In this exciting episode of the Horror Heals Podcast on Friday the 13th, hosts Corey and Kendall Austin Stulce sit down with Adrienne King, the legendary "final girl" from the original Friday the 13th. Together, they discuss the healing power of horror, both for Adrienne and for her fans. Adrienne shares intimate stories about the trauma she endured after her breakout role, including a stalker incident that kept her away from the spotlight for decades. But through conventions and connecting with fans, she found a path to healing and empowerment. Corey and Kendall also reveal their personal ties to horror, and how the genre became a point of connection in their own lives, both personally and as a couple.

Adrienne King on Survival, Stalkers, and the Power of Horror

Episode Highlights:

• Adrienne reflects on her iconic role as Alice in Friday the 13th and how the horror community helped her heal from trauma, particularly a stalking incident that deeply impacted her career.
• Discussion on the healing that horror provides, not just for actors but for fans—Adrienne recounts powerful stories from fans, including a military member who credited Alice with helping her survive a life-threatening situation.
• Corey and Kendall share their personal journey, including how a horror convention played a surprising role in their reunion with Kendall’s birth family and how horror has been a source of comfort in their relationship.
• Adrienne opens up about her return to the Friday the 13th camp and how conventions became a way for her to reconnect with her past and with fans who see her as a symbol of strength.
• The trio delves into the lasting power of jump scares and how Friday the 13th continues to influence new generations of horror fans and filmmakers, from fan films to upcoming projects like Crystal Lake.

Adrienne’s journey, along with Corey's and Kendall's, underscores the transformative power of horror—how it can be both an escape and a source of healing for those who have faced trauma. Tune in to hear stories that will resonate with anyone who has ever found solace in the world of horror.

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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.

So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends Cory and Kendall on the Horror Heels Podcast.

Welcome back to Horror Heals. This is Kendall Austin Stulz. I am one of your co -hosts and my partner is sitting next to me. I'm Corey Stulz and we are so jacked about this episode. Now, for those of you who are tuning in on Friday, September 13th, which is the day that the podcast launched, you will see that this is our fourth episode we're releasing. A little bit of surprise, but how could we

launch a podcast on Friday the 13th and not have a fantastic Friday the 13th guest and are just blown away. How wonderful our new friend, Adrian King, who you will know as Alice, the final person in the original Friday the 13th has been. We bonded with her immediately. And as you listen to the episode, or at least the first part of this episode, we're splitting it into two because we just

couldn't let Adrienne go. We had to keep going on about all the fantastic stuff and her amazing stories and her bravery and talking about her experiences with having a stalker and the PTSD that came along with that. Like, woo, she really lays it all out there. Adrienne, welcome to the show. It is fun to be here. You guys are fabulous. Thank you. We're so thrilled because the Friday the 13th family

has been so important to our journey, not just for this podcast, but our other podcast we've been doing for a couple of years now called Family Twist, which brought us from California to New England because we met Kendall's birth family through a DNA test while we were in California. yep. How incredible is that? It's a really cool story.

It's a really cool story. In fact, today's the 25th. So two days ago is the anniversary and it was seven years since I found my biological family. I knew nothing about my birth except that I was adopted by my parents when I was two months old. It was a private adoption. it in, in New England then? I was born in Arkansas and never knew I had any ties to New England. When I found.

my biological family that I was conceived here. My mother and father were 15 and 16 when I was conceived. My mother's family moved to Arkansas. That's where she had me and I was adopted to a family in Arkansas. When I found my half brother who'd been looking for me since 1988, my dad and two of my dad's other three children live in New England. We came out to visit and

There was just this mystery, there was a puzzle piece missing. And I just thought, surely there's got to be others out there. And we were right. One of the first things that Kendall and I bonded over when we started dating was a mutual love of horror movies. And I think we've always felt a little bit like outsiders, you know, as gay people and horror movies have always been solace to us. So then fast forward to that first visit, meeting his birth family here on the East Coast. Guess what was also happening that weekend?

