In this episode of Horror Heals, Corey and Kendall are joined by filmmaker Andrew Jara, who opens up about creating a horror film rooted in his own experience with anxiety, panic attacks, and the slow, quiet devastation of grief.

🎬 Andrew’s film The Empty Space isn’t your typical genre fare — it’s a deeply personal exploration of mental health, told through the lens of horror.

💭 Together, we dive into what anxiety really feels like, why horror is the perfect medium to express emotional chaos, and how the horror community can be one of the most supportive spaces for those struggling with invisible wounds.

Corey shares his own panic attack experiences, Kendall reflects on the surprising therapeutic value of scary films, and Andrew reveals how horror helps him say what he can’t in real life — and why sometimes the scariest part of a movie is the part that feels familiar.

In this episode:

• What a panic attack really feels like — and how it’s portrayed in horror
• The making of The Empty Space and why Andrew stopped waiting for permission to tell his story
• Representation in horror: the power of seeing your struggle on screen
• When horror triggers... and when it heals
• How genre films help us face emotions we don’t have words for

Follow Andrew Jara:

🎥 @andrewjara

📽️ The Empty Space

Let’s keep the conversation going:

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @horrorhealspodcast

💌 Subscribe & review wherever you get your screams — it really helps others find the show.

This week, we're slicing through the surface of the horror world to spotlight something truly revolutionary. Corey and Kendall sit down with filmmaker, podcaster, and horror disruptor Ariel Baska, whose life was forever changed the first time they locked eyes with a certain glove-wearing nightmare fiend. (Yes, we’re talking about Freddy Krueger—because of corpse we are.)

But Ariel didn’t just fall in love with horror—they reshaped it. As the founder of Access:Horror, they’ve created a hybrid film festival and industry summit that unapologetically centers disability and queerness in genre storytelling. And it’s not just inclusive—it’s “so inclusive, it’s scary.

This year’s fest is stacked:

🔪 Ten killer short films.

🧠 A panel on Blackness and Disability in Horror.

🎤 A live performance by Maya Azucena.

🎬 All shorts streaming for the first time ever on Shudder.

💀 And a silent auction that includes a literal piece of the Blair Witch house.

We talk about what it means to be the monster and the final girl, how horror became a lifeline for Ariel, and why this year’s Access:Horror is arriving at a moment when disabled communities need bold, creative resistance more than ever.

If you’ve ever felt like horror saved your life, this episode is your love letter. And if you haven’t yet? It might be the one that opens the door.

Ariel Baska is a queer disabled filmmaker, podcaster, and the founder of Access:Horror. They are also the host of Ride the Omnibus, a show exploring media through a social justice lens. Ariel’s upcoming documentary, Monstrous Me, produced by Lilly Wachowski, dives into their personal relationship with horror, disability, and the monster that started it all: Freddy Krueger.

Ariel’s building spaces in horror that don’t just welcome people with disabilities—they center them. Their work isn’t performative. It’s personal, political, and pointed like the end of a clawed glove.

📍 In-person: August 1, DCTV Firehouse Cinema, NYC

🌍 Streaming worldwide

📺 Streaming partner: Shudder

🧠 In partnership with: George A. Romero Foundation

🎤 Hosts: Ariel Baska, Sharai Bohannon, Xero Gravity

🏆 Awards host: Phil Nobile Jr., Editor-in-Chief of Fangoria

🎟 Tickets & info: accesshorrorfest.com

This week on Horror Heals, we’re joined by debut horror author Grace Daly, who once called herself “a coward to the core.” Jump scares? No thanks. Gore? Absolutely not. But everything changed when Grace's chronic illness forced her to confront a very real kind of body horror—one she couldn't turn off, mute, or escape.

In this powerful and unflinchingly honest episode, Grace shares how her diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome cracked open a terrifying but oddly comforting door into the horror genre. We talk about finding catharsis in blood and guts, the comfort of monsters when your body feels like the enemy, and why disabled voices are crucial in horror storytelling.

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• The surprising role of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil in her healing
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• Why horror comedy makes brutal truths easier to face
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• Menstrual blood, dismembered limbs, and other “normal” things
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• Her upcoming debut novel The Scald Crow and the joy of haunting the Midwest
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• And yes—how being a full-size candy bar house is a sacred Halloween duty 🎃
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Grace proves you don’t have to be fearless to face the dark—you just have to be ready.

📚 Guest: Grace Daly

Grace is a former IT project manager turned horror writer who lives with multiple chronic invisible illnesses. Her debut novel The Scald Crow drops this October and blends Irish folklore, body horror, and razor-sharp humor with unflinching honesty about disability and identity.

💬 “My body is a horror show. So I figured—I might as well write one.”

What happens when childhood nightmares become your calling card? In this episode of Horror Heals, scare actor Omar Ortega joins Corey and Kendall to talk about growing up inside a family-owned video store, how Nightmare on Elm Street haunted his imagination, and how horror evolved from fear to fuel.

