Our dear friend Erica Schultz is back on the show — coincidentally right around Mother’s Day — to talk about her book, The Sweetest Taboo: An Unapologetic Guide To Child Kills In Film (which you can still buy through that link if you haven’t ordered it yet, though get on it because it’s selling like hot cakes). We talk about how the book came to be…

What force on earth could compel us to the suburbs of New Jersey and Staten Island to watch movies? Learn more by following us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help …

We’ve gotten a lot of requests to do an episode on the great Stalked By My Doctor series, starring the absolute king Eric Roberts, and we finally delivered. Lifetime Channel thriller enthusiast Rob Weychert joined Charles and Samm to talk about this wild trend in made for TV movies and we honestly had the best time. We discuss everything from histo…

The latest Death Nerve is here, and it’s a real throwback! Acting as a spiritual successor to our Texas Psychorama episode from a couple years back, Death Nerve founding member and true dyed in the wool freakshow Jon Dzwonar is back with a fiendish 6 movie marathon! Unfortunately, Samm got stuck in the hospital visiting her catatonic friend Patrick…

In this episode, Samm gives an impassioned argument for why you should watch as many Kenji Misumi movies as possible and Charles dons a tinfoil hat to explore the connection between the death drive and ’00s disaster movies. What the hell does that mean? Learn more by following us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entir…

How am I supposed to relate to a character who has CGI blood coursing through their veins? Find out the answer to this question for the ages by following us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitc…

Dune has been one of Samm’s favorite books since childhood and Charles has become similarly obsessed (maybe even more so), so it was inevitable that we were going to do cover it at some point, because… the spice must flow. For this episode — which covers everything from Herbert’s first few books to David Lynch’s adaptation and the two Villeneuve fi…

From the inception of Twitch of the Death Nerve, an episode on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) seemed inevitable. It’s a film that has had an incredible influence on Samm’s life, plus we got to see it on 35mm recently at a sold out screening in NYC. Luckily we found the perfect guest, Annie Rose Malamet, who shares Samm’…

Follow us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help us keep the show ad free and on the airwaves forever! The post Twitch of the Death Nerve Preview: Let My Puppets Hug …

For this episode, we’re diving in to the Hong Kong New Wave through the work of underrated auteur Patrick Tam. Dear Death Nerve friend Bobby Rodriguez joins to help break down the history of political turmoil in Hong Kong in the ’60s as it relates to the birth of the New Wave. We talk about its origins in television, how the Hong Kong New Wave is d…

Follow us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help us keep the show ad free and on the airwaves forever! The post Twitch of the Death Nerve Preview: 2023 Was All Bad ap…

Happy New Year! Charles and Samm had a lot of fun talking through their respective favorite films of the year: this includes both their top 10 films watched for the first time, but a few runners up and a run through of some Letterboxd stats like top actors and top directors. As a result this episode is all over the place in terms of geography, genr…

Follow us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help us keep the show ad free and on the airwaves forever! And have a happy holidays!!! The post Twitch of the Death Nerve…

Follow us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help us keep the show ad free and on the airwaves forever! The post Twitch of the Death Nerve Preview: Questions Part Deux…

We’ve been wanting to do a Death Nerve Q&A episode for awhile and we got so many great questions from social media, the Patreon, and our Discord. We got to talk about everything from rape revenge movies to dream blu-ray releases, favorite books, under-seen films of the 1940s, Stalked By My Doctor, why Samm dislikes New Hollywood, Stalked By My Doct…

That’s another Halloween season and another Exhumed Films 24-hour Horrorthon in the books. This year’s Horrorthon was particularly delightful, because so many of our friends and listeners were in attendance. Harry, Dan, and Jesse from Exhumed Films had a packed lineup this year and we break it down, film by film, in the latest Death Nerve episode. …

This Halloween, Charles and Samm dive into one of the best cozy horror subgenres — the slasher film. This episode breezes through 10 of our favorite underrated slasher movies, with some probably predictable choices and others that are more niche. We also talk about what exactly constitutes the slasher genre and how it intersects with and differs fr…

Follow us on Patreon to unlock this full episode and instantly access our entire back catalogue of bonus episodes, video essays, written essays, and several of Samm’s ongoing solo podcasts. Support Twitch of the Death Nerve and help us keep the show ad free and on the airwaves forever! The post Twitch of the Death Nerve Preview: Asperger Auteur The…

The latest Twitch of the Death Nerve episode celebrates one of America’s greatest heroes — hardcore icon Jamie Gillis. Charles and Samm are joined by gentleman pervert Shawn Porter to discuss Jamie’s incredible career, the Golden Age of Porn, Radley Metzger, Water Power, Gerard Damiano, woods porn, quaaludes, kink, and so much more. Shawn runs the …

