Therapy in Terror: Why Horror is Good for the Mind

In this episode of the Horror Heals podcast, Corey and Kendall are joined by the talented horror author Rachel M. Martens, who has made a career out of writing stories that not only thrill, but also serve as a therapeutic outlet. From childhood favorites like Scooby-Doo to deep dives into the gothic classics, Rachel’s love for horror has been a consistent thread throughout her life, and it's one that has helped her process trauma, overcome personal struggles, and ultimately find her voice as a writer.

Therapy in Terror: Why Horror is Good for the Mind

Rachel shares how writing horror has been a method of healing, helping her transform painful experiences into powerful, haunting tales that resonate with readers. She takes us on a journey through her writing process, including the influence of Edgar Allen Poe and classic gothic horror, and how her characters evolve as they battle their own demons. We also discuss her Poe series, which blends psychological horror with deeply personal themes of PTSD, depression, and healing, creating a world where the darkness isn't something to shy away from, but something that empowers.

Throughout this conversation, Rachel’s passion for horror as a tool for mental wellness is clear. She explains how horror, whether through books, movies, or writing, allows us to confront our fears in a controlled space, providing us with the strength to face what’s lurking in the shadows of our own lives.

If you’re a fan of horror or just want to hear more about how creative expression can help us heal, this episode is a must-listen!

Guest Bio: Rachel M. Martens

Rachel M. Martens is a talented horror author whose work delves deep into the shadows of the human experience, blending gothic horror with psychological thrillers. Her passion for horror, which began in childhood, has shaped both her writing and her personal journey of healing. Drawing inspiration from classic figures like Edgar Allan Poe and the works of gothic horror legends, Rachel’s stories explore themes of trauma, grief, PTSD, and the strength found in confronting darkness head-on.

Rachel is the author of the Poe series, a gothic thriller that brings to life the terrifying and empowering world of a young woman battling a family curse, all while grappling with her own emotional scars. Her writing is not just a creative outlet but a form of catharsis, allowing her to process personal struggles and offer readers a sense of empowerment through powerful endings and haunting tales.

As an active member of the horror community, Rachel has embraced the camaraderie found at conventions and events, connecting with fans and fellow authors alike. With each book, she continues to inspire those who turn to horror for both entertainment and healing, proving that sometimes, the scariest stories hold the most transformative power.

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

Speaker 3 (00:12.034)
Hello, boys and girls. It's your old pal, John Cusir, the voice of the Crypt Keeper. And I want to welcome my good fiends of the Horror Heals podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is. I delight in the delicious deaths of pitiful people on the silver screen.

Speaker 3 (00:42.862)
So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends Cory and Kendall on the horror heels podcast

Speaker 2 (01:01.934)
Welcome back friends to another episode of Horror Heals. Today we've got a guest who, if you're fan of 80s cult classics, probably needs no introduction. He's the man behind Rudy the Clown from the legendary Killer Clowns from Outer Space. But that's just the tip of the colorful creative iceberg. Herod Blank is not only a horror icon, but also a filmmaker, artist, and visionary behind the incredible Artcar World Museum.

Where about the dive into his world of creativity, clown, and yes, even a 31 years long in the making documentary on Burning Man. Alright, let's talk clowns. Herod, welcome to the Horror Heals Podcast.

Thank you.

So we met briefly at a horror convention earlier this year. And first thing, I think that your marketing postcards are some of the better done that I've seen. So kudos to that. I'm a marketer by trade. So I do pick up on those things.

good, thank you.

Speaker 2 (02:01.058)
And so my first question is, what is your theory on how this crazy 1980s clown movie continues to grow in popularity year after year? mean, it's bigger than it's ever been.

Okay, I've actually been trying to figure that out myself. Every time I do one of these horror conventions, I think, is this going to be the last one? Is the notoriety and interest in this movie going to stop or drop? And it's actually the opposite. And I keep wondering, what is it that is driving fans to killer clowns from outer space?

And I see the fans that come up to me that say that they have a tattoo of me on their body, which is, well, my character Rudy. And my first thought is, my God, why? Why would you have Rudy on your body? And I think what is going on is that

Somehow the creativity that is in the clowns created by Charlie Kyoto, somehow that resonates as unique and individual and kind of organic and also rebellious and sort of...

