What happens when your dad shows you The Exorcist at age six and it changes your life forever?

For Kimberly Ramsawak, it sparked a lifelong fascination with horror that became a platform for empowerment, creativity, and connection.

Not Possessed, Possessing Power: Women in Horror

Who is Kimberly Ramsawak?

Kimberly is the creator of Horror Concierge, a Substack newsletter for women horror fans and creators. She is also the founder of Horror and Her, a coaching business that helps women build powerful newsletters and communities centered on their unique horror perspectives.

What we talk about in this episode

• Kimberly’s horror origin story and how The Exorcist became her lifelong favorite
• The link between horror and empowerment for women
• Why Substack is becoming a home for horror voices and creative community
• How to turn horror writing into a movement, not just a newsletter
• Why horror fans were more resilient during the COVID pandemic
• The growing diversity in the horror world and why representation matters
• The need for original storytelling and fewer remakes
• Kimberly’s favorite final person and why Naru from "Prey" stands above the rest

Favorite moments

• I was six when my dad sat me down to watch The Exorcist and Thriller. He told my mom, ‘They’re gonna learn not to be afraid of anything.’
• Everyone writes reviews. What’s your hill to die on? What’s the thing you can’t stop talking about? That’s your horror voice.
• Horror fans already survived the zombie apocalypse in our minds. That’s why we handled COVID better than most.

Why this episode matters

Kimberly shows how horror can be both a creative outlet and a path to healing. Her approach reminds us that when we confront what terrifies us, whether it is societal expectations or personal fear, we make space for growth, power, and reinvention.

Listen if you have ever

• Hidden your horror fandom at work or around friends who do not get it
• Wanted to start writing about horror but did not know where to begin
• Needed a reminder that fear can be fuel
• Wished to see more women and creators of color shaping the horror landscape

Connect with Kimberly

• Substack: Horror Concierge
• Coaching: Horror and Her

Question for our Horror Heal-iacs

What horror film or book made you feel seen for the first time?

Share your answer in the comments or tag us with #HorrorHeals. Your story may be featured in a future episode.

riverside_kimberly_ramsawak_raw-audio_corey_& kendall stu_1193

Podcast.

Kimberly: For me.

Corey: Absolutely no, we're, we're excited to have you. It's, um, it's important to, to get a variety of voices, uh, in the horror community out there. And so that's kind of what we're trying to do with the show, you know, with the focus of horror being good for mental wellness. So how do, how do you relate to that?

Our, our thesis or our concept of, of horror and mental

wellness, positivity.

And I remember my mother, saying to him like, what the hell are you doing?

Kendall: Yep.

Kimberly: And, he's listen, he's they're gonna sit down and they're gonna watch it and they're not. I'm gonna teach that as two girls. They shouldn't be of anything. And that has started my sister and i's passionate obsession for horror ever since. So

Kendall: That's cool.

Kimberly: yeah, love horror. Love horror movies, love horror books.

like, oh my goodness.

Kimberly: And day damn creepy horror.

Corey: Awesome. Awesome. I, I love that you and your sister kind of, you know, got this lifelong love of horror at such a young age, but what was that like watching it that first time? Like what did you, did you have nightmares?

Kimberly: No, it was like my, it was like I was, I remember looking at it like my mouth opened my eyes like and wanting to cover your eyes, but like, what the hell, like in my mind what the hell? And just being hooked. Like that feeling of just. Adrenaline and your heart pumping, and it's like going on an rollercoaster, right?

Like you, you're scared as hell, but you like, okay again. And it's just I watch it all, I watch the glorious of the gory the violent of the violent, like all types of horror is just, this is my thing. So

Corey: What are some of the things that make, uh, the Exorcist

your favorite?

'cause the dread, and then now as an as a, a woman and, an adult and I love the correlation between horror movies and women's empowerment to see, to think of a woman, the mother. Who is coming to her house and they always show the scene of the door closed and you're in your own house and having the dread of like, I don't wanna go upstairs and I don't wanna open the door, and it's your child and you can't do a damn thing about it, and you can't change how you feel.

Corey: when people really nail us down, they're like, okay, what is your absolute favorite? I think Kendall and I both agree that Exorcist is definitely there, and we even have a little exorcist display in our breakfast area.

Kendall: We have a cool bust of Reagan and it's, it's creepy looking on its own, but then we decorate her like she wears a Santa hat at Christmas and she, you know what I mean? Like

Kimberly: It's just so dramatic and it's so theatrical and it's really rare for. That slow to keep your attention and really be in it.

