Slums of Film History

For four seasons we've talked about the various different types of revenge in movies ranging from prostitutes getting payback to vengeful spirits returning from the dead to kick some serious ass. Yet in all that time we never really talked about why. Why do we love the thought of getting revenge so much? What is it about tales of retribution that gets movie going butts into theater seats time and...

Slate's last episode of Season 5 is marking the end. The End of the World, that is. But we’re not talking about near death experiences or stories where something almost happened to Earth but we were saved by Bruce Willis on a suicide mission. Today we’re talking about the end of humanity: movies where there isn’t a soul alive at the end. Maybe Jesus came and smote all the non believers, maybe a ro...

In over the last century of film the concept of curses, hexes and jinxes have managed to work their way from the dark lore of mankind's past onto the shiny celluloid of today, where film audiences past and present have been thrilled by stories featuring this mythological phenomenon. But is it a myth? Are the only curses we are likely to experience are those on the silver screen?  Join us for today...

Slate has been talking about this episode for 5 seasons and listeners have been asking for it for years. Today, he'll finally present his episode on Incest in the movies. So get ready for sex with cousins, sex with parents, sex with siblings, inbreeding, underage Brooke Shields nudity, Flowers in the Attic and that time Michael J Fox’s mother had a crush on him. So put your parents, siblings and c...

What happens when there isn't anything challenging left to hunt? What do those manly big game hunters do after they've killed just about every animal that has walked the earth? The answer is simple of course, you just start huntin' humans! And for the better part of film history there have been plenty of films that have shown man treating his fellow man as game, a most dangerous game, you might sa...

Congrats! You made it through Part 1 and gotten through most of the nasty stuff. No more dog turds, puke eaters or lobster rape. Now we start in the late 70s and focus on botched sex change castration, roaches that live in teenager’s beehive hairdos and a maniacal mother that kills if you don’t rewind your videotapes. Today we talk about race wars, domestic film terrorism and that time Tracey Ullm...

Director John Waters made films that simultaneously horrified and delighted audiences with a 300 pound drag queen named Divine, cannibalism, foot fetishes, a party performer with a singing anus, a 15 foot rapist lobster, and a rosary dildo. And that’s just his first 4 films. Slate can't wait to present Part 1 of his two parter on “John Waters: The Prince of Puke.”

The concept of an evil corporation or bad company is so deeply embedded in the fabric of our contemporary culture— populating novels, tv shows, and of course movies that its hard to think of any pop culture representation of a corporate entity that isn't evil. Anytime a movie features a big company their business model is usually either exploiting people, enslaving people, or just straight up kill...

Today we’re talking about splatter films. Blood and guts and arms and legs and mutilation and dismemberment and scalpings and beheadings. But we're also talking about the Splatter! Industry. Where and how it started, the controversy behind it and how it got it’s second and third wind long after the drive ins and grindhouses were closed. Today’s episode is not for the fainthearted, but if you love...

Every 12.3 minutes, someone in America commits suicide. It's the second leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds and is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. So there’s no mistaking that suicide is a very serious matter. And throughout film history, there have been countless serious movies that have seriously treated this subject matter with the seriousness that it deserves...seriously...

The first time a deal with the devil is made in history is in the writings of Johann Georg Faust around the late 1400s, and thus a whole genre of books, poems, operas and movies was born. Today Slate will tackle the not-so-important question: why are there are so many movies where someone makes a stupid deal, pact or bet with the devil? Where did this idea come from and why was it so popular in th...

Cinema can get away with a lot more today than it could in its humble beginnings but there are still topics are ripe for controversy. Religion being one of the biggest. Many a filmmaker has learned the hard way that if a film dare cast a critical eye on a churches’ dogma or God forbid (so to speak) your religious based movie isn’t 100% true to sacred text then there’s usually well, hell to pay. On...

Slate's first episode of Season 5 is all about Stag Films. Stag films were those seedy, grimy one reel films that were made in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s that featured things you couldn't see in any theater in America: SEX. But how did they start and where did they come from? And how did they influence porn features in the 70s, home video in the 80s and internet porn of today? 

The last episode of Season 4 is about transplants. The medical miracle that can completely change the course of a dying body to a thriving body. Or it can completely change your personality and turn you into a crazy maniac on the run from society. Either way, Slate will wrap Season 4 with Attack of the Transplants!

If cinema is to be believed, a hippie is nothing more than a sex crazed, pot smoking, drum circling burnout who doesn’t work, doesn’t bathe and would want nothing more than to join a death cult and go on a LSD fueled murder spree. On today's episode we’re gonna groove out on the films that show the wilted side of flower power. So be sure to turn on, tune in and drop out with us a we become Horribl...

Plants. Simple, still organisms that eat nutrients from the ground. Until Hollywood got ahold of them and turned them into blood hungry monsters. Today Slate will dissect the different types of carnivorous plants and take you through all of the movie originals, sequels, musical spinoffs and parody films as we discuss: Crop Killers.

Today we'll discuss the films where those sleepy balls of fur turn into a screeching ball of death and man's best friend becomes his worst nightmare. Join us as we snuggle up to Cuddly Critters That Kill.

Slate's next episode is all about twins. Terrible twins. Those murdering, conniving, man stealing, deformed, de-conjoined, mustachioed (that sometimes wear eye patches so you know which one is which) twins. From the early serial films to Dead Ringers and Basket Case, this episode is the evil twin you wish you had.

Tom's episode is his first listener suggested topic about insane asylums. He'll be talking about all of the abusive administrators, raving loonies, shock treatments and lobotomies that are a hallmark of this cinematic institution.

Slate's Season 4 director profile is all about a filmmaking couple, Michael and Roberta Findlay. The Findlays made some of the weirdest, sickest underground roughies and sex films throughout the 60s and 70s until Roberta graduated to super-violent horror movies of the 80s. They worked under a variety of different names with a variety of underground filmmakers and porn actors and actresses. And the...

A goth rockstar with a supernatural bird, an aerobics instructor possessed by the spirit of a ninja, a mentally challenged scarecrow and Charlie Sheen in a magic car. What do all these people have in common? They're all dead and they're all out for sweet, sweet vengeance. Today we explore the film characters whose desire for retribution is so strong even death can't stop them. Join us as we seek R...

Bugs are disgusting, horrible creatures. So naturally Hollywood started exploiting our fear and fascination with bugs in the early 50s. These early monster bug films, born of the atomic age, continued to blossom into a few new genres of Big Bugs films over the next 50 years and they still turn up every now and then today. We hope this one gives you nightmares for weeks to come!

Tom is following up Slate's #KidsThatKill episode with the reverse: #KidKillin’. We’ll examine the movies that dared to cross the line of what is arguably the last taboo of modern filmmaking, killing children on film. This one is not for the squeamish. #SlumsSeason4

Where's the best place to celebrate the summer? With a bunch of underage kids for some Summer Camp Schlock! Whether your camp is religious, fat, Canadian, gay conversion, or just filled with sexy co-eds getting picked off by a psychotic killer running wild and seeking vengeance, you’re gonna love this throwback to the 80s summer camp movies where anything, and everything happened. 

Throughout cinema history the film depiction of the American cheerleader has been well, lets just say less than stellar. Today we’re going to find out why. So shake your pompoms with vigor and get a firm grip on your spirit stick because we’re going to Be Aggressive! B-E Aggressive! And we're gonna show that we’ve got spirit, Yes We Do! For Cheerleaders!