No one understands the power of cinema more than a dictator. The way movies can manipulate filmgoers to laugh, cry, and jump out of their seats in fear can be quite an attractive tool for controlling hearts and minds. Hitler and Stalin knew how to push propaganda to moviegoers in an effort to gain support for their respective pursuits. But propaganda is easy, art is hard. And while Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany both had robust film industries, neither would ever reach the heights of the West. Yet in a small east Asian country lived a film lover and future dictator who thought differently.&nbs ..read more

Boats are a marvel. A human invention, mastered over thousands of years to provide food, travel and commerce to the ever evolving need of modern man. Boats are fun. They’re buoyant excuses for rich people to drink champagne, wear white floppy hats and have poor people serve them oysters. But boats are scary. There’s only a layer of wood and fiberglass keeping you from drowning, getting eaten by a sea creature and keeping you from catching hypothermia. And boats are traumatic. The slightest thing can go wrong and if you survive, will be left with a lifetime of mental anguish and trauma and mayb ..read more

We have a complicated relationship with bears. In popular culture bears are often seen as fluffy, adorable friends in children’s stories, not to mention their representation in that timeless toy, the teddy bear. But make no mistake, bears will fucking kill you. We all know this, and the movies know this too.Whether they were seeking revenge, mutated, high on cocaine or just plain hungry these fluffy beasts scared and thrilled moviegoers for generations. In today's episode we take a long look at the legacy of this furry cinematic monster. So grab your flashlight and come deep into the woods wit ..read more

On a quick glance of this episode’s title, you may think we are talking about the Underground Film Movement. But that’s a highbrow topic and that’s not why you come to Slums of Film History. You come here for the actual horrible things that are underground. The mutant zombie CHUDs that climb out of the sewers to eat rich people’s dogs. You come for the early sci-fi films that somehow found dinosaurs and prehistoric monsters leftover from millions of years ago by drilling down into the earth. You come for the mutant praying mantises that disguise themselves as people in the subway tunnels of Ne ..read more

Everything changed in August 1945 when the first atom bombs were dropped in Japan ending WWII and introducing the world to the most destructive force man has ever known. We had officially reached the atomic age and this fact would radiate (pun intended) into every facet of our lives, including our politics and pop culture. Nukes would play a major role thrilling and horrifying moviegoers throughout the back half of the 20th century in many ways echoing the real life threat they posed during the Cold War and changing both how we viewed them as an existential threat and how movies repurposed the ..read more

The movie musical is a beloved film genre that has been a part of American cinema since the 1920s. For decades American audiences couldn't get enough of these films but in the 60s the movie musical fell on hard times. Was it due to changing movie and music tastes? Cultural and social upheavals? All of the above? Many musical films released after this decade would prove to be some of the most bizarre, ill conceived and downright terrible movies ever made. We're going to dig into the worst films this genre has to offer in an attempt to find out where it all went wrong. So let's all do this one m ..read more

We love to watch women fight. Whether a slap in the face on shows like Dynasty and Real Housewives or Uma Thurman and Lucy Lui in Kill Bill, women in combat have fascinated us for decades. But in the movies at least, many of these on screen feuds got their start from real life feuds, some that lasted 50 or 60 years. Today we get to the bottom of these Hollywood fights, squabbles, tiffs, brawls and scuffles that not only defined many women’s careers but also fueled them and sometimes destroyed them. Today, Slate plays referee in the fight between Woman vs Woman ..read more

Over the years there have been several topics that we thought might just cross the line, yet each time it turned out our listeners were just as deranged as we are. This time might be a little different because our topic is animal death in movies and we don't know anyone who isn't just a little bit affected by seeing an animal killed on screen. On today’s episode we're going to discuss this cinematic phenomenon in what may be our darkest episode yet...but don't worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this episode! So come along with us today as we take up Critter Killin ..read more

For a decade starting in 1984, all film critics, late night talk shows and entertainment news could talk about was Madonna’s film career. There were hits like “Desperately Seeking Susan” and “A League of their Own” but there were plenty of misses like “Shanghai Surprise” and “Who’s That Girl.” So how could she get it so right and so wrong all at the same time? For all the good and all the ugly, we're going to talk about Madonna’s hit and mostly miss film career ..read more

Bruce Lee single handedly made the kung fu movie an international phenomenon, so it's understandable that the world was rocked by his untimely death. The international film market also found themselves in a conundrum, because where could they go from there? Do they move on and try to find the next big name in kung fu pictures? Fuck no! Film producers just started hiring a bunch of martial artists and stuntmen that looked similar to Bruce and attempted to get them to adopt his mannerisms and style hoping film audiences wouldn't notice. Join us as we punch, elbow and kick our way through Brucesp ..read more