It's a symbol, it's become a symbol. And perhaps that is what people are gravitating towards is self-expression and being wild and being unique and being original. And, you know, there's no CGI in that movie. So it's all homemade and raw and

Speaker 1 (04:08.718)
So there's something there, I guess it's what does it symbolize? And that's what it is. It's gotta be that it's resonating on a deeper level than the average horror movie. It's resonating on a level of identity. It's who we are and who we wanna be and who we wanna be perceived by. Who's our audience and what are we trying to say?

with our lives, you know? I don't know, I scratch my head about it all the time, but you know what? I'm not gonna complain about it because I actually am on Cloud 9 and I'm enjoying it. And if I can be part of something that is that positive and that has such authenticity from the fan base, I'm all in.

Yeah, yeah. You've definitely hit on something there. And I think another aspect for me is the, as you mentioned, the creativity of the Kyoto brothers. You know, the clowns are all so unique that, you know, you're watching when you're rewatching the movie, you're rooting for the clowns. You're also rooting for a couple of the humans. they're most clowns. You want to see what they're going to do. And just like, you know, another movie that they made creatures for critters, you're rooting for the critters, you know, but you're also kind of rooting for a couple of the humans as well.

Maybe it's the human quality that is in the clowns and the sort of like maybe it's like a prankster like the like when we were children when we're children and we're just kind of being obnoxious and wild. That's the kind of spirit that is in these clowns.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they're mischievous, but, and you know, they're drinking people's blood after they make them into cotton candy, but they're lovable too.

Speaker 1 (06:02.018)
Yeah!

You don't hear that every day. think, well, another thing is we're seeing, you know, parents, not grandparents, introducing the movie to their kids and their grandkids where you're seeing kids at horror cons dressed up like the clowns. And it's, you know, it's definitely one of those eighties sort of gateway horror movies. It's like, you know, safer, you safe enough for kids to watch. It was on HBO a bazillion times in the eighties. And so there was an opportunity to watch it and rewatch it and watch it again. And now, I mean, you see the people.

No.

Speaker 2 (06:33.57)
the adults who are cosplaying at the clowns at the conventions and they can't walk a foot without people stopping them. want to get a foot. I mean, it's just everybody knows who the killer clowns are.

Yeah, I'm hoping that they can get a sequel going and that I can have a part in it. That's what I'm hoping for.

That's, think, yeah, we've all been clamoring for that for years. And I think with the new video game coming out, I think that's going to make it more of a probability, you know, just depending on how popular that video game is. Cause people will be clamoring for another flick for sure. Um, so I introduced the movie to Kendall, you years ago, and then our cousins were, you know, we're living in New England and they were living here for a while. And so we were introducing them to horror movies. And so we ended up, uh, forming a trivia team and.

our team was Killer Clowns from Outer Space and it was so fun to hear that the end of the night like, and the winners tonight, Killer Clowns from Outer Space.

There you go. Yeah. Good job.

Speaker 2 (07:33.176)
Yeah, it's funny. we joked when we first, formed the team, we, we, we wanted, an interesting name for the team and we lost, one night and, you know, didn't come in first one night and we had a different name. And then we tried it one more time with a different, another different name. Didn't win that time. And we joked because the first time we won first place is when we called ourselves the killer clowns.

And that's when we stuck with it. were like, well, that's it. That's what we're doing now. think we still have the gift certificate that we won because it says, you know, winners are the. Yeah.

There you go. Good.

Yeah, it's definitely, know, the movie's got a special place. So, you know, being part of the horror community and being at the conventions, what are some of the things you hear from people when they come up and meet you?

Well, you've changed my life. You know, I love you. You're amazing. And I'm like, are you sure? know, are you kidding me? it's real. That's the thing about this is it's real. You saved my life. I'm like, I saved your life?

Speaker 1 (08:59.022)
Yeah, I was suicidal and I gravitated towards killer clowns from outer space and I just thought that Rudy was the most amazing clown and it gave me hope for living. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And this was true. I don't know if you've heard me tell this story, but I was approached by maybe a 28 year old, very attractive woman. I think it was in Chicago.

at a convention and she said, I'm going to get your face tattooed all over my chest. And I'm like, really? You sure you want to do that? And she says, yeah. And I said, you mean your whole front? Yeah, my whole front. And she was with a guy and I turned to him and I go, are you with her? And he goes, yeah, we're engaged.

And I said, really? I said, well, what do you think of that? And he goes, sheepishly. He's like, I kind of like it. I'm like, my God. You know, this is just too much. And I have seen, I'm not kidding, killer clown, the entire body of a person is covered with killer clown tattoos. The entire body, I'm like, whoa. And I put these things on Facebook because...