A horror convention. So we'd had a conversation with his sister on his father's side as well. She revealed to us that she's a huge horror fan. Named her son Gage after Pet Sematary. And so a couple of conversations with them. Here I am at a horror con in Sacramento and CJ Graham is there. And I quickly, know, because we're so excited, I'm telling the story to everybody. I gave him the minute long version.

of finding Kendall's family and so fun that his half sister is a huge horror fan. He's like, give me your phone calls her. Yeah. Thanks. It's one of those cons where it's, think with the Friday night version. it's like 10 o 'clock there, which means it's like one o 'clock in the morning here. She didn't answer, but he left her this amazing voicemail. She's got it for forever. Signed a hockey mask for them. was just, it was beautiful.

Teeth family is amazing. Here we are in Worcester, Mass in October of Rock and Shock. Exactly. Yeah. love Gina. Full count. I had never heard of it, you know, because I we hadn't traveled much to the East Coast, but it's like, you know, when in Rome, yeah, I'm not going to miss a work on it. Kendall's brother and sister and two of the nephews came along. We're nice enough to like indulge us and.

Got to share the story with Amy Steele. She was so sweet about it with John Karl Buechler, you know, while he was still with us. Then the whole family met Kane and we've got a group photo with him. We just consider Kane part of the family at this point because he was there at the very beginning of this reunion. Each time I've seen him, he remembers the story, remembers who I am in the whole situation and such a good heart. God. Truly the best people in the horror genre. Yeah.

Because all of us, I think, relate to being underdogs or having gone through some kind of trauma in our life. And I think we bond on that with each other. So many of my fans have become very good friends. It's not, I'm on this side of the table, you're on that side of the table to me. We listen and we share and we feel. I give what I get.

And it's always beautiful. I never meet anyone who comes up to the table with bad energy, you know? Yeah, right, right, right. So it's all about us, us healing each other almost. It was Kismet meeting you for the first time because I was in some flashy blue. You were in some flashy blue. We totally matched. made for a great photo. I gave you the 32nd version of Kendall's story. You were so sweet. And it was just, I just knew you would. Great story.

I relate to it so specifically when you said healing that little part of your heart that you think you're fine and you've gone through whatever therapy you've gone through to get through it. And you have a partner who understands and gives you the love you need, but it's not until you actually find what it is that you don't even know you're missing and you feel that beautiful puzzle piece.

right there and that happened to me in 2004. My first convention was a chiller convention. It was January. My first one, I didn't even have eight by 10. So the fans were lined up. It was January outside and everybody was like, where have you been for the past 20 odd years without social media? How would one know that I was hiding from a stalker? You know,

How would anyone know I went into voiceovers and looping instead of on camera because I still had anxiety about going on camera. I shared just a tiny bit of that story that day on stage for the first time. There were hundreds packed into that room and Betsy Palmer was there and so was Amy. You could have heard a pin drop. I heard sobbing. And at that moment, I realized I wasn't alone. That little

puzzle piece you were talking about, I felt it. I felt my heart happy. It was because I realized that everything I'd gone through maybe was for a reason and maybe the empathy I was able to garner through my experience, I could possibly share with everyone out there who liked me.

gone through some trauma or it survived something. No one goes through this lifetime without some kind of trauma. No one gets through life unscathed. And I think it's a matter of how you get back to your whole self. That is the key, allowing yourself to heal and finding

you're maybe not realizing where it's coming from, that you're going to find that wholeness back in your life again. I think we all go through it. And that's why when you were talking about your experience and feeling that, I know exactly what you were talking about because it's happened to me. And I think your listeners probably understand that same feeling because

I felt like an underdog too after that. Women were treated like -gum, like absolute dirt. Back when I had a stalker, the authorities said to me, you did a movie like Friday the 13th, what do you expect? Yeah. And you know, the critics gave out Betsy Palmer's address. And you know, to write me mail, mean, what kind of crazy world were we living in? I mean,

At least we've moved forward with stalking laws, you know. Well, and that's the thing, like back then, you know, there weren't horror conventions, you know, back on back in the early days of slasher films, Friday the 13th. I was not considered normal. We're outcasts. Right. That's why we all bonded and are still bonded, think. Exactly. And I love that you share that because you're talking about going back 20 years and there's this mutual healing through horror now healing for you.

And then healing for the fans, you're sharing your story, sharing with them. And even before that, I'm sure, I'm sure there's countless times you've heard, my goodness, Alice saved my life. Yes. I've heard the most incredibly poignant stories. A woman when I went up to the camp shared with me, she was in the military in Yemen and, honest to God in a closet with other people and.

