Dark, Surreal, and Healing, Kamaria Williams on the Power of Horror

Horror isn’t just about fear. For Kamaria Williams, it’s about healing.

In this episode of Horror Heals, we sit down with actor, writer, and filmmaker Kamaria Williams to explore how horror became her creative outlet and emotional processing tool. Growing up surrounded by horror films, Kamaria developed a deep connection to the genre, not because it scared her, but because it helped her understand the world.

We talk about her award-winning short film Haunted, inspired by her real-life fears as a new driver navigating Los Angeles and the deeper societal anxieties that come with it. Kamaria shares how horror allows her to explore moral dilemmas, identity, and the realities faced by marginalized communities in ways other genres simply cannot.

We also dive into:

• Why horror is one of the most honest reflections of society
 • How horror helps process grief, fear, and depression
 • The importance of representation in modern horror storytelling
 • Why horror fans are more open to diverse voices
 • The surprising humor inside even the darkest films

And of course, Kamaria answers our signature question about her favorite final survivor, with a twist you won’t see coming.

If you’ve ever used horror to cope, escape, or understand your own fears, this episode will hit home.

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

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_02 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome back to Horror Heels. I'm Kendall, and this this is the big one. This is the season two premiere. If you've been with us since the beginning, you know what we're all about. We explore how horror, yeah, the stuff that scares people actually helps us process real life. Anxiety, grief, trauma, identity, all the things we don't always know how to talk about. And today's guest fits that mission perfectly. We're joined by Kamarillo Williams, actor, writer, filmmaker, and founder of Moonshine Entertainment. Her work lives in that space between dark, surreal, and deeply human. She's not just telling scary stories. She's asking difficult questions about identity, fear, and what it means to move through the world in your own skin. Her short film, Haunted, takes something as everyday as driving and turns it into a moral and psychological horror story layered with real-world fear and lived experience. And what I love about this conversation is that Kamaria doesn't just talk about horror as entertainment, she talks about horror as survival, as processing, as a way to face things that might otherwise feel too overwhelming. So if you've ever used horror to cope, to feel seen, or even to just feel something when things get heavy, you're gonna connect with this one. Let's get into it.

Corey 1:38

Caberia, thank you for uh joining us on the Horror Heals podcast.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Thank you for having me.

Corey 1:43

You describe your work as dark and surreal. What drew you into horror as your storytelling medium?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

I have been listening and watching and really taking in horror content my whole life. I'm one of five kids. I am the only STEM. So I have four brothers. So they have been watching horror their whole life. I'm the middle child. So my older brothers would watch it, and my mom will also watch it. So then I was always introduced to horror. Like I remember watching Species. I remember watching Name Umstreet and Jason films. I feel like a lot of slasher films were really popular in the 90s when I was growing up. Um yeah, I just kept watching them and I loved them. So it just came natural to me. So as I got older, I just became more of a horror fan, along with listening to rock and more dark themed music. I grew up in New York City and that's still one of my homes. So I've seen a lot of dark stuff at a young age.

Corey 2:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

So I feel like it just I'm horror was always an interesting topic to me. I feel like it's a great way to see life through a different lens and feel like through a real lens. Because I think it's the only genre that actually says something about society. George A. Romero's Day of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead, and them being stuck in the mall. I believe it was Dawn of the Dead. And he spoke about how consumerism is taking over America and how disgusting is that it is, and how also these people are like zombies because they are going back to what they remembered when they was alive. So I always thought that was interesting. And I think that's what kind of drew me in was that's how I kind of see life too, you know, the piece of movies, even though people think it's kind of low brow, but I think it's actually quite dark and deepening, and then many different ways you can look at life in general. So that's why I always watched it. And I've always watched it, you know. I just I don't know, I just always did it drawn to me. And I don't really easily scared because, you know, I've seen dead bodies as a kid and I've seen a lot of drug use and a lot of dark things around New York, and as much as your parents try to shield you from it is literally almost virtually impossible.

Corey 3:55

So the theme of our show is horror being good for our mental wellness. What do you think about that? The theme of our show is that we believe horror is good for our mental wellness. What do you think about our theme?

