Content warning: This episode contains discussion of violence, sexual assault and animal cruelty.

"Problematic" is the word of the week! Joel Gaddis of Movie Madness stops by to discuss the wide, weird world of exploitation cinema with Deb and Harrison. The broad "exploitation" umbrella encompasses everything from 1930s "educational" films to spaghetti westerns, martial arts films, truck-driving films and "mockbusters."

Join our hosts and their guest as they wander deep into the sociocultural weeds in a Milkis-fueled exploration of such topics as the lure of the taboo, the representation of women in film, the importance of intent for filmmakers and their audiences, Feejee mermaids, whether Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" is an exploitation film, and the fuzzy and sometimes subjective boundaries of the "exploitation" designation itself.

Clarifications/corrections:

1. "Cannibal Holocaust" was widely banned upon its release. According to Ruggero Deodato (from the 2003 documentary "In the Jungle: The Making of Cannibal Holocaust"),the film had made roughly $200 million since its release.

2. Of course "Cocaine Bear" is an exploitation movie.

Movies discussed in this episode:

All Quiet on the Western Front

Bad Black

The Blair Witch Project

Cannibal Holocaust

Cocaine Bear

The House on the Edge of the Park

House on Haunted Hill

I Spit on Your Grave

The Last House on the Left

Mad Max

The Passion of the Christ

Shaft

Smokey and the Bandit

The Van

The Virgin Spring

Who Killed Captain Alex?