All she could do is think of Alice in the pantry. And she said, if she can make it, I can make it. And Alice has always been a touchstone. mean, that's just one of the stories that I've heard from people that brought me to my knees sobbing, you know, and hugs. Well, you feel that energy between each other that, my God, if I can make it, anyone can make it, you know, or at least if I can make it, because there were nights when I.

didn't really care if I made it, you know? And I know a lot of people go through that because you feel like the world is against you and why bother? Not having a support group, not having an entourage and no one believing. you know, it's like, start going into this, am I the crazy one? And wondering how am I gonna get out of this? And I just, it took me a long time and a lot of therapy, but now it makes sense to me because I really,

full circle. I have touched so many lives the way Alice is a touchstone. I've become a touchstone and I am so incredibly happy at this juncture of my life. You know the Emily Dickinson poem, if I can stop one heart breaking from breaking or ease one pain, I have not lived in vain. And that's always been one of my favorite poems growing up and I feel like I'm

I'm actually living it now. And that's why I like to go to conventions. I don't like traveling anymore at all, but that knowledge and that beautiful sharing of energy that says, it's okay. You will, you're going to get through this. That's saying it's easy. I'm just saying, hang in there. And if you have a support system, God bless. But.

You know, if you don't, I'm your support system. Talk to me. I can say I've really been able to ease some pains. That's what it's all about. This conversation. really hadn't thought about the fact that something I connect with my adoptive parents over was horror. They were both horror fans. They introduced it maybe earlier than they should have for me. No judgments. And I've never been like.

scared, like you would assume a child would be scared because they explained it well. Like this is make believe and this is fun. It's not the worst idea in the world to let your kids see that the bullies on the big screen, you know, that we can take care of them. It's funny because I've never really bonded with my birth family, the family that I found seven years ago. I've never really bonded with them over horror, but it brings back so many

empathetic with me about, you you lost your parents so young. And when you live through it, things happen. I did grow up quicker than I wanted to, but I adjusted well. Absolutely. That you could trust your own instincts. Parents to give you the equipment you need to carry on. Absolutely. Well, an important part of our relationship since the beginning was Kendall just sharing with me who his adoptive parents were like, I never got to meet them, but I feel like I know them.

And we talk about them every day. Yeah. They really were just wonderful people. I, with the other podcast, we talked to so many adoptees who did not have great experiences in their adoptive family. So I know how fortunate I was. And yes, I lost them young, but to your point, they built the foundation that I've always relied on. that's indeed a blessing.

So Adrienne, I'm sure there was some trepidation going into that first Schiller convention, just based on the stalker experiences and all that. And as I'm sure you found, maybe not with that first convention, but as you continued going, like just that electric atmosphere and the sense that while there's thousands of people here and some of them might look big and scary, nobody is going to harm you. If anything, we're all protecting each other at the conventions. It's so true. How long did it take you to realize, my gosh, this is a safe space?

It was that very same day when I was in that room with hundreds of tattooed big guys that had tears coming down their cheeks and hugged me and said, if you ever need anything, we are here for you. had two guys from the, got two cards from FBI guys who have, you know, there's a lot of people in law enforcement that are big horror fans and I have a lot of their.

at cards and some phone numbers on my speed dial now. When I tell you I had no clue walking into that incredible, like you said, it seemed like thousands of people. It was around the block. was freezing out and the lines were out the door and around the hotel and up this escalator or the stairs. I walked in and I said, what is going on here? Why are all these people here?

lady I happened to meet first is now my manager, which is hysterical super fan, right? She goes, they're here for you. And I said, get out. Who knew back then, like I said, Peter Bracke, who wrote the Crystal Lake Memories book was the one who convinced me that I should plug into the convention, meet my fans, because I had three generations around the world who loved me. went

Peter, you're insane. And he said, trust me on this, because he had actually dug to find me. I was still doing looping on the soundstage because I did not feel safe. Sometimes the psychological hurt is more than the physical hurt. You know, it's because it doesn't go away very easily. And so, yes, it was that day that I had this connection I knew.

that I would always have my fans in my heart. I appreciate them. It's hard for me to even refer to them as fans. call them my campers. First it was my happy campers and I went way too much pressure because I know. I know that every day is not happy. That's the days we have to fight.

through and we are campers and we get through life together. Hopefully I'm still a camp counselor. I'm here for my campers and I make myself available either at the shows or through social media. If somebody reaches out to me, I respond because that one response can make a difference in someone's life. I didn't know that much about your story before this chat. The horror community started you on your healing process 20 years ago.