SPEAKER_00 4:09

I love it. I was listening to one of your previous interviews about suicide and mental health. And I think it's amazing because that's how I heal. I use horror to heal. I didn't realize until I a lot of psychotic I took a psychology class in undergrad, and a lot of the times they discuss how we process grief through entertainment, it's through reading books and such. So horror being my vehicle, I always wondered why. Like I think someone said that is how horror is a great genre to process grief and to process things that we're afraid to think about, death, which is ending there for all of us. And it doesn't always have to be a somber, sad way. That's why I know with like dramas, like straight dramas, because they just seem, oh, this is so arduous and so tax, emotionally taxing to watch this person die of cancer. But if you watch it in a horror sense, there's interesting ways you can go about it, and there's so many subgenres. And when I would sad and depressed, or if I felt alone in school, like I felt like an outsider, I would literally watch uh movies like what dragged me to hell. And I would watch The Exorcist. I know, and The Exorcist I find is a really fun film. My mom is Catholic and she always is flabbergasted and gobsmacked that I laugh at the exorcist. But I think it was actually a great, it's a great character study, but long though was really hilarious if you think about it. Especially when when the when Pizazu, I think, when she was possessed by Pizaju Ravens character was yelling, and when the priest came in, you just like ignored it. She was like, Yeah, I know. We're cool. Me and this demon, we're good. And I always felt it was fun to just kind of make light of situations without it being so, I guess, again, I've said emotionally testing with where Ardu is feeling. You know, I think it'd also be, you know, light. There's horror comedies, there's horror dramas, there's horror suspense. And I always see life as like there's always something could happen around the corner. You know what I mean? Something could always happen. So I don't feel that it's a terrible thing to watch it on screen. Actually, I think it makes me feel more comfortable. I'm like, oh now I'm gonna imagine every horrible thing that could happen, and I'm watching it unfold, or I'm writing it, or I'm reading it, and now I actually feel I fear less going out into the world in a weird way.

Corey 6:25

No, I get it. What's the inspiration behind your film Haunted?

SPEAKER_00 6:34

So for Haunted, I started driving in my 30s because and growing up in New York, you didn't have to drive. So I got my license and I'm living in LA and I'm so afraid. So I I'm still scared of driving, to be honest with you. I'm still relatively a new driver, but I always fear, and I'm fearing really terrible things that could happen that can ultimately result in death. It's a common thing that you've probably seen in movies where someone hits someone with the car, but I always wanted to give a new perspective from my unique perspective, being a black non-binary femme who's a part of demographic that's also susceptible to police brutality and abuse, which I have been stopped and profiled by the police many times in New York and in LA. So I've always feared like, okay, something bad happens if I'm a new driver and I F up, but then how am I going to respond? Do I call the police? Because now, even if I'm innocent or if I made a mistake and that could have resulted in an injury or death, I'm still going to be culpable because of my skin tone and how I look. Doesn't matter where I went to school, doesn't matter my background. It's just the honest shirt. So I always get afraid, like, oh, what do I do? It's kind of like a moral conundrum. So I always wanted to bring a new perspective in that way. Of course, always do the right thing. But I guess the main character contemplating what to do kind of stems from that fear of if I'm being honest, I made this mistake and hit this person. How's it gonna look on me? And am I gonna recover? Should I say something? Who do I call? I can't call the police. So do I call a trusty friend? Is my friend going to understand? And yeah, so I thought it was a dark thought, which is why I love horror as a genre to explore. It doesn't make the person's actions correct. It's just a way to kind of question or philosophical question of what do I do? And how would you deal with this? Because most people go, I don't want to call the cops. It's like, okay, well, are you probably demographic as susceptible to abuse? Are you afraid? Are you have you immigrated here? Are you afraid of ice? And you have a lot of ice trades happening in Los Angeles. So many things at play here, so many layers. And I think, yeah, that's why I did it. My it's my personal fear. I'm driving. Like, I'm just like, oh my god, I'm so scared. But yeah.