Corey: I absolutely adore your Substack. Uh, you're very prolific and love, love getting those, the new, the new emails from you on the regular. So thank you for doing that. And Kendall, and I think it's. So important that, um, and, and we're seeing things happen um, diversity in the genre.

and then we'll get to the we'll get to our final question later, but we do, we ask uh, the last question is, who's your favorite final person? Because we wanna be as inclusive as we possibly can, and, and we appreciate the final girl trope. And final Girl gets mentioned a lot in the episodes, but we like to say final person, talk to me a little bit about, um, what you see, like what, what you are doing specifically to kind of help empower, um, women interested in horror in, into building their

online presence.

Kimberly: I think just, especially on Substack . I ne I had never heard of Substack before January. How I got hit to it was, there was a business coach that I follow and she, she said that she's transitioning everything from social media, from Instagram and Facebook over to Stuff Cycle because she loves writing.

All my friends and family, they always ask me like, what horror movie are you watching? What should I, watch this weekend? What should I, you know, what's out? What's the hidden gem? So I'm like, oh, I'll be the former concierge. And so it started off just me recommending horror movies and books . And then as I started getting, um, more into it and the men started passing by women. Writers in horror that have a newsletter on Substack started DMing me and they're like, oh my gosh, I love your stuff and you know, um, I love how you write and, but I'm scared to put, you know, I I'm a lawyer by day and I have two kids and I love gory horror, but I'm scared to write.

So that's when I started really diving into, okay, let me show, let me display how I view horror movies through the link of women's empowerment. So I started featuring a horror movie a month. Um, just doing the parallels between whatever has is happening in the movie and sort of a woman empowerment theme, whether it's resilience or leadership or gaslighting or whatever it is.

And it just started growing and growing. I said, okay, I'm, I feel like I'm onto something here. And I just, just went all in and, you know, and I've already already been watching horror movies, but to to sort of look at it from this lens and I was already like. Cheering, like whenever a woman does something really cool in a horror movie, so I'm like, okay, let me channel that into my writing.

So that's how it all started.

Corey: Very Cool.

How has the last, um, 10 or so months, uh, the climate in the country sort of affected your purview of horror?

Kimberly: I don't watch the news.

The American Journal of Psychology said that during COVID. Horror movie horror fans were more resilient. They had better mental health dealing with COVID, because we've already seen all the zombie movies, we've already seen all the drama that could possibly happen. Like COVID was nothing new to us.

You know? So I mean, I feel like if you're a horror fan, you know what's happening, whatever's happening, Royal, you're like, okay I already got like my survival kit. I already know like we already know how to deal with it. I feel like for horror fans it's nothing.

Nothing new. Nothing like earth

weirdos.

Kimberly: Exactly. And I call my community horror concierge , But you know, I, I've always felt weird and I've always sort of hidden my. Internally, my friends and family know I love horror and I know like I'm obsessed with it, but like in corporate America and outside where I've always sort of like hidden that because you know, I'm a black woman, I'm a, professional black woman, you know, I'm a feminine, you know, and I'm not supposed to like horror, you know, so I've always had like this, I don't know.

So cool to see horror fans who you wouldn't think would be horror

Kendall: Yep.

Kimberly: and I'm such an advocate for that because we're everywhere.

Corey: Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I don't know how often you go to horror events, but I mean, you definitely see all walks of life, uh, you know, there and all ages. I mean, you're seeing like infants to like, um, grandmas in wheelchairs and they're, you know, having a good old time.

Kimberly: Yeah, love it, Now, my son unfortunately does not. He does not. I tried it, but he does not, he's not a fan.

Corey: No, you can't, not getting into it. Okay. Okay. And do you and your sister still share

Movies to check out and books and things

like

Kimberly: yeah.

I love, I am such a fan of international horror. especially Asian horror. Um, so I, I'm across the board.

Corey: Yes. Yeah, we, yeah, we're, we're all over it too. For sure.

Kendall: What, Corey what were we watching the other night? And I had to stop. I had to go. It was, oh, it was that, uh, where the kid was bit,

Corey: Oh no. Yeah. The um, um, bring her back where the, the little boy is chewing on the knife. Yeah.

Kendall: I was like, I gotta go. I can't And I know it's fake, obviously, but I'm just like, uh, I don't that.

Corey: And it's so funny. So we, um, our other podcast is, uh, about DNA surprises. And so we found Kendall's birth family, eight plus years ago. And so, and, and we're really, really close with his, um, oldest sister on his birth mother's side. And, and two of her best friends are nurses. And so we kind of have our, our nurse chat and they started asking for recommendations.

Kimberly: movie was fun. It's just, and that's, I'm so excited to, to bring, um Kendall's sister kind of into our world.