I, you know, that is the ultimate statement that you're a fan is if you're going to tattoo your body. So, you know, I take this pretty seriously and I always marvel at people's tattoos. And then I think, well, if they're that serious about this movie, then they're, they're like a super fan. And, and so, I mean, it's pretty, it's pretty serious.

They've said things like the movie gave me the permission to be myself. That's pretty big. Pretty big stuff. So I, you know, this is the type of stuff that I hear all the time at the conventions. It's not just somebody who's just a simple fan. These are people that have been, their teenage years.

Speaker 2 (11:04.951)
That's free.

Speaker 1 (11:22.836)
and their identity, when they're forming their identity, somehow, killer clowns became, it gave them permission to, yeah, to be themselves. And I guess it's more than that. It even tells them it's not just permission, it's actually encouragement. Like go be yourself and do it. I don't know, it's just a weird.

I don't think anybody was expecting this type of reaction, I think that's cumulatively, think that's what has happened with the fan base. When you look at the people, they're all so diverse and unique. yes, there's a lot of tattooed people, but there's all kinds of people expressing themselves in all kinds of ways. And so that's kind of cool.

Absolutely. So, I mean, you've literally experienced, you know, our theory for this podcast, which is that horror and horror movies and horror culture is really good for our mental wellness and our positivity.

Well, if you're feeling like a misfit and you feel like you don't fit in, which is what I was when I was younger, having the encouragement to keep going and not worry about what people think is pretty much the backbone of becoming who you are. I think when you're inhibited and you don't feel

like it's okay to be yourself and you hide yourself, then you're not really living. You're not being honest with yourself anyways. So I don't know, I think there's something about it that is refreshing. And you could say in general horror, the horror films sort of do encourage you to be, encourage a person to be.

Speaker 1 (13:29.944)
pretty much whoever they want to be. mean, you look at the costumery at these conventions. mean, it's almost like Mardi Gras or Burning Man or, you know, it's out there.

Absolutely, for sure. So as a filmmaker yourself, do you think there's enough there there to make a killer clowns documentary about the fandom and the life of this, know, crazy little movie?

Well, if I was a bit younger, I would probably endeavor to do that, but I have so much on my plate right now. I have been documenting this a little bit, but I do think it's a good, it would be a good subject for a movie.

You know, the other thing that's really interesting about this is that there's a lot of artists that come up and show us their portraits that they've done of the clowns. that's pretty cool too. I mean, if the movie is encouraging people to express themselves, I like that too. And so I actually collect these artistic renditions that people gift me.

And I, in fact, I have a little exhibit of these artworks on the walls of the ARCAR Museum that I'm building here in Arizona. It's called ARCAR World. And I have a killer clowns exhibit with all this art that people have made. that's another part that I would include. if I was to do a movie on the fandom of these conventions, I would include the

Speaker 1 (15:14.272)
artistic expression that people come up with. I mean, it's all over the place and it's really interesting. Even five year old kids are drawing portraits of the clowns and I even have those on the wall. I like signing the original artwork because I think that's actually, makes it even more one of a kind item. I have seen that picture before, so I think maybe there has been, you know, some prints going around.

But yeah, mean, isn't that cool that other people can, they get turned on enough that they're inspired to do their version of the Killer Clowns. That's the ultimate. I mean, the ultimate fandom for the Kyoto brothers. mean, just think how they must be feeling. mean, every time they turn around, there's somebody loving this movie.

And it's the saddest thing is that they just haven't been able to do a sequel.

Yeah. We wouldn't touch on the fact that we lived in the Bay area for what? Almost 10 years and you know, one of our favorite places on earth. ended up moving to new England because we found Kendall's birth family here on the East coast. And so we moved here to be closer to his dad and his brother and sister and their families. But we, mean, our favorite place in the world is the Bay area. We'd still be there if we hadn't found my family. I'm sure, well that's.

You know, a wonderful piece of my story. much of your time do you split between there and Arizona?

Speaker 1 (16:51.758)
I'm about half and half more or less. It's, you know, I have the same feeling for the Bay Area. think that it's an amazing place and the weather is incredible, you know, and the nature is incredible. Like I go hiking a lot. I go to the beach. I do lots of things. And Arizona's

Amazing as well, but it's it's it's a little more. It's a little more rough here Environment wise it's really really hot in the summers and really kind of cold in the winter So we're cover high desert down here, but Yeah, I wear a lot of hats. I I do the killer clowns thing. I do maybe four to six conventions a year

And then I do the Arkhar Museum, the Arkhar World Museum, and I'm working on that constantly. I'm building a temple slash monument to creativity, which is this gigantic sculpture that's 87 feet tall. And that's kind of my big thing that I'm doing now.