Every year in early summer for over a decade now, Exhumed Films holds their annual 35mm exploitation movie marathon, Exfest. We covered this event on the show last year and we’re back to talk about 12+ hours of exploitation cinema. To discuss this year’s marathon, which was held on June 10th at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, PA, Charles and …

Our latest episode is about shot-on-video (SOV) horror, as well as all things regional and very, very low budget. Divisive, underground, and often mind-melting, SOV horror movies exist in a world unto themselves and outside the bounds of good taste. Joining us to discuss a slew of no-budget oddities are Philly-based filmmakers Michael DiFrancesco a…

Usually these Patreon-only bonus Happy Hour episodes exist behind a paywall, but we decided to unlock this one to the general public because it’s just so much dang “fun.” Charles Smith III, who was the guest on our previous episode covering the ongoing WGA strike, hangs back for the Happy Hour to drink some cheap whiskey and discuss the tribulation…

For this episode, Charles and Samm are joined by our friend Charles Smith III, a local producer, director, film teacher, and proud union member. We discuss the ongoing writers strike, why it’s so important, what the core demands are, and larger issues related to strikes and class war within the entertainment industry. We briefly talk about a few fi…

We’re baaaack with a really fun, somewhat raucous conversation with Jesse Nelson and Brian Izzi from Cauldron Films. Charles and Samm gush about their recent fancy pants edition of The City of the Living Dead, and chat with them about some of their other great releases like Contraband and American Rickshaw, what it’s like to run a boutique blu-ray …

For the latest Twitch of the Death Nerve, Charles and Samm were joined by one of the best people on the planet, Michael DiFrancesco, to talk about one of the best subgenres on the planet, sword and sorcery movies. We set out on an epic journey from the origins of the subgenre in Greek myth, pulp literature, and Italian sword and sandal films, throu…

For this episode, Charles and Samm were joined by dear friend Phil Jablon, an author, photographer, and researcher who first made a name for himself photographing and documenting historic movie theaters in Thailand. He also collects and sells Thai movie posters — enabling our growing addiction to them — and we talked to him about everything from li…

One of our favorite people, Robert Skvarla, is back on the show to discuss a particularly popular American conspiracy: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Charles and Samm ask Rob a million questions about the murky facts surrounding the murder and dive into a few JFK movies, namely: New Hollywood classic The Parallax View (1974), spagh…

We’re getting romantic in true Death Nerve fashion this Valentine’s Day — with a discussion of three juicy necrophilia films that run the gamut from gore fest to indie teen romance to Hong Kong thriller. Charles and Samm are joined by dear friend Angel, a New Jersey/Philadelphia based performer and model with an unusual penchant for all things maca…

We’re diving into some of the Twitch crew’s favorite subjects with the latest Twitch of the Death Nerve episode: political resistance, folk horror, and Polish cinema. Historian and pal Matt Kowalski joined Charles and Samm for a lengthy discussion of Andrzej Żuławski’s The Devil (1972) and Marek Piestrak’s She-Wolf (1983). Both films are set during…

We’re baaaaaaack! Charles and Samm took a much needed break in December to relax, regroup, and plan some exciting episodes for the next few months with more wonderful guests. And despite the title of this episode, we also spent a lot of time thinking about our favorite films of 2022; not necessarily new releases, but films that were new to us. So w…

For the latest episode of Twitch of the Death Nerve, Charles and Samm are joined by dear friend Eric Bresler, who runs beloved local venue PhilaMOCA and the Philly chapter of the Psychotronic Film Club. We pick his brain about the visionary film, art, and music programming at PhilaMOCA, and the ins and outs of the Psychotronic Film Club. Eric has e…

A lot of cult movie fans look forward to November, primarily because of the Vinegar Syndrome Black Friday sale — so what better time for Twitch of the Death Nerve to celebrate one of the best blu-ray and film restoration companies. Recently, Charles and Samm took a little vacation up to Connecticut, mostly to go to Vinegar Syndrome’s headquarters a…

Last year, Twitch of the Death Nerve had a great time covering Exhumed Films 24-hour Horrorthon, the best annual Philadelphia-area event. So here we are again, tired but still alive after a weekend of 15 movies (and trailers and cartoons) across about 26 hours. October 22nd was the 15th Horrorthon and a celebration of 25 years of Exhumed Films — ba…

Happy Halloween friends! We are vibing so hard this season, between horror movie marathons and pumpkin carving and candy binges, Twitch of the Death Nerve is a little off schedule. So as a seasonal treat, we’ve decided to unlock one of our bonus “happy hour” episodes, which are usually Patreon exclusives. These are looser, more free wheeling discus…

Friends, it is OCTOBER. And the Twitch of the Death Nerve crew is here to party, mostly by discussing everyone’s favorite Italian gothic horror exploitation movie about torturing people in a castle, The Bloody Pit of Horror (1965). A group of models shooting material for a horror novel stumble across a castle owned by tortured actor Travis (Mickey …