Corey 8:52

So, what kind of feedback have you gotten after people see the ending of the film and that has kind of surprised you?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

I kind of wanted to focus more on the story and the natural horror or suspenseful elements that they're already there. I've gotten good feedback that they didn't realize that it was shot in one or two locations. Some people at their film festivals were like, hey, I it didn't take me so after a while to realize, oh wow, that's you shot it in kind of like any one location. And I'm like, yep, in one day. Yeah, just you know, just to trim down the cost because I had to hire a production company who's amazing, by the way. And as well as the director, Shamika Wright, she's amazing too. And she worked with me, and she's also a black femme from East Coast, and we talked a lot about culture and history, and uh, it was just such a beautiful, inviting set, which a diverse cast, who was so happy to be a part of everything as well. So I was kind of shocked by that because I was always afraid of okay, here's my story. Are you you want to work with me? And we also changed a lot of things too based on how we felt on set, and there was mishaps. There was some mishap of oh, we had to cut some stuff down, or we were able to shoot at some locations. And some people like, honestly, you don't really you didn't really need it because it probably would have taken away from the story. Um, and that's what I always try to focus on is story as an actor and writer and creator. I'm always trying to focus on okay, what is a story and what and how can people connect to the story?

Corey 10:19

Yeah, I think we're starting to see holistic depictions of people of color and queer people in horror. Why is horror such a powerful space for those such stories?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I love this question so much. Oh my goodness. I watched the documentary called Horror Noir on AMC Plus Shutter channel. And yeah, sure, you you'll go watch it. I love that documentary. And I never I guess growing up, I've always watched like black horror films or films that had darker elements, like Vampire and Brooklyn, as well as Bones and Tales from the Hood. But I always felt that it wasn't enough representation. I think the one of the early survivors I remember, there's a few, but Demon Knight was Jade Pinkett Smith. And I was happy she survived because I thought she was gonna die. I was like, oh, crazy girl, you better be gone. But she actually survived. I was like happy. Okay, and she's a black woman, so I was very happy to see that. But I think a lot of American history is quite dark, and we are a part of that as BIPOC people, you know, black indigenous people, people of color. And sometimes those stories get swept away. I'm happy that there is a resurgence, and I think it's because there's a genre that was uncharted. I do think that there was some apprehension when I was younger with a lot of black creatives doing delving into horror because of Christianity. Christianity is really big in our culture due to enslavement. It's always those demonic allegations to have a lot of Christian family members, and some of them shy away from horror because they just view it as demonic overall. But there's a lot of different layers you can bring into with a lot of trauma and grief. And there's, I mean, nothing more traumatic than dealing with racism and misogyny and homophobia. So I'm really happy to see that a lot of us who are from diverse backgrounds are using horror as a genre. And I think it's increasing with centers and get out, master, nanny, and black boxes. I mean, there's so many now. I think it's because now creatives are starting to see the value in horror, especially with Get Out. That was a big juggernaut. They made a lot of money with the metal. So they're like, okay, hold on, my version of Get Out. Now we have 13 Get Outs. But hey, it's a great starting point. Even from I was re-watching them season two, and whoop a lot happening in that in that show. It's a great show, fantastic acting. I couldn't believe how amazing it is. But I'm just happy that my you know, people from my background is not afraid of exploring this anymore. And that in, you know, no Abrahamic religion or Christianity is holding people back. So I think that stigma of calling horror demonic or scary, or I don't want to think about it because it could happen is is starting to go away. And I think more other communities are also feeling comfortable exploring that genre. Although I love South and all South Asian horror, I love Japanese horror, I love French horror, I love, but now I saw like a Nigerian horror film for the first time. I said, hey, okay. You know, so it's really really interesting to see people feeling comfortable with it and not being a wish dig more, not seeing it as lowbrow, or not seeing it as anything that is less than a creative outlet.