Isn't that crazy? Not knowing that I needed it. Right. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't. I thought I was fine. You know, I thought everything was hunky dory and I was moving quietly and still under surface. But I thought everything was hunky dory until I realized, wow, does this feel better? You know, love that. And the sharing part is so good for healing. When people share with me, they heal and it makes me heal.

What are some of the more interesting things fans have had you sign? funny. Well, of course, the machete. When they realized that Alice was the first one and not Jason, right, to use the machete. It's so funny they have all the Jason's signed and it's like this little space for Alice. You know, it's like, hello. OK, my first ScareFest in Kentucky, I signed Betsy Palmer, Kane and I.

At the request of a very pregnant lady signed to her belly. And then we met the little girl four years later. my goodness. That's cute. How cool is that? Wow. I love Lexington Scare Fest. It's a great show. Great people. Well, we've got a giant machete signed by Ari. There's so many of them. And he never had a machete in his hand. Let's make that clear. What was it like starting to go back

to the camp and have those experiences. Wasn't that crazy, huh? Well, my manager, Stacey Lee, she was the first fan I bumped into and she has literally become my best manager ever. She's just so reliable and knows every line of every movie that's ever been made. She's just terrific. She was instrumental in actually getting us on the campsite because up to that point, Boy Scouts did not embrace it.

they tried to everybody from sneaking on. But what she finally got them to realize is it could be a win -win and that the fans would win and the Boy Scouts would make a heck of a lot of money. They caught on real quick. Yeah, real quick. I must tell you, everyone says it's worth every penny and it brings you right back to your childhood.

Fabulous. know all my stories now, so they don't need me. But the fact of the matter is I usually get back there once a year. This year, it just didn't work out. It looks like it did when we filmed there. It's extraordinary. They've taken the money they've made and built what was supposed to be called Alice's Trading Post, but it's now just

some other person's trading post that's huge. And with all these things they sell, the campers aren't allowed to go into that trading post. I have a problem with that. They buy from outside. But the cool thing is I watched the movie some 40 years later on the beach with fans on a screen. And the last time I had been there, the 40 odd years before when we actually shot.

The last scene was the scene in the canoe. We didn't know when we left the camp whether we had a finished movie because it was filmed. We couldn't do video playback. You know, the dailies, we had to get out of there and the dailies they didn't see to the next day. But boy, when they saw them, I knew they had it because they, two weeks later I met them in Connecticut to shoot that pickup shot in the hospital. But I hadn't seen it. That was the third time.

It took us three times to get it. was one camera, then a two camera shot, then three camera shot with a slow -mo camera. Over the course of the seven weeks that we shot it, we'd have to close for a Sean Cunningham to go ask his investors for more money so that we could get the more film and the more cameras. So as it went on, it was a colder situation. But when you are at the camp, you can actually take that photo with me on the beach.

where I'm hanging over the canoe and the fan can either join me in the canoe or jump from behind and pretend they're Jason. And we had the best time. And that was my dear manager, Stacey Leaf. She comes up with the greatest ideas. And so that was one of them. I enjoy going back there because it makes me feel like I'm in my twenties again. However old you were when you first saw the movie, swoosh, there you are. It's time travel.

It's remarkable. It's goosebump time for everyone. It's all right there. You can see everything. They really do a fabulous job preserving it. The Boy Scouts are wonderful. The leaders are great. I love the fact that they were able to embrace the fans rather than chasing them off. know, so many movies try to get that one last scare, that one last, you know, get you gotcha. And that's got to be like

the top three. That's so unexpected. Well, Victor Miller admits he ripped it off from Carrie. So that I'm guessing is one of your top three to what right? It's gonna be I was an alien. I just had one in mind and it's vanished. Carrie definitely Carrie and the alien I think. you know what it was? Don't look now. Of course, Donald's other one. Yeah, that was the other one that I was was trying to think of what an iconic moment and as a kid watching that for the first time, it's like you've gone through the whole thing and like

my gosh, she just got decapitated and 'all and stuff. like, no, no way. You know, it's also a funner, the fan films that are coming out to that's inspired a whole generation since we haven't been able to get any new films out of Friday the 13th. It's fun that the fans are filmmakers or filmmakers or fans. I'm actually going to Denver on Friday the 13th in September with the fan film.

