ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona faculty members Brian Onishi, associate professor of philosophy, and Jeff Stoyanoff, associate professor of English and of women's, gender and sexuality studies, have released a new episode of their "Horror Joy" podcast. In the latest “Meet Your Maker” episode, Onishi is joined by “Undertone” film writer and director Ian Tuason.

They discuss the relationship between joy and horror, distinguishing joy as a sustainable state from fleeting happiness and describing horror as a creative outlet that can offer safe thrills and catharsis, especially for people shaped by trauma.

Tuason recounts his path from writing poetry, stories and short films to making a low-budget feature designed around sound, which he said he chose out of necessity and because, he said, audiences’ imaginations make the unseen scarier than visuals. Onishi and his guest discuss in “Undertone” the reliance on silence, noise-canceling headphones, and off-screen space, as well as its religious imagery in which Tuason has guilt function as an antagonist and characters Mary and Abzu represent opposing sides of a maternal archetype. Tuason also said that he is rebooting “Paranormal Activity,” drawing on the first three films’ unseen terror while exploring the male gaze as a nemesis.

The full episode of "Horror Joy" can be accessed on podcast providers or on Red Circle.