Corey: And she told us, I think early on when we met that like she loved the Bates motel. Um, remake show and stuff, so it's, we already knew she was already kinda like, couldn't handle it, but yeah. I mean, I'm giving them some, some pretty extreme movies to check out.

Kimberly: Yeah.

I love extreme horror.

Corey: Yeah.

Kendall: Yeah.

Corey: We're recording this on kind of a, an exciting day, Fridays or when, new movies come out.

But today is the release of Guillermo Del Toros, Frankenstein. Have you already watched it?

Kimberly: No, not yet.

Corey: Us Either. it just literally came out today, but, um, yeah. This is one we've been really looking forward to for a

long time. Yeah.

Kimberly: Nice. I'm actually looking forward to, the predator Badlands that came out. It's coming out today.

Yeah,

They like a good story. They don't just, it doesn't just have to be like slasher every, you know, 10 minutes an exciting kill. It's like they're, they're willing to like have that buildup, you know, for a half an hour or so before things get bonkers. And I mean, like, weapons doesn't get crazy until really crazy until the last 20 minutes to where I would watch it.

I'm like. Okay, this is a horror movie,

right?

Kendall: Wow.

That's good.

Corey: Yeah.

It's, it's, yeah, it's, it's wild. Yeah. Love it. Love it. And I love that it was, you know, that it was a hit and you know, now we've got this new iconic horror villain, you know, too,

Kendall: Mm-hmm.

Kimberly: I'm Gladys. Oh, Love her.

Love her. And I don't really, the movie was so, I mean, would I like her backstory? Sure. It would be the cherry on top. Do I really need it No, I think the movie was, it just ended with such a nice little bow. It was

Corey: Yeah.

It.

Kimberly: from what I saw from the trailers, they're kind of like turning him into Freddie. like a Freddie. I'll go check it out.

Corey: I mean, it's certainly worth a watch. And of course it was a hit. So they're gonna try to see what they could do for the sequel. But it was like the. The source material was a pretty short story as it is. So like they really had to beef it up for the first one and there was like this, like nothing, you know, in that, in that story that would make you think that it was gonna get, um, supernatural or more supernatural than it, you know, like, like you said, creating a new Freddie.

But, the world needs Freddie and we've got just this last month, Robert England, um, and John Carpenter getting their stars on the Hollywood Walk of

Fame. It's like. Way Overdue. thank goodness, we're starting to see this more, I think horror is starting to get a little bit more respected.

And are you getting the sense of that with people that you're in communication with? The women who

are, you know, horror

I'll take it, I'll take it. But I think those three movies are like, oh, it was so good. It was so good. And. And, a lot of non horror fans are telling me like sins, it's not really a horror Movie. it was just a drama about, that time with racism and it just happened to have vampires.

And I'm like, actually no. It's pretty horror Movie.

Corey: you could be describing a lot of horror movies right now as far as like, oh yeah. It, it had a little bit of a ghost element to it, but it was just a drum. I'm like, no, that's, it's a horror. I mean, there can, you could certainly cross genres, but yeah, I think it's like when some people who aren't fans and they hear horror, they, they, you'd probably think of like eighties slashers or old school, like universal monsters and stuff, and just like, ah, Not my thing.

You know? And it's just, there's so much more to it,

And it could be super intellectual and it could be super campy and everything in between. And I think that horror is that genre that could only do that.

Corey: Yes, absolutely. Can

Kendall: think.

Corey: in, sir? I'm sorry. Go ahead, Kendall.

Kendall: I was gonna say, I think romcoms just about make me want to gag, so like that is not my thing, Like it can be well done and I can appreciate it, but 10 minutes

that I'm good.

Kimberly: Yeah. Me.

Corey: wasn't there like a main, oh, wasn't there a, um, like a mainstream movie that came out earlier this year that was like sort of, it was a romcom, but it was also a Slasher or something? I'm trying to remember. It's I think it was it this year? Maybe because I can't believe we're in November, but it was, heart eyes.

Yes. Which we have not seen. We have not seen that

Kimberly: Actually.

Corey: Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Kendall: I'm gonna write

Corey: check that Out. Kimberly, can you talk, just give us a few specifics on how you've been helping women with their substack and getting their, uh, their newsletter A game.

Kimberly: sure. Yeah. So, um, her and her is a business i I created where it's all through coaching, just newsletter coaching, and I have, um, I'm just starting to launch digital, digital and courses and, um, one-on-one and group coaching where it's not teaching you how to write because these women are phenomenal story tips.

Everyone writes A horror movie review Newsletter. horror you know, and horror movie. review is, a horror movie. review, is a horror movie. a book review is, a book review, is, a book review. But what is, especially as a woman, who, historically hasn't had a voice in horror other than tripping and falling in like short shorts and a t-shirt, like what?

