Tender Subject

Midnight Meat Train

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!

Silence of The Lambs with Jon the Lit Crit Guy

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 PatreonJon's books are Capitalism: A Horror Story and A Primer on Utopian Philosophy: An Introduction To the Work of Ernst BlochListen 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!

Crimes of the Future with Dave Maher

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!

Frankenstein with JJ and Jake Flores!

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 ShelleySkin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters by J HalberstamCapitalism: 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.

044-Jess Franco with Jane Altoids

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 Francoby Steven Thrower (unfortunately vol. 1 is out of print)The Films of Jess Franco, Antonio Lázaro-Reboll and Ian OlneyJane 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 eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

043-Earthlings/Convenience Store Woman w/Langdon from Death/Sentence

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 DaysBuy Earthlings and Convenience Store Woman on BookshopThe 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!
 

042-Altered States with Gabe Pacheco

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!

041-Cuckoo with JJ and Mae!

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-GrassJJ 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 eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here.

040-Videodrome with Jake Flores

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!

The Lure with Mae and DeVaughn

Help us come ashore, we won’t eat you, my dear. This week, we deep dive into the mermaid musical, The Lure (2015) (directed by Agnieszka Smoczynska) with our guest DeVaughn Taylor. We talk about Poland in the ‘80s, mermaid lore, trans themes, disgust and desire and so much more. 
Find DeVaughn as a co-host on Specter Cinema Club and Tainted Love and a regular on The Pod and the Pendulum
Mae is co-host of the podcast Pleasers and Punishers, is a Scooby on Slayerfest98 and makes music at eversonpoeKayte is also a co-host on Fangs for the Memories and makes art here