Brian Onishi, associate professor of philosophy at Penn State, and Jeff Stoyanoff, assistant professor of English and of women's, gender and sexuality studies at Penn State, released a new episode of their podcast, "Horror Joy" titled “Cult Horror: ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Midsommar.’”
ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona faculty members Brian Onishi, associate professor of philosophy, and Jeff Stoyanoff, assistant professor of English and of women's, gender and sexuality studies, released a new episode of their podcast, "Horror Joy."
In the episode titled “Black/Southern Gothic: Sinners and The Reformatory,” Onishi and Stoyanoff welcome author Briana N. Cox to explore Ryan Coogler's 2025 hit film “Sinners,” which uses vampiric imagery to explore race, greed, music and time. Then, they turn to Tananarive Due’s 2023 masterpiece “The Reformatory.” Based on the real-life Dozier School for Boys, it follows young Robert Stephens Jr. through a thinly veiled juvenile prison, using exaggerated sentences, "haints," and a KKK siege to connect slavery, Jim Crow and incarceration.
Like English Gothic, Black/Southern Gothic uses crumbling infrastructure and outdated systems, replacing castles with plantations and secret rooms with prison control mechanisms. As Bridget M. Marshall notes, these genres share "creepy buildings, mysterious landscapes, unhealthy obsessions with the past, revelations of dark secrets, acts of violence and troubled mental states."
The full episode can be accessed on podcast providers or on Red Circle. Learn more about the "Horror Joy" podcast online.