Omar opens up about his journey from VHS kid to veteran scare actor, sharing the emotional highs and behind-the-scenes lows of working in iconic haunts like Universal Studios Hollywood and LA’s Haunted Hayride. From bad fan placement to drag in the dark, this conversation digs into the ways horror helps Omar process rage, build confidence, and offer guests a uniquely immersive experience they’ll never forget.

Whether he’s channeling Madman Marz, playing The Butcher, or embodying the spirit of Divine in full wig-slap glory, Omar reminds us that scaring others can be healing — and horror is far more than just a seasonal thrill.

Because… is horror good for mental wellness?

Of corpse it is.

• Omar’s horror origin story: family movie nights, Halloween II, and Freddy nightmares
• What it's really like to audition as a scare actor at Universal Studios
• The power of performance: transforming breakups, frustration, and rejection into compelling characters
• Honoring Janelle Monáe’s haunted vision and finding surprise joy in queer expression
• VHS nostalgia, underrated sequels, and why Nancy Thompson remains a top-tier Final Girl
• A brilliant take on The Exorcist… as a drama?

• Emotional catharsis through character work
• Channeling anger and grief into immersive performance
• Finding identity and power in horror personas
• The unique thrill of being seen in the shadows
• Community, resilience, and the evolution of haunted house acting

Omar Ortega is a Los Angeles–based scare actor and lifelong horror fan who has spent nearly a decade performing in haunted attractions like LA’s Haunted Hayride and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. Raised in a family-run video store, Omar fell in love with horror from a young age — and now channels that passion into immersive, emotionally charged performances that blur the line between fear and therapy. He’s played everything from brutal butchers to haunted drag queens and believes that horror is a powerful vehicle for release, reinvention, and connection.

🎙️ Horror Heals is the podcast that asks:

Is horror good for mental wellness?

Of corpse it is.

This is not your average horror podcast interview.

In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Corey and Kendall sit down with author and illustrator Drew Huff, whose work isn’t just inspired by trauma, it is shaped by it. Drew speaks openly about the lasting effects of growing up with an alcoholic father, and the surreal, devastating responsibility of handling his estate after his sudden overdose. At 22, she was the next of kin, and the only one left to clean up the mess.

We trace the emotional terrain between that loss and her debut horror novel Free Burn, a splatterpunk epic soaked in unresolved rage, haunted inheritance, and the desire to break generational cycles. We also dive into the dark underbelly of creative industries, as Drew recounts her experience being emotionally manipulated and professionally exploited by a predatory freelance editor.

We talk about how The Shining saved her. How Doctor Sleep helped her forgive. And how Pet Sematary revealed the quiet truth of grief: that we sometimes choose destruction over despair, because destruction hurts less.

This is a conversation about being queer in a community that doesn’t always feel like yours. About leaving behind the security of a paycheck for the hope of a future. About the monstrous parts of ourselves we write not to hide, but to understand.

Drew Huff (she/her) is a queer horror and speculative fiction author and illustrator based in Washington State. Her debut novel, Free Burn, was released by Dark Matter INK in 2024, and her next cosmic horror release, The Divine Flesh, arrived March 2025. Her work explores themes of grief, addiction, emotional inheritance, and queer rage—with stories that don’t flinch from life’s ugliest truths.

She is currently preparing to relocate from a conservative hometown to Seattle in pursuit of creative community and healing. Drew is living proof that horror can be both a weapon and a mirror—and that survival doesn’t have to be silent.

• Free Burn (2024) – Rage-fueled, grief-scarred splatterpunk debut
• Landlocked in Foreign Skin (2025) – Queer sci-fi novella about isolation, identity, and transformation
• The Divine Flesh – Cosmic horror meets spiritual collapse
• Sweetthing (WIP) – Sapphic vampire tale and religious satire
• Exodus (2026) – Halloween-themed horror with a monster family at its core
• Run to Beat the Devil (WIP) – A character’s slow realization she’s become the very monster she feared

• The emotional violence of losing an abusive parent without resolution
• The actual cost of grief (financial, psychological, existential)
• Processing trauma through horror—why King gets it
• Mental health hierarchies: why people shut down at “the hard stuff”
• Writing characters who are harder to love than the monsters
• Queer loneliness in rural America—and finding strength outside the mainstream
• Rebuilding your life from scratch at 26—when it feels like the world has already swallowed you

• Website: drewehuff.com
• Instagram: @druhuf
• X/Twitter: @dreadnought_dru

What do you get when you cross two horror-loving writers, a glow-in-the-dark monster, and a six-year-old in a Jason mask? A conversation that’s equal parts creepy, creative, and surprisingly grounded.

Vienna and John join Corey (with Kendall in the main episode) to talk about their upcoming gothic novel Victoria Frankenstein, how horror shaped their relationship, and why fear is sometimes the most honest tool for growth. From Halloween chaos and killer clowns to writing trauma into fiction and raising spooky kids, this episode dives into horror as a lifestyle, a lens, and a language.