Twitch of the Death Nerve is back with the show’s single most requested episode: William Friedkin’s controversial queer serial killer masterpiece, Cruising (1980). Charles, Jon, and Samm have wanted to talk about this film before the podcast officially began and — out of sheer excitement — the episode is a doozy. Of course we dive elbow deep into C…

It’s been almost exactly a year, but the time is finally nigh to return to one of our favorite topics here at Twitch of the Death Nerve: Hong Kong CAT-III films. In the latest episode, Charles, Jon, and Samm discuss Danny Lee and Billy Tang’s horror masterpiece, Dr. Lamb (1992), which has recently had a long overdue restoration and blu-ray release.…

Are you yeti to party? We certainly are in the latest Twitch of the Death Nerve episode, which has a slightly different format: Charles and Samm are joined by Rob Skvarla, who is filling in for Jon this week. Some of you might remember Rob as Samm’s co-host on goth podcast Evil Eye. Rob is also a brilliant writer, researcher, and has a wild Twitter…

The very first Twitch of the Death Nerve episode of 2022 was on a Godzilla movie, but we just had to include what you could call a kaiju-adjacent episode before the year was out. Charles, Jon, and Samm just love Ishirō Honda so much, which brings us to our latest discussion of Honda’s underrated and underseen Matango (1963). Though Honda is beloved…

The latest Twitch of the Death Nerve episode marks a number of occasions for Charles, Jon, and Samm: it’s the one-year anniversary of our podcast and it’s just a few days away from Samm and Mario Bava’s birthdays (both on July 31st). For this episode, we talk more broadly about Bava’s incredible career and do a deep dive on Bay of Blood (1971), the…

Twitch of the Death Nerve are back from a brief hiatus! For this episode, which just happened to be recorded on the 4th of July, Samm INSISTED on doing a deep dive into Billy Jack. We cover the many hours of cinema writer, director, and star Tom Laughlin devoted to the character over four films: The Born Losers (1967), Billy Jack (1971), The Trial …

Thanks to the last episode dropping early and then COVID laying one of us low, Twitch of the Death Nerve has gotten slightly off schedule. To tide you over, we decided to unlock one of our bonus “happy hour” episodes, which are usually Patreon exclusives. These are looser, more free wheeling discussions that touch on everything from pop culture and…

After a two year hiatus (thank you COVID), Exhumed Films’ 12-hour exploitation movie marathon known as eX-fest — one of the best annual events in the Philadelphia area — made its grand return last weekend. Previously held at the now defunct International House in Philly, ex-fest part X moved to the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, PA. In this epis…

On the last Twitch of the Death Nerve episode, we covered sociopathic teenagers bombing Hong Kong, so we decided to lighten things up this time around with a discussion of systemic racism, fighting back against white supremacy, and overthrowing the state. Charles, Jon, and Samm dive into the Black power classic, The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)…

Charles, Jon, and Samm have really been on a tear lately discussing some brutal films with radical political themes. Theoretically, we should stop for a minute and do a “fun” episode, but the current state of the world is making this difficult. Between the formula shortage and abortion rights likely being overturned in the US to the barrage of trag…

We hope you’re hungry, because the new Twitch of the Death Nerve episode is a real feast for the senses. Charles, Jon, and Samm discuss one of the most notorious cult movie subgenres — Italian cannibal films — particularly focusing on Cannibal Ferox and Cannibal Holocaust. The questions we try to answer in this episode include: Who actually likes t…

Just in time for Walpurgisnacht, the latest Twitch of the Death Nerve is all about one of our favorite topics: witchcraft. In this episode, Charles, Jon, and Samm focus on the underrated British-American classic, City of the Dead (1960), better known to American audiences as Horror Hotel. In order to write a research paper, a young college student …

Since Twitch of the Death Nerve first became a possibility, we have been waiting for this glorious moment… OUR FIRST (but certainly not last) PINKY VIOLENCE EPISODE!!!! Sharpen your switchblades, rev your motorcycles, and get ready for an intense discussion of one of our favorite things in the entire world. This episode, Charles, Jon, and Samm dive…

Twitch of the Death Nerve really went off script for this latest episode, where Charles, Jon, and Samm discuss Mexican legend El Santo. One of the world’s greatest pop culture heroes, Santo made 50 films in addition to his celebrated wrestling career (and run of comic books, etc), so we decided to celebrate his life in a broader sense, rather than …

The latest episode of Twitch of the Death Nerve is devoted to French filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot and his masterpiece of suspense, Les diaboliques (1955). A landmark of crime and suspense cinema, it ushered in a new type of murder mystery. Charles, Jon, and Samm talk about their love for that film and so much more: Clouzot’s career, why Diaboliq…