by P.H. Lee at reactor.com
• Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter
• All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter
• Red X by David Demchuk
• Witch by Jen Silverman

41 – There's No Place Like Rome

Happy New Year! We’re starting 2025 off with our longest episode yet, discussing the two Hollywood blockbuster behemoths of fall 2024: Wicked: Part 1 and Gladiator II. Topics of discussion include stage-to-screen adaptations, lesbian subtext, costume design, the perils of sequels, and a significant amount of complaining about historical inaccuracies. Spoilers abound for both movies, as well as the entirety of Wicked the musical and, randomly, Stranger Things season four. Our review of Wicked takes up the first half of the podcast while our discussion of Gladiator II starts at the 1:12:46 mark.

Media Mentioned:

• The Gentlemen on Netflix
• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
• Cursebreakers by Madeline Nakamura
• Anna and the Apocalypse dir. John McPhail
• The Outrun dir. Nora Fingscheidt
• Bird dir. Andrea Arnold
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
• The Divergent movies
• West Side Story dir. Stephen Spielberg
• Widows dir. Steve McQueen
• Victorious (TV show)
• Bridgerton
• Crashing (TV show)
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
• The Fall dir. Tarsem Singh
• Everything Everywhere All at Once dir. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
• Kaos (TV show)
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini
• Thistlefoot by Gennarose Nethercott
• Gladiator dir. Ridley Scott
• A Quiet Place: Day One dir. Michael Sarnoski
• Normal People (2020)
• All of Us Strangers dir. Andrew Haigh
• Aftersun dir. Charlotte Wells
• The Last of Us (TV show)
• The Mandalorian
• Much Ado About Nothing dir. Kenneth Brannagh
• Stranger Things
• The Fear Street Trilogy
• Episode 34–Saltblah
• House of the Dragon (2022–)
• A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by Emma Southon
• A Rome of One’s Own by Emma Southon
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• “It Was an Enormous Task: Gladiator II’s Costume Designers on Outfitting Ridley Scott’s Roman Epic (and Getting Denzel to Wear Those Little Earrings) by Elaina Patton for Vogue
• Napoleon dir. Ridley Scott
• Kingdom of Heaven dir. Ridley Scott

Content Warnings: discussions of slavery, death, violence, homophobia, ableism, colonialism, and fascism.