And then I'm doing the Burning Man movie, which I've been working on for 31 years. So I'm also a filmmaker and I just, life is never boring. mean, I am always moving around doing the wildest shit and having such a good time. mean, to me, my attitude is life is to be lived. know, so.

I sometimes don't get enough sleep and I might complain about it, but ultimately if I'm not getting enough sleep because I'm working my ass off or because I'm having fun, then what else is there? I mean, that's the way to be in my opinion.

Speaker 1 (18:48.462)
So, yeah.

We've made a couple of auto-themed films. Where did your passion for automobiles come from?

Well, I grew up actually on a commune in the Santa Cruz Mountains. And my role in the commune, it was a biodynamic gardening commune. this is 1970 when my mother and her new boyfriend moved to join a commune. And my role in the commune was to milk the goats. So as a seven-year-old kid to about 12 years old, I milked the goats.

in the morning at like 5 a.m. which I absolutely dreaded. But it taught me a lot about nature and it taught me sort of about how communes, though they aspire to be all loving and all great, they often are not because ultimately one person is in control.

And when there's one person in control, I don't care what it is, you gotta play by their rules or you're in trouble. But my first car I got when I was 16 years old and it was a white VW. Now I was kind of a wild child up in the forest. So when I went to high school in downtown Santa Cruz, I didn't feel like any of other 16 year old kids.

Speaker 1 (20:22.542)
completely different values and I didn't have a lot of friends because I was in the forest. So I spent a lot of time alone in my own head and I had imaginary friends and I played basketball against imaginary opponents and I was really out there but I was very creative. But when I got my first car I decided that I needed to make a statement that I wasn't like everybody else.

even though I look like everybody else. And so I decided to make a statement and turn my car into sort of like a Native American teepee type thing with symbols and stuff to show people around that I was who I was. So what happened was, similar to killer clowns,

That effort to expose myself turned me into this popular, be it misfit, but a very popular one. And I was invited to all the parties and everything that was going on, art shows. I just became very popular with this car. And it sort of encouraged me to keep going with the car.

And then I started documenting other people because I was wondering, well, is there something wrong with me because I did this to my car? And then I found out that no, it actually, there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that you're very creative and you, you actually, you have to have the guts to show yourself to others. And it's actually admirable, I think, when people do that. So.

I started filming other people that did art cars. then when I finished these, I did two art car movies. One's called Wild Wheels. One's called Automorphosis. Automorphosis meaning self change. Meaning that when you change your car and you make it what you want it to be, it then changes you. And so then you have this relationship with your community that is...

Speaker 1 (22:45.228)
very interesting and very lively. You go to the Safeway or the supermarket to get groceries and people are gonna know you because of your car. I mean, that's crazy. But unlike a tattoo, can get away from the car. It does its magic over there and you can go in Safeway and be anonymous. When you get tattoos, you're no longer anonymous.

That's why I think the tattoo thing is really powerful and really interesting. And I think you will see that a lot of these people that go to the conventions are owning up to themselves and to what they believe in by tattooing their body with, be it horror film iconography or what have you. mean, the tattoos tell a story. The tattoos tell a story about their values.

about what they love, what they like, and it's interesting. But anyways, back to the art car thing. There is a similarity between the art cars and tattoos, that's why I bring it up. But then I got into Burning Man in 1993. I went to Burning Man for the first time, and I was blown away by just the amount of

creativity and people doing stuff, people making art and expressing themselves. And it got me turned on to start making a documentary. So I've been filming Burning Man since 1993 every year. And now I'm going to do like a five part series.

Very cool. That's wild. Yeah, I did not know that you had been doing that. That's really fascinating. You'll have to keep us in the loop as to the progress because that sounds like it's going to be a wild ride.

Speaker 1 (24:42.848)
Yeah, yeah, it is. is. And you'll see the evolution of the event and you'll see, you'll see the art. I mean, I kind of focused on the art and self-expression and evolution and yeah.

the hours of footage are you working with?

it's so big I can't even watch it once. It'll take me three or four months to watch it once. Wow. Yeah.

It's gonna be a challenge, Ted.

Yeah, yeah. And I wore I wore my killer clowns a costume. Last year before last and that was really fun.

Speaker 2 (25:27.011)
Yeah, do you have any photos of that?

I do somewhere. do somewhere. I'd have to dig them up.

