Horror Joy
Two Penn State Altoona faculty take a deep dive into horror in hopes of finding joy lurking in the shadows.
Puppies. Babies. Family. A good book—all things that typically bring people joy.
Horror? Not usually on the list.
Here’s the thing, though. Even if you don’t like being scared, or even if you don’t like gore or the grotesque, there is still enjoyment to be found in the genre: maybe it’s just a matter of looking at it differently.
That’s what two Penn State Altoona professors are doing with their new podcast, Horror Joy, where you can go for the joy and stay for the horror. Or, come for the horror and stay for the joy.
Brian Onishi and Jeff Stoyanoff are professors and colleagues at Penn State Altoona. Both men trace their love and curiosity for the horror genre all the way back to elementary school.
Stoyanoff first found the genre in old movies that he watched around Halloween like The Blob, Frankenstein, and Alfred Hitchcock classics. The Scholastic Book Fair selections helped him discover Goosebumps along with the Bunnicula series. Stephen King was added to his reading list as he grew older.
Onishi recalls the Goosebumps book series giving him the creeps but also offering elements of mystery and friendship that intrigued him. He also moved onto Stephen King novels in his teens, and eventually, his love of horror in literature led him to the love of horror on the screen.
Now, as an adult, Onishi can put a name, or rather an emotion, to what he experiences when he engages in horror—it’s joy. As an associate professor of philosophy, he wondered about this reaction, wondered if it were strange. But as he looked at how other horror fans and creators talk about and react to it, he concluded that joy is actually a pretty common outcome. He wanted to explore this further.
The idea of doing a podcast happened organically between Onishi and Stoyanoff. They were both newer hires with offices in the same building. Quick hallway hellos turned into office chats that turned into conversations that turned into bonding over horror.
Brian Onishi offers commentary during a recording of Horror Joy. His fascination with horror was found through reading books in the genre as a child.
Credit: Penn State
The pair wanted to share their own enthusiasm with others through an episodic series, but what would make theirs stand out among so many others?
Horror Joy is not a movie review podcast or a performance podcast. Nor does it glorify gore or torture. Rather, it asks questions about horror: how can we understand the connections and contrasts between horror and joy; what does horror do productively; and what does it mean to find joy in something horrific? It also looks at horror as not just a genre, but as an art form.
“As academics, we can unpack that in a unique way,” says Onishi. “We get beyond just being scared and having fun. We ask and answer questions and offer new ways to look at the world around us through horror. That's the space that we want to carve out for ourselves and anyone who wants to come along.”
Horror Joy launched in June of this year with an episode about the iconic movie Jaws. It was perfect timing, coinciding with the movie’s fiftieth anniversary and Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week. Onishi and Stoyanoff examined the idea of insularity and looked at race, gender, and even sexuality, all amidst a killer shark terrorizing an island.
So far, the pair have tackled the topics of religious horror, apocalyptic horror, and meta-horror. Other episodes feature interviews with authors Paul Trembley, Kelly J. Baker, and Eric LaRocca.
“Everything about this, from the preparing to recording and editing, has been a ton of fun,” says Onishi. “Another big payoff for me is that horror creators have said yes to being on the podcast. Getting to talk to them about the genre and their work has been incredible.”
Jeff Stoyanoff during a podcast episode recording. His love of the horror genre comes from watching old movies as a child.
Credit: Penn State
Stoyanoff, an assistant professor of English, says academics are often accused of ruining things. “People will say, can you just watch a movie and let it be a movie? Can you just read a book and let it be a book? Do you have to think about it all so much? But I find joy when something makes me consider my perspective or question my beliefs and then reaffirm or change them based on what I discover in the process.”
There is plenty to unpack and examine with the creative and compelling ideas horror can offer. Further, it often mimics society and articulates our anxieties over things like the economy, leadership, climate change, immigration, religion, and natural disasters.
“I think that can really influence our understanding of ourselves,” says Onishi. “It forces us to examine how we experience the world around us and to think about horror as transgressive. How does it push us in our society and our ideas? How does it push against what we have thought before? In some ways, horror rips us out of our world and thrusts us right back into it.”
Onishi and Stoyanoff believe there is joy in that process. They believe there is joy in the destruction of our world in the hopes that something new will emerge, joy in imagining a world that has moved beyond our current horrors.
The other biggest, and perhaps most important, joy to come from the podcast is the community being built through and around it.
“There's something really important about community, particularly post COVID,” says Onishi. “And there’s something really joyful about discussing horror, finding common ground, and sharing different interpretations and viewpoints.”
That conversation and exchanging of ideas has been exciting for both Onishi and Stoyanoff, guests of Horror Joy, and its listeners.
Since the pilot episode, download numbers have been steadily increasing, while helpful reviews and critiques from listeners, former and current students, and other academics are amassing.
And there is for sure one person out there who, while still not a fan of horror, has at least come to appreciate it.
Stoyanoff’s father-in-law, Jim, finds zero joy in horror but, wanting to be supportive, began listening to episodes. He found himself analyzing his aversion and came to realize that it’s because he likes to be in control and horror often makes us feel out of control.
“It was interesting to have that conversation with him, to see him looking at horror from a new perspective and get something productive out of thinking about it,” says Stoyanoff. “It's a lot of fun to see that happening because of the podcast.
Jim, by the way, is now an enthusiastic, if not joyful, follower of the podcast.
As Onishi and Stoyanoff look to the future of Horror Joy, they have plenty of options to consider for it. They are thinking of ways to incorporate it into classes they teach, including one they are co-developing for the spring 2025 semester. Weird Tales is a gen-ed course available to students across the Commonwealth and focuses on horror and supernatural fiction. Onishi and Stoyanoff are hopeful faculty at Penn State Altoona and other institutions will find ways to use the podcast in classes such as film, literature, and religion.
Onishi and Stoyanoff hope Horror Joy might also provide opportunities for them to engage students in undergraduate research at Penn State Altoona. Working on a project with a newer medium like a podcast would provide students with real-world experience to take into their chosen career field.
As far as podcast content, Onishi and Stoyanoff have several ideas for episodes that include themes and roundtables. They’re looking at using a brand and media production company to help grow the podcast which could lead to collaborations with other podcasters and academics in the field.
“There are just so many directions we can take this podcast,” says Onishi. “And with more and more coming from the genre so often, we have almost endless aspects to explore.”
And that, of course, is something to be joyful about.