Corey 13:32

Why do you think that horror fans are more open to stories about queer people and people of color?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Yeah, that's a great question. I think that as queer people, we're just getting more representation. I think that people always felt we had, but that's not necessarily true. I think people just see Will and Greggs and go, haha, there we go. That's all the queer. What are you taking on now? First of all, those are two disgendered gay men living in New York City in the upper west side. I'm a I'm an add or upper east side. And that's not enough to give representation to the whole LGBTQIA plus community. So I think people are just there's different perspectives. I think it's just a fresh perspective. I think we're caught tired of hearing the same old stories. And okay, there's a beautiful white family that moves into a white picket fence house in Middle America, and this strange things happen. This house, it's a horror. There's like insidious, there's like a thousand of those stories. So now I think people, even if it's that same premise, I think people are not interested in saying, what happens if it's two moms, or if it's like one trans person, or if it's just a single person living by themselves, now how would that happen? How would this unfold? Because now we have a we are peering into somebody's background culture and the intersectionality of where they lie is in our society. And it's not just the same land story over and over again. And you know, we already have 70s, 80s, like a thousand of those films. You can go on Tubi right now and watch, you know, throw them the same premise. I love those movies, by the way. I love B horror films, but I think it's also great to go. Well, what's a different aspect about queer community? America, we reach a lot of true crime. True crime is still one, you know, a lot of true crimes. So the correlation to watching, you know, if you if you watch true crime and don't watch horror, I always wonder what that what that is. Like, how do you know how are you comfortable hearing about a family being butchered, but in real life, but you're afraid to watch it on screen. I'm so confused about it. And there it's you know, fiction sense. So I think, you know, as as Americans, we're quite, I guess, invested and interested in macabre. A lot of things, a lot of horror, I guess, events, a lot of horror, con, you know, all these different events popping up. And I think people are really interested in this stuff. So now people are asking, okay, what else? What else can we explore that we haven't explored before? Is there another demographic that's unturned? Is there a new perspective? And people are always asking, oh, we're tired of the remix. Okay, then support the new stuff. I'm quite actually happy that they are, you know, a lot of the center is amazing, and a lot of films are starting to do really well. In a horror story, or people are still watching Jordan Peel's stuff. People are now waiting for his next stuff. People are excited for scary movies, six. And uh, and people are like, Oh, yeah, I can't wait for this film to come out. You know, I miss it because it's a parody of all these other films that we're seeing, and it's another layer of life that we get to laugh at. Because also, if you laugh at horror, it won't seem as serious or scary. Because, like, my girlfriends say, like, oh, after a scary horror movie, I'm I'm gonna watch a cartoon.

Corey 16:33

Right. Great. So, as an actor, writer, and filmmaker, how did those different roles inform your storytelling?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

I went to New York University to School of the Arts. So I got my degree in drama and theater. I'm also a classically trained actor. So the beginning of my career, I didn't really get to do too much horror. I submitted for a lot. I had a lot of auditions, but I haven't gotten text for horror as an actor, truth to be told. So I had to focus on writing it and reading it. Like Jordan Peel said, write the story you want to see. You know, I did a lot of Shakespeare, and then a lot of like classical text. Like what's it? George George, George Bernard Straw and Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare, Molière, all of the guys. But they're, I mean, I also saw like when I was reading these things, I mean, because though, especially Shakespeare's dramas and tragedies, they are so eff and dark. Goodness gracious. The way that people died and why they died, and how they died, is so interesting. From you know, Julius Caesar to Macbeth. So I always found even those have horror elements, it just didn't have that probably that term at that time. But that's how I try to conceptualize acting because sometimes you can get not bored. You have your dream roles that you really want to play, you really want to be the particular character of a story or like the heroine of a of a triumphant of a horror story. That's what I want to play, at least. And I don't always see past roles. So I in my mind, when I use my imagination to play these roles, I use those elements. And that's what kind of excites me as an actor, even though that's not what's playing out for strange, or maybe the tone at least, or the tonality, or the the way it's directed. For still for writing, I just say, you know what? I'm gonna write horror. Because I read horror. You know, I'm reading 10 of you do right now. I'm reading also out there screaming, it's edited by Jordan Peel. So I'm like, okay, how can I make a version that I want to see? What do I want to see on screen actually? So I have a four or five script pending. You know how you write something and you just go, I have another idea. I'm gonna write that too.

unknown 18:37

I have another idea.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Let me write it down before someone thinks of it, or let me write it down before I forget, and then you just disappear into ether. So I kind of just decided to write it, and I had a lot of fun writing horror. I wrote a drama to uh someone's biography, but I had a lot of fun writing horror. I think it just comes really naturally to me because it's something I've consumed my whole life. I think out of everything I've read and re watched and read, I think the most yeah, suspense, horror, mystery, drama most I've ever consumed besides like comedy shows. I just decided, let me just write it. That's what I want to see, that's what I want to create, and let me also work with other creators who are interested in exploring that genre too, diverse creators, and they were down. And some of them are like horror, but I love to write it. And I go, girl, no, but sometimes people go, When I write something, but it scares me, and I go, it must be good, because I think Stephen King even said there are times where he was writing The Shining and he got spooked. And I love The Shining. Oh my god, one of my favorites of all time. So I was like, Yeah, you know what? That's a good indication that is actually probably a good script or something that resonates with other people if it resonates with you.

