Tender Subject

This week, Kayte and Mae are joined by writer/professor Jo Issaacson to devour 1974's cult cannibalism classic Frightmare! We talk about crazy old biddies, British politeness, Julia Ducournau, psychiatry and tarot. Plus Kayte tries and fails to say Canibanthropy multiple times.  Where to find Jo: @StepfordDotter on Twitter Stepford Daughters book What Ever Happened to Baby Jane book Facebook horror group Blind Field Journal Mae is co-host of the podcast Pleasers and Punishers, is a Scooby on Slayerfest98 and makes music at eversonpoe Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

This week, Kayte and Dave descend deep into the tunnels of the New York city subway, with author/professor Eleanor Russel to slice into 2008's The Midnight Meat Train (directed by Ryuhei Kitamura). We talk about public transit, the art world on film, the meat industry and why it's so disorienting to film a movie about one city while filming in a different city. Naturally our discussion turns to Clive Barker's original short story, one we highly recommend to horror fiends!   Other Media:  "The Midnight Meat Train" by Clive Barker, Books of Blood  Eleanor is a Doctor of philosophy on what it means to play pretend and writes about stand-up comedy, sound studies, and the avant-garde. has a podcast called Virtue Signal and a substack here!  Dave is also a co-host on Genre Reveal Party and hosts This is Your Afterlife  Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

Have the lambs stopped screaming Clarice? That’s right: Kayte and Jay are joined by author Jon, the Lit Crit Guy from Horror Vanguard to tackle a big one: Silence of the Lambs! We talk through genre, gender, class and cannibalism in this monster of a film.  Media referenced:  Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by J Halberstam “Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs” by Jeanne Silverthorne, Art Forum.  Subscribe to Jon's Patreon Jon's books are Capitalism: A Horror Story and A Primer on Utopian Philosophy: An Introduction To the Work of Ernst Bloch Listen to Horror Vanguard! Jay is also a co-host on Library Punk! Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

It's a world with no pain, new organs and performance art is all the rage! Join Kayte and Dave as we delve into the gorgeously grotesque Crimes of the Future. We talk about pain, wounds, pleasure and art through the film and through some of Kayte's favorite performance art texts.  Other readings:  Jones, Amelia. "Performing the Wounded Body: Pain, Affect and the Radical Relationality of the Body", Parallax, 2009 Hold It Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art by Jennifer Doyle. Body Talk: A Cronenberg Roundtable, Reverse Shot, 2022. Dave is also a co-host on Genre Reveal Party and hosts This is Your Afterlife  Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

This week on Tender Subject, we are joined by comedian Jake Flores and writer J †Johnson to talk Frankenstein. We dissect the book and the 2025 film through queer and Marxist theory and get into why the film often let us down.   Media referenced: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by J Halberstam Capitalism: A Horror Story by Jon Greenaway J †Johnson is the co-editor of Cul de Sac of Blood, a horror poetics journal and the author of two books with Punctum Books. Their forthcoming book, Janky Materiality will also be published by Punctum. Jake is the co-host of Pod Damn America, Why You Mad and The Preacher and The Slave. He’s also a standup! Follow him on insta for dates. Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

This week on Tender Subject we are joined by Jane Altoids to dissect two Jess Franco surgery movies: The Awful Dr. Orloff (1972) and Faceless (1987). We discuss Franco as a complicated auteur, his mythology and legacy, then get into two body horror movies that bookended his career!  Media referenced:  Murderous Passions, Volume 1: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco  Flowers of Perversion, Volume 2: The Delerious Cinema of Jesús Franco by Steven Thrower (unfortunately vol. 1 is out of print) The Films of Jess Franco, Antonio Lázaro-Reboll and Ian Olney Jane Altoids is a celebrity, writer and podcaster. You can find her here and listen to her on Pacino Pod. Mae is co-host of the podcast Pleasers and Punishers, is a Scooby on Slayerfest98 and makes music at eversonpoe Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

Kayte is Joined by Langdon from Death/Sentence podcast for a discussion about Sayaka Murata's books Earthlings and Convenience Store Woman. We talk biopolitics, cannibalism both literal and figurative, trauma and living in a society.  Media referenced:  Gina Meyers' new book of poetry, Works and Days Buy Earthlings and Convenience Store Woman on Bookshop The Biopolitical Body of Convenience Store Woman by Meg Horrridge Langdon is the host of Death/Sentence and writes here! Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!  

This Week, Kayte and Dave are joined by returning fave, comedian Gabe Pacheco for a deep dive into the drug fueled Ken Russell film Altered States. We talk about getting high, colonialism, the simian monster and the bliss of turning to sand with your lover.  Media Referenced:  Altered States: Visions and Divisions by Jessica Kiang Patriarchal-Industrial Anxiety and the Return of the Repressed (Eco-critical) Simian Monster by David Christopher    Gabe is the co-host of Halal Cartels. Go see Gabe perform by following him here and here! Dave is also a co-host on Genre Reveal Party and hosts This is Your Afterlife  Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!

This week Kayte and Mae are joined by writer and editor of Cul de Sac of Blood (a horror poetics journal) J †Johnson to sink our teeth into Gretchen Felker-Martin's nightmarish novel Cuckoo. We talk about the unknowable monster, the horror of the family and liken the book's desert conversion camp to the violence of ecological colonialism and memoricide.  "Elements of Semitism" by Jake Romm, Parapraxis Magazine "The State Wants to Remember For You. Don't Let it" by Camelia Berry-Grass JJ is the co-editor of Cul de Sac of Blood, a horror poetics journal and the author of two books with Punctum Books. Their forthcoming book, Janky Materiality will also be published by Punctum. Mae is co-host of the podcast Pleasers and Punishers, is a Scooby on Slayerfest98 and makes music at eversonpoe Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

Long live the new flesh. Kayte, Dave and guest Jake Flores dig into David Cronenberg’s weirdo masterpiece, Videodrome. We talk Marshall McCluhan, techno-utopians, techno-fascists, kink and more!  Media referenced:  The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McCluhan and Quentin Fiore  Rev Left Radio: episode on Marshall McCluhan & The Medium is the Message with Matthew Furlong. Listen here. Videodrome: The Slithery Sense of Unreality by Gary Indiana. Read here Jake is the co-host of Pod Damn America, Why You Mad (on hiatus but listen to the old eps!) and The Preacher and The Slave. He’s also a standup! Follow him on insta for dates. Dave is also a co-host on Genre Reveal Party and hosts This is Your Afterlife  Kayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here!