They break down their reimagined Frankenstein mythology (no erotica here, thank you), their DIY book design process, and how horror helps them, and their daughter, understand red flags, emotional safety, and the world at large.

• A new Frankenstein myth rooted in science, not sorcery (and glowing veins!)
• Vienna’s goth-mom origin story and John's fear-as-community philosophy
• Horror as emotional training: how spooky movies taught survival instincts
• Trick-or-treat streets, horror cons, and the great Fear Street defense
• Raising a “spooky girl” with good boundaries and better costumes
• Building a book series as a couple without killing each other
• Favorite final people and why Ready or Not still slaps
• How the Horror Heals podcast sparked personal reflection

Vienna and John’s debut novel reimagines Mary Shelley’s monster through a gothic-sci-fi lens, centered on a woman forced to rebuild her life after unleashing something she may not be able to stop. There’s bioluminescent blood, a juggernaut creature, and zero apologies for staying rooted in real science. Book one of The Dread Legacies series drops October 1st.

• Fear Street trilogy
• Ready or Not, The Others, Killer Klowns from Outer Space
• Dream House, Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
• Victoria Frankenstein: The Dread Legacies, Book One (pre-order coming soon)

• Follow Vienna and John on Instagram: @dreadlegacies

In this cathartic and wonderfully chaotic episode of Horror Heals, Corey and Kendall sit down with cult horror icon Sean Whalen, best known as Roach from Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs, to talk about sock monsters, emotional healing, and his directorial debut, Crust.

Sean opens up about how Crust was born out of a deep depression following his divorce, and how he used humor, horror, and a laundry-dwelling murder sock to process grief and rage. The conversation dives into mental health, chosen family, fan community, and why horror may be the only genre where you never “age out," you just become more beloved.

From the early days working with Wes Craven to Sean’s plans for his next film (Swipe — it’s wild, just wait), this episode is a raw, hilarious, and unexpectedly uplifting look at how horror creates space for healing, connection, and unapologetic weirdness.

• Using horror as therapy for depression and grief
• How Crust became a love letter to weirdos and survivors
• The importance of horror conventions and chosen family
• Fans who don’t just support you, they show up with merch money
• The power of unconventional final girls and character actors
• What Wes Craven taught Sean about humanity in horror
• The emotional realism behind The People Under the Stairs
• Upcoming horror project Swipe, featuring… a bladed dildo? Yep.
• Why horror fans are the best fans (and Sean agrees!)

• 🎬 Crust (2024) on Tubi
• 🧦 The People Under the Stairs – IMDb
• 🎥 Late Night with the Devil, Smile 2, The Substance, and other indie horror gems
• 💡 Sean on TikTok – where horror meets hilarity

Every episode, Corey and Kendall ask their guest: Who’s your favorite final person in horror?

Sean’s pick? Laurie Strode from Halloween — a misfit who survives because of her quiet strength and vulnerability.

(Also, she knows when to stab and when to scream.)

Sean Whalen is a veteran character actor and fan-favorite in the horror world, with credits in The People Under the Stairs, Twister, Hatchet III, Never Been Kissed, and many more. With over 30 years in the industry, Sean recently made his directorial debut with Crust — a horror-comedy born from real-life heartbreak and a whole lot of indie spirit. He’s known for his deep connection with horror fans, his dark sense of humor, and his ongoing mission to make meaningful, weird, and heartfelt films.

• Follow Sean Whalen:
• 📸 @sean_whalen_actor
• Follow Horror Heals:
• 🖤 @horrorhealspodcast on Instagram

What if your deepest trauma gave birth to the monster that saved you? In this revealing and powerful episode, we sink our teeth into a transformative conversation with a horror author and former teacher who quite literally wrote his way through pain—by creating werewolves.

After surviving a devastating car accident that left him with a broken back and a new reality filled with PTSD, nightmares, and cognitive setbacks, our guest found traditional therapy wasn't enough. What helped him claw his way out? Horror. Writing. Monsters. And a full moon’s worth of metaphor.

We explore how horror stories—particularly werewolves—became a vessel for healing, expression, and identity. From early literary love affairs with The Hobbit and Tales from the Crypt, to sneaking horror flicks as a kid, to launching a publishing press for authors seeking catharsis through darkness, this episode shows how horror isn’t just scary—it’s sacred.

What We Talk About in This Episode:

• How a real-life trauma led to the creation of therapeutic monster fiction
• Why werewolves are the perfect metaphor for mental health and transformation
• The evolution from fantasy reader to horror writer
• Growing up on Poe, Price, and Friday the 13th
• The damaging effects of book banning—and why horror should be in the classroom
• Why horror helps kids process anxiety
• How creative outlets can be more effective than traditional therapy for some
• Launching a new horror anthology series, Dead Avenue, to showcase healing through fear

Links & Resources:

🐺 Visit Reader2Writer.com to explore books and the new Dead Avenue anthology

📚 Interested in writing horror as healing? Keep an eye on Reader to Writer Press for future submissions

🎧 Follow Horror Heals for more stories where the shadows offer shelter