You have a unique car voice. So let's, instead of no one's saying you can't do a mood review. But what about that movie? What do you wanna say through that? What is your platform Always say that you, what is your hill to die on? What is your, something that you, your point of view that you can't shut up about and why do you look hard to begin with as a woman, and why are you even choosing to write about it to begin with?

Corey: Love that. Love that so much. with someone with their finger on the pulse right now and knowing, you know, the. History of horror, what do you see? What do you envision happening in the next five years as far as diversity in horror, and what would you love to see

in the next five years?

Kimberly: What I would love to see is no more remakes, even if it's good Even if it's good,

like

we're done.

Kendall: I

agree.

And I think in the early, like the early two thousands, even though everyone's like, oh, it can't be, and it's cheesy. Those were some original storytellings, like dust till Dawn. Everyone was comparing Guil, Dawn Sin. I'm like, two different Movies, but okay. but Guil Dawn was like that same Thing. Like, you didn't really know it Was vampire movie until it was a vampire movie.

so I just, I hope as we go into next year and beyond, we just get out the box brand new and also bring back, I miss, when was the last time you had a really good werewolf movie? A really good zombie movie. A really good creature feature movie, you know, like, bringing back those sort of dormant sub Genres that we haven't seen in a very long time.

Kimberly: I am gonna see it. Yes. And I'm always gonna go see her movie no matter what. I'm always gonna go see it. But I'm just like, okay, do we need a, but then also you could also argue, it's a hidden gem that need, that has, that deserves to come to new light, And to give it respect and so people go back and watch the original.

So I do see it from that angle, but I'm just like, okay, but Jordan Peel like you gave us, get out like.

Corey: Right.

Kimberly: To be something in those brain cells that something brand new, You know, like, come on. You know,

Corey: Yeah. And hopefully whoever had the concept for the, for the story is like, it's like, oh, that's brilliant. Yeah. We gotta do that. You know? And, and it very well could be. Um, and of course we'll see it too, but it's like, we just watched the original, I mean, maybe three or four months ago, and it's just such a bonkers, crazy movie.

It's like, you can't, you can't recreate that, know?

Kimberly: I agree.

Kendall: No.

Kimberly: Yeah, and I think Tuby? is doing a great, Did you see it on Tuby?

Corey: I'm sorry.

Kimberly: Did you watch it on Tuby? Was it on Tuby that you saw the

Corey: I think it probably was. Yeah. Yeah.

Tubi is coming. He is the MVP for me for this year. I mean, they have everything and anything like Things I have never even heard of or seen before.

Kendall: Yep.

Never, ever.

So tub

Corey: is, is doing it right. And not, and there's not a crazy amount of commercials too. Like there's enough, like if you need to go get another glass of water or you need to pee or something like that, great. Let the kids understand what we had to go through growing up, watching movies

and stuff.

Uh, but yeah, you're right. And, and Toby's getting into original horror programming now

Kendall: I might run screaming from the room. that's my.

Corey: of the, yeah, some of the, uh, the algorithms for Our streaming channels are off. Let's just say they're off. I'm like one, yes. we get tired of the repeating commercials, but I'm like they thought this was for us. It's but you know how it is. It's like my, uh, coworker just got a, a Volkswagen Tiguan or whatever, and I think I, me mentioned it once or whatever, and now I'm seeing commercials for that all the time yeah. Wild. Yeah.

Kendall: Yep.

Corey: Alright, so Kimberly, this is coming and this is our, we love this question. Um, who is your favorite final person in a horror

film?

Kimberly: Okay, so my favorite, oh my gosh, it's such a hard question and I know. I know what's coming. My favorite final person in a horror film Is Naru From Prey. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. because you see, and every final person, the reason why they're, I believe the reason why they're a final person, it's not because they just survive and make it to the end.

Just Ugh. It's so good. It's so good. It's so good. So she's my favorite final person.

So I'm looking forward to seeing how they do that because we're rooting for the predator, this one. So I'm looking forward to seeing. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I Mean, the trailer's amazing and, and the reviews that have Been coming in. Yeah. So it'd be, and definitely a cool one to see on the big screen Awesome. again, we love your substack. Keep doing what you're doing. Um, thank you for, um, you know, helping women find their, their horror voice through, um, substack and newsletters and stuff.

Corey: It's, you know, it's important. Um, yeah, it's, this has been great. I'm so glad we got to

connect.

Kimberly: Me. Yes. Yes. Thank you.

so much. Love your podcast

Corey: thank

Kendall: Oh,

Kimberly: episode.

Kendall: Oh

Corey: is amazing. Yeah, she's, she's great. We'll have to have her back on for sure.