Yeah, with Jason Rising and then the director James Sweet and then Vinny DeSanti who did Never Hike Alone. They're showing those two films and Tom Matthews is gonna be there and I think Amy Steele is gonna be there too. So it's very interesting how those jump scares.

Obviously stayed with a lot of young, talented individuals who decided I'm going to make a scare. I'm going to, you know, I want to achieve that and see if we can. So it's fun. Cause I got a chance to kind of try to relive some of that insanity. Yes. It's just amazing that 45 years or whatever we are now close next year talking about it. And so the jump scare still holds up, know, absolutely.

Well, it's something that I'm really appreciating now because I think it was done sort of gimmicky a few years back. But now it's like there's a movie in theaters this week called Stream that features a lot of iconic horror actors. It's not done as a gimmick. People want to see their their core celebrities back on the big screen. You know, these are fantastic. know, Jeffrey Combs and D Wallace and Danielle Harrison's like grew up with these people, you know, like you guys grew up.

these people, how much fun is it to resurrect them and resurrect their careers? Almost, I almost got to do it. I had the first four scripts for Crystal Lake from Brian Fuller of Hannibal fame. I was going to be directed by Kevin Williamson. Talk about being resurrected from the dead for a war. 824 broke up with Ryan Fuller's creative team, which is such a shame. And they have a new creative team. have no clue what's going on, but I figure my fans.

are gonna want some bit of whatever. Absolutely, yeah. mean, it's - to bring back their childhood, the magic of it. I'm sending out the good vibes right now just because I know they just announced a few days ago this new creative team, the project is getting back on track. And so I hope they don't forget that people were so excited to see your name attached to that project. It's easy to forget. Yeah.

It's the nature of the beast. I'm not in LA. I live in Oregon. The agent I had, the agency in New York, my theatrical agent for a very long time, since the stalker was out of love, didn't make it through the pandemic because all of their actors were on Broadway. So when Broadway closed down, I didn't even bother looking for an agent because what for? And then out of the blue, Crystal Lake comes up. And of course, Brian Fuller is a personal friend.

So that's how that happened, because he was a fanboy first. He, like, you guys grew up on the original. So it's not going to break my heart. It's just, it would be fun. That's all. That, you know, it would be fun. The fans would love it too. That's the thing. Fans are very persuasive these days. Fans don't realize how much power they have. Right? Wow. We hope you come back next week and listen to the second part of Adrian King's episode and

you'll find out who her favorite final person is. But I don't think I'm giving too much away when I mentioned that Alice is Kendall's favorite final person from a horror movie. She is. Why is that? What is it about Alice? We've already talked about the fact that the Exorcist I saw very young, and I don't know if I identified Reagan as a final person, but I definitely identified Adrian King's character, Alice.

as a final person at the end of Friday the 13th. And maybe because of my age at the time that I saw it, it just had a really big impact on me. The film in general and that final scene, which is fantastic. I just always looked up to Adrian's character ever since that moment. I don't know if that can be replaced because of the time and place where I was in my life when I watched it.

I'm just glad that Adrienne was willing to talk to us, even though I occasionally do cosplay as Pamela Voorhees. Killer mommy. Jim mommy. Thank you, Adrienne, for hanging in there for this. Please don't cut my head off with a machete. One more quick thing on the original Friday the 13th, Kendall and I watch probably three or four horror movies per week. And occasionally, as we're making dinner together, Kendall will say, hey, let's watch an old classic. I would say at least

four or five times a year. He's like, how about the original Friday the 13th? We have probably watched that movie together. Well, at least 13 times. It never gets old. It holds up. We would love for you guys to tune in and listen to part two with Adrian King next week. Thanks for joining us.