Love to see that. Yeah, that would be very cool to share with both. Awesome. Well, you just, this conversation I think has been very inspirational. I'm looking forward to getting it out there because everything you're talking about is, we believe in the same stuff. It's creativity and art can be so powerful and life changing. So thank you for being so open about that.

Sure, yeah, well I'm living it. Like I said, if you drive an art car, you are owning up to that car. You have to be responsible to your beliefs. And you're going to be challenged on your beliefs. You're gonna be called freak. You're gonna be called weird. You're gonna be called all kinds of names.

That's why I say when you own up to it, then you can, you know, you're responsible for who you are. And I'm gonna say that there's all kinds of people that do this. There's even politically, political art cars, there's more personal art cars, there's cars that are cathartic that are about transformation, about a person who maybe started out with

Speaker 1 (26:55.354)
being depressed and they, by doing the art car, they come out, ahead and actually happier for it. And then they don't need that car anymore because they healed. So there's, there's all kinds of, reasons for it, but you'd be surprised how much pressure there is in our world, not to express yourself. So that's what you're going up against. You're going up against anonymity.

Anonymity is what they tell you as children that you should be. You should be anonymous. And so I don't, I think that just makes the world boring.

Yeah, absolutely. Like for sure. literally saw a Halloween themed art car in the grocery store parking lot today for the third time I've seen it, but the driver's never been there. And I've been tempted to leave one of our War Heels business cards on the windshield, but I don't want to like, you know, mess, you know, touch somebody's car. So I just keep, hoping to catch them. They've got like skeletons crawling all over this car. It's great. Yeah. So hopefully.

That would be a cool segue. Like if you put your card on their windshield and you say, we'd love to talk you about your car. And then you can piggyback off of this interview and boom, have an exit. Cause I don't know this person. I don't think. But I do know our cars in your area. And in fact, his name is Howard Davis. He created the telephone car.

And he actually camped with me at Burning Man. So, he's brought the telephone car to Burning Man, think three times, but you can, you can Google him and see the car. He dresses up like a superhero, a telephone man.

Speaker 2 (28:49.208)
I it.

But, and he went to, he went with me to the, the horror convention in Marlboro. Is that the one that you were at or? Okay. That's where I met you. So he was, he came, he came to that convention.

Nice.

Yeah!

Speaker 2 (29:05.394)
awesome. Yeah. Cool. I might have seen him there. Who knows? Yeah. That's wild.

Very cool. Well, the last question that we ask every guest is who is your favorite final person in a horror movie? We don't like to say final girl because we want to keep it open to everybody.

You mean a person that lives? well, now here's, here's an ironic thing for you. Even though I'm a horror film, I guess you could call star. I'm not a big horror film guy. Like I, I just don't, I just don't see a lot of horror films.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:53.75)
which is interesting and I think you'll find that a lot of the people that are in horror films are actually not up on the genre as much as they should be. Now, what's also been very interesting for me is meeting the other horror film stars and finding out that they are just like me in that they...

They did these horror films, but then they have this whole other life and passion, and they're very, very interesting. So if I was to do a documentary about the horror convention scene, I would also probably feature some of the horror stars and capture what else they do in their life, because it's just fascinating. I mean, you would think that some of these killers are just...

brazen, horrible, cold people. But quite the contrary, they're just like you and me and they're very interesting. So I've been having a great time meeting these other actors and actresses and directors and just the whole thing is just so positive. have to say, and I'm generalizing, but the whole horror.

scene is just it's amazing it's very creative very creative

Yeah, I think that's why we're drawn to it. You know, it's, as you said, it's super positive. It's amazingly creative. It's great for our mental wellness. It's like when I'm at one of those conventions, it's I'm in my happy place. You know, it's, like euphoria the entire time I'm there.

Speaker 1 (31:37.11)
Yeah. Yeah. I'll, I'll ditto that.

Awesome. Well, we so appreciate you taking your time to speak with us and definitely keep us in the loop on the Burning Man stuff. Harry, this has been a blast. From Rudy the Clown to art cars to a monumental Burning Man project, your story is a testament to living creatively and authentically. Your journey shows us that whether it's through horror art or a wild art car, self-expression is a powerful form of healing.

Okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (32:06.232)
We can't wait to see what's next for you and you better believe we'll be keeping an eye on that Burning Man documentary. Thanks so much for joining us. And to our listeners, if you love today's episode, don't forget to like, share and subscribe. And remember when someone asks, is horror good for mental wellness? You tell them of corpse it is. The Horror Heels podcast is produced and presented by How the Cow ate the Cabbage, LLC.