Cinema Junkie is taking a holiday break and will be re-posting popular podcasts in the interim. This week I pull up an archive show appropriate for the Christmas season but with some perverse holiday cheer and that means revisiting "Christmas Smackdown" with Mark Nutter and Cynthia Carle. Proceed with caution.

Cinema Junkie is taking a holiday break and will be re-posting popular podcasts in the interim. This week I pull up an archive show appropriate for the Christmas season but with some perverse holiday cheer and that means revisiting "Christmas Smackdown" with Mark Nutter and Cynthia Carle. It is "all of your most cherished holiday sentiments pinned down to the mat in an Argentine death choke." You have been warned!

Support the podcast at kpbs.org/feedthejunkie.

Stunt driver Steve Lepper picks his favorite car movies as well as the best car chases ever put on film.

Stunt driver Steve Lepper takes us from Buster Keaton to Mad Max as we discuss the best car movies and best car chases. He has great behind the scenes trivia including a trick used in "To Live and Die In L.A." to disorient the viewer and the most common thing stunt drivers are asked to do on a film. Plus hear the history of the "Bullitt" car from its current owner.

Support the podcast at kpbs.org/feedthejunkie.

Legendary Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow died earlier this month. This podcast pays tribute to his legacy with San Diego Asian Film Festival artistic director Brian Hu. Plus we get a preview of the 19th annual festival.

Join me on a journey through Asian cinema that begins by paying tribute to one of its towering figures, Raymond Chow, who died earlier this month, and then highlights films and filmmakers from this year's San Diego Asian Film Festival with its artistic director Brian Hu. If you can't attend the festival, this is the perfect way to find out what films you might want to be looking for streaming or at art houses in the coming months.

Support the podcast at kpbs.org/feedthejunkie.

A discussion of witches through history and on film from ancient Rome to "Rosemary's Baby" and Monty Python.

Cinema Junkie pulls up an archive edition and adds some new voices as I ask people about the first film they remember scaring them. Listen to memories from horror fans and some famous horror celebrities like Guillermo Del Toro, Tony Todd, Tom Holland, and Lance Henriksen.

Support the podcast at kpbs.org/feedthejunkie.

Cinema Junkie asks people about the first film they remember scaring them. Listen to memories from horror fans and some famous horror celebrities.

The Doctor of the Dead, Arnold T. Blumberg, uses zombies to teach media literacy and critical thinking. He has also just written a geeky, well-researched history of the zombie, "Journey of the Living Dead."