Corey 19:44

So if your life for a horror movie, what genre would it be?

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Ooh, yes, I love this budget. I would say horror. Okay, a little bit of traumatic horror, like traumatic black horror, but with comedy. Cool. Like I love trick or treat, but that's in my head. I like the aesthetic of trick or treat, even though I didn't grow up in a small town. Like some psychological elements and get out, you know, kind of like all of those layered in. Yeah.

Corey 20:15

So the final question that we always ask on the podcast is who is your favorite final person, the survivor in a horror movie?

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Now, how would you laugh that? Okay. That is a hard question. Here's a controversial take. It's hard to have one because one, there's so many good final people. But two, I don't always want the person to survive. I like when villains win. That's why we love The Joker or Dark Knight. No shade to Christopher Nolan, fantastic director, but Joker, the Joker and Heath Ledger's performance to me made a Dark Knight. And then it's not horror, but it's kind of dark themed, and I'm obsessed with that. I read the comics, I think I have the comics. So I and I remember the book. I have the book as well. So but just his acting and then his in tandem with Christopher Nolan's direction is just amazing. And technically, in the end, he did win. He was supposed to be in Dark Knight rises. However, you know, of course, we know that his major is now a fortune no longer with us. But had he not died, he would have definitely been in part three. And that's why I love The Dark Knight. And I think a lot of people at the Affinity War II from Avengers because they lose. But out of fact, I guess there are people who action. I don't know. I'll guess I go with Raven from The Exorcist. I'm happy that she survived that the exorcist suit, the heretic heretic was questionable. But I'm very happy that she that she survived. And I think I think it's hard for me to answer that because I think I really do like when the the villains win. I am happy that Jada Pinkett didn't make it to the end of Dark Demon Knight because that was it was the I got out of here with that good girl. But I'm really happy that she survived. That um for my earliest memory, that's what I remembered. Oh, I do love and then season one. Of course, I'm happy with the mother played by the amazing Deborah ID. She's fantastic. And I of course I wanted the family to survive, but yeah. Oh, and then us Lapita survived as well. Oh, questionable. I think it was probably her her other tether, but I'm happy that Lapita at the ending moment of us is my favorite. I could be playing it because the sun looks at her. She's like, Yeah, I know, I see you. And they have that moment in the car, and they pans out to see all of their tetherers coming out from the underground. And I thought that was amazing. And I think the sun also got taken as well. So it was a cool moment, like a non-event moment between both actors.

Corey 22:45

Yeah, I know those are great answers. And yeah, we did. I know we had a guest who said her favorite was Samara from the ring, so that's definitely not a hero.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Because Samara is a dead dumb. And that's another thing I wanted to add to. A lot of the time, these characters be victims, not villains.

Corey 23:01

Very true.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Especially when was that a bloody Mary prom night, bloody Mary Lube or something? I was like, girl, get them all. Carrie also wasn't a victim, too. You know what I mean? I didn't see these people who had villains. So I wish Carrie would have lived. I'm so mad that she died. Oh my gosh. I was screaming at the screen as a kid. I thought, are you kidding me?

Corey 23:20

We'll see what happens. There's a new series that's gonna be coming out with Dad We are retelling the Carrie story.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, I'm so awesome.

Corey 23:27

Well, thank you so much for taking some time to share your perspective with us. It's so important to hear different voices.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

Thank you for having me. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

Kamaria, thank you so much for joining us. This was such a thoughtful conversation. Where it really stays with me is how you describe horror not just as something you watch, but as something you use, a way to process fear, grief, identity, and all the complicated layers of real life. That idea that imagining the worst can actually make the real world feel a little less overwhelming. That's kind of the heart of what we do here. And I also love that you're pushing horror forward, telling stories that don't always get told, bringing in new perspectives, and showing that horror isn't one thing. It's a space where all kinds of voices can exist and be heard. And I've got to say this, because no one else has done this on the show before. After we wrapped, Kamaria actually sent us additional audio with more thoughts on final people. That level of care and thoughtfulness going back and continuing the conversation even after we hit stop, it really means a lot. So thank you for that. To everyone listening, if this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who gets it. Someone who understands that horror isn't just about being scared, it's about feeling seen. And remember, horror is good for mental wellness. Of course it is. The Horror Eels podcast is produced and presented by Mosaic